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Former U.S. Olympian Vanes Martirosyan of Glendale Calif., will pursue his third consecutive knockout, and his fourth in his past five bouts, when he takes on southpaw Willie Lee of New Orleans in Saturday night's 12-round, junior middleweight fight at the Beeghly Center in Youngstown, Ohio.Martirosyan-Lee will take place on the undercard of a middleweight (160 pounds) WBC and WBO championship matchup between 27-year-old titlist Kelly Pavlik (35-1, 31 KOs) and 29-year-old Miguel Espino (20-2-1, nine KOs) of North Hollywood, Calif.
Nicknamed, "The Nightmare," the 154-pound, Armenian-born Martirosyan (25-0, 16 knockouts) will be in his biggest fight to date when he challenges Lee (17-5, 10 KOs), a 29-year-old, NABF champion who has won three straight.
Martirosyan is handled by three-time Trainer Of The Year Freddie Roach, who last month guided Manny Pacquiao to his seventh world title in as many weight classes with a 12th-round knockout that dethroned WBO champion Miguel Cotto.
"Vanes is a terrific kid. I think he's going to be a future world champion," said Martirosyan's promoter, Top Rank's Bob Arum, whose company is financing the pay-per-view event. "Now that Freddie is devoting a lot of time and effort to him, I think there is a title shot in his near future."
Martirosyan-Lee will be sandwiched between Pavlik-Espino and an eight-round heavyweight clash featuring Nigerian-born former world heavyweight champion Samuel Peter (32-3, 25 KOs) of Las Vegas, opposite Gabe Brown (18-12-4, 12 KOs) of Pensacola, Fla.
But Roach said the spotlight shouldn't affect Martirosyan.
"It's definitely a big moment for him. It's time to step up to the plate. He's knows that this is a stepping stone to a world title fight," said Roach. "This is a very important fight for him to show that he can box, he can punch, and that he's a complete fighter. He's definitely ready to go."
In victory, Martirosyan could be a viable candidate for champions such as Sergio Martinez, Cory Spinks, Yuri Foreman or Sergiy Dzinziruk, respectively, of the WBC, IBF, WBA and WBO.
"I'm in the best shape of my life thanks to my trainer, Freddie Roach, and my strength and conditioning coach, Alex Ariza," said Martirosyan, of the same team that worked with Pacquiao. "I'm very excited to be fighting for my first title and I intend to make the most of it. "
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