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Aug. 11, 2006
Martirosyan a Developing 'Nightmare'
By Steve Kim (Aug 11, 2006) Photo © VanesBoxing.com
>From what I gather, the tickets for this weekend's heavyweight title
fight between Hasim Rahman and Oleg Maskaev at the Thomas and Mack
Center in Las Vegas aren't exactly a coveted commodity. The crowd
will most likely resemble a UNLV hoops game post-Jerry Tarkanian.
But there is one fighter who will have a rabid following that has
bought their share of tickets - junior middleweight prospect Vanes
Martirosyan - who faces Marcus Brooks in the opening bout on the
night's pay-per-view telecast.
Just as he had in performing on the undercards of Jose Luis Castillo
and Diego Corrales in October at the Thomas and Mack, Antonio
Margarito in Feburary, and Floyd Mayweather-Zab Judah in April,
Martirosyan has sold a cadre of tickets to his fans in the
Armenian-filled population of Glendale, California.
"He is tremendously popular with the fans," said Bob Arum of Top
Rank, which promotes the 9-0 boxer. And his ticket selling prowess
extends to shows without big main events. "I remember when that
Klitschko-Rahman fight fell out and we did the thing in the ballroom
at Wynn, they fell in love with Vanes. And Vanes, you can count on
him bringing to any event that he's in - at least in Las Vegas - over
200 people."
On June 3rd, after the rubbermatch between Castillo and Corrales was
shelved when the Mexican stalwart (again) failed to make the
lightweight limit, the undercard - featuring a title defense from IBF
flyweight titlist Vic Darchinyan (another boxer of Armenian
descent) - was saved, and a sparse crowd showed up at the Thomas and
Mack - the large majority of which came to see Martirosyan while
waving the flag of their country. He would dispatch of Oscar Gonzalez
in one round, bringing about a loud ovation from the cavernous, empty
arena.
"He's from that area, Glendale, which has a very big Armenian
population, and they're close knit and they're fans and they come for
him," says Arum, who insists with his ticket selling potential that
he will not rush his progression. "And you saw that Darchinyan got
the benefit, because when he fought, they were waving the same flags
they were waving for Vanes."
In the past, Martirosyan's bouts have been scheduled in the late
afternoon, hours before the TV cameras go on. Yet his loyal following
is among the first to arrive in the arena for the night's
proceedings. To them, the main event takes place long before the sun
goes down.
"The more people I see, the more excited I am, the more happy I am,"
Martirosyan tells Maxboxing. "I feel stronger. I just go out there
and do my best and make my fans happy."
And he can feel the groundswell of support in his hometown of
Glendale, a suburb of Los Angeles.
`When I walk down the street, people always come by, they take
pictures of me and they say hi. When I'm running, they always honk
and say good luck. So it feels great," he says.
But he's even been taken aback by the multitude of his people that
show up.
"Sometimes I'm surprised when I get to my fights and see all these
Armenians there and I'm like, 'Wow, what are those guys doing here?'"
Martirosyan says that his uncle and his friends, along with local
merchants in the area, are in charge of selling and distributing the
tickets. There are even fight posters made up promoting his
appearances. For his June 3rd date, there was a fight poster
featuring the images of he and Darchinyan, with no mention of
Castillo-Corrales III, almost treating that scheduled affair as a
walk-out bout. That poster ended up being prophetic.
"I think the most amazing thing is that Vanes, for each of his Las
Vegas fights, has sold at least $10,000 worth of tickets," said Nick
Khan, who co-manages 'the Nightmare' with Shelly Finkel. "And if you
consider the fact that most of those are the $50 and $100 tickets,
the let's say, not-most-expensive tickets, it's pretty amazing how
many people are driving a minimum of five hours to see him. And this
has been since his first Las Vegas fight, so it's tremendous to see
the support he gets in Glendale."
There was a time long ago - before television networks put up
exorbitant license fees - that fighters' purses were directly tied
into their ability to put butts into seats. At many club shows today,
there are still promoters and fighters who make deals for fighters to
get paid in tickets, which they will sell to their friends and
family.
"Bob has been kind enough basically to give Vanes as many tickets as
he needs. Vanes will then sell them and return whatever he can't
sell, obviously in a timely fashion, to Bob," explained Khan of their
protocol. And the selling of tickets has become a community and
ethnic affair. "Not only with local merchants," Khan points out, "but
literally between non-merchants just over the phone. And there's no
surcharge, no one's making any money off of it. It's basically a
word-of-mouth thing, 'Hey, I have access to good tickets on Vanes'
fight, here's the face value, that's what I'm selling them for, do
you want them?' And all of these people basically pool their money,
they give it to Vanes and he sends it to Top Rank."
No, he isn't selling out arenas, but to put this into perspective,
Martirosyan, a 2004 United States Olympian, has less than ten pro
bouts under his belt, has never headlined his own show or broadcast,
and yet can still move some ducats to fights that they know may not
be particularly competitive, and which take place in another state.
And it's not like the Armenians have a broad history in this sport
either.
Could he be the first Armenian box-office attraction?
`Good question," says Arum. "I don't know any other Armenians."
But the 20-year old hopeful embraces both cultures.
"I'm Armenian-American," he states proudly, "because I represented
the United States, I'm proud to be a US citizen and I'm also proud to
be Armenian. So I'm Armenian inside but I also have USA on my back.
So I'm proud to be an American."
And this outing is a chance to broaden his fan base across the
country.
"All my Armenian fans, they come early because they know me from
around here. But I'm happy I get to fight later on because now all my
American fans get to see what I can do," he says.
"It's by far his biggest showcase," says Khan of this opportunity to
fight under the bright lights of HBO Pay-Per-View. "The opening fight
of a heavyweight championship pay-per-view, he's 9-0 with six
knockouts - the important thing to keep in mind is at one point he
was 4-0 with one knockout. So over the course of his last five
fights, they've all ended by knockout. He's definitely developing
into the professional that we all thought he would and everyone's
excited to have him showcase it on TV."
One thing that will make him appealing to the masses is his hell-bent
for leather style. Martirosyan is a slugger who looks to bang out his
foes in a fast and furious fashion. He doesn't so much spar, but
brawl with headgear and 14-ounce gloves on. He's like that race-car
driver who just can't cruise at 60 mph or that thoroughbred that
can't just stretch his legs at a nice, leisurely pace.
"Yeah,' agreed his trainer, Freddie Roach. `He's OK - till he gets
hit. And in boxing that doesn't always take too long, so once he gets
hit, he gets a little aggressive, forgets about the gameplan and
wants to kill his opponent or take him out. He's explosive, but he's
young. So that does happen with young fighters sometimes."
Funny thing is, Martirosyan thinks he is actually toning it down.
`In sparring I try to take it easy," he claims. But asked later if he
is instructed by his trainer to gear down in sparring, he admits,
"Yeah, he tells me to calm down sometimes. I get too excited. But I
always try to look good in sparring; I take every sparring session
like it's a fight. So I always try to do my best."
A year ago, Martirosyan looked a bit stiff and mechanical. Today, he
looks more fluid and comfortable with the pro game.
`A little by little, it's a learning process. So everyday I learn
something new from Freddie, so I'm getting there," he says.
"He's come along pretty well," says Roach. `The better fighters we
put him in with, the better he does. I put him in with Roman
Karmazin, the former world champion, and he does great. I put him
with high-caliber fighters, he boxes well, and he's very
professional. But I put him with an ordinary guy sometimes and he
gets a little amateurish. So I think with the better opponents he
faces, the better he'll do. He rises to the occasion pretty much."
The question is just how quickly Martirosyan will be moved.
`I'd like to step up the pace a little bit," says his trainer. "Bruce
Trampler is being a little too careful with him, I believe, and I
think we need to step up the opponents a little bit, just to let him
develop."
Trampler is Top Rank's highly respected matchmaker.
Khan says of the situation: "We agree that after the fight, a little
bit of a step up in class. I always defer to Freddie on these things.
In terms of stepping up rounds, again, I would leave that to Freddie,
who had indicated to me that he wants to keep him at sixes until the
end of the calendar year."
Which seems to be news to the fighter.
`This is my last six-rounder," he says. "I'm going up in eight and
then to ten. It's up to my manager and Bob Arum."
But Arum, who thinks he may have something here, isn't going to rush
things. A fighter, like fine wine, needs time to develop.
`We have no time frame," he insists. "Bruce is a great matchmaker,
and he's a great evaluator of talent. Obviously, the management wants
to push, they want to go up to eight-rounders. Bruce is resisting it;
he says he's not ready yet for eight-rounders.
`Eventually, when the time comes, the time will come."
MARINATING
Even though Roach and Arum may have a slight disagreement on the
immediate future of Martirosyan, they both agree that fighters today,
in general, are moved much quicker - to their detriment - than in the
past.
And it happens for several different reasons.
"Television," says Roach. "People want to see competitive fights,
they don't want to see blowouts so much and that's what matchmakers
are paid to do for
TV - put competitive fights on."
Arum also thinks that the advent of the 'signing bonus' has changed
how managers handle their prospects.
"I think one of the problems is that people invest in them, which
they didn't before," he says. "And having made a substantial
investment, they want to see a return on that investment sooner,
rather than later. That's what it's all about. That's really what
it's all about.
`Before, when a fighter would go to a manager, because he was a good
manager - the manager put up nothing except his time and his effort.
He was willing to take much more time."
LOG JAM
As fights are being slotted for the rest of the year, there seems to
be a bit of a snafu in early December from what I understand. Somehow
two promoters (Lou DiBella with Jermain Taylor and Artie Pellulo with
Ricky Hatton) believe they have dibs on December 9th on HBO. Good
thing the suits at HBO aren't air traffic controllers.
The newest rumor making the rounds is that on December 2nd, Winky
Wright will face Kassim Ouma on HBO Pay-Per-View, which makes some
sense (no, not that this fight is somehow pay-per-view worthy) but
given that HBO loves to counter-program Showtime and that Golden Boy
doesn't mind stealing some (if not a lot of) thunder from Top Rank -
which has an Antonio Margarito/Miguel Cotto doubleheader that night
on that other network.
It's like killing two birds with two stones.
I've heard that perhaps moving one of the shows on the ninth to the
last weekend of November - where it could perhaps be paired up with
the Pacquiao-Morales III replay - is being looked into. Then you
figure the Wright-Ouma replay could be replayed with the Ricky Hatton
fight.
I'm not a programmer or anything, but that's my guess. My question
is, is it that hard to slot just one fight card for a particular
date?
PAY-PER-SATURATION
If Wright-Ouma does come to fruition on pay-per-view, that would mean
in a four week stretch from November 4th to December 2nd there could
be three pay-per-view shows (with Mayweather-TBA, Pacquiao-Morales
III and Wright-Ouma), only one of which seems to be pay-per-view
worthy( Pacquiao-Morales) based on recent track records.
I hear that Wright-Ouma is being considered for pay-per-view because
HBO's budget has run dry for 2006. Meanwhile, Nicolay Valuev-Monte
Barrett will be on HBO's 'Championship Boxing' on October 7th. OK,
the point is, Wright-Ouma is a good fight (potentially very good) but
folks will be reluctant to pay $40-45 bucks for it. And I ask this:
why is Valuev, who has been basically ignored by everybody in the
states, suddenly worthy of HBO? Could it be because he has one of
those belts (the WBA, in this instance) that this same network has
deemed 'worthless'?
Anyone else want to know why many folks are separating themselves
from the game of boxing or why many others consider it a 'dying
game'?
I don't think it is, but I just hope it can survive the current
leadership at HBO, like you hope the New York Knicks can survive the
regime of Isiah Thomas and James Dolan.
http://www.maxboxing.com/kim/kim0801106.as p
Aug. 11, 2006
Martirosyan a Developing 'Nightmare'
By Steve Kim (Aug 11, 2006) Photo © VanesBoxing.com
>From what I gather, the tickets for this weekend's heavyweight title
fight between Hasim Rahman and Oleg Maskaev at the Thomas and Mack
Center in Las Vegas aren't exactly a coveted commodity. The crowd
will most likely resemble a UNLV hoops game post-Jerry Tarkanian.
But there is one fighter who will have a rabid following that has
bought their share of tickets - junior middleweight prospect Vanes
Martirosyan - who faces Marcus Brooks in the opening bout on the
night's pay-per-view telecast.
Just as he had in performing on the undercards of Jose Luis Castillo
and Diego Corrales in October at the Thomas and Mack, Antonio
Margarito in Feburary, and Floyd Mayweather-Zab Judah in April,
Martirosyan has sold a cadre of tickets to his fans in the
Armenian-filled population of Glendale, California.
"He is tremendously popular with the fans," said Bob Arum of Top
Rank, which promotes the 9-0 boxer. And his ticket selling prowess
extends to shows without big main events. "I remember when that
Klitschko-Rahman fight fell out and we did the thing in the ballroom
at Wynn, they fell in love with Vanes. And Vanes, you can count on
him bringing to any event that he's in - at least in Las Vegas - over
200 people."
On June 3rd, after the rubbermatch between Castillo and Corrales was
shelved when the Mexican stalwart (again) failed to make the
lightweight limit, the undercard - featuring a title defense from IBF
flyweight titlist Vic Darchinyan (another boxer of Armenian
descent) - was saved, and a sparse crowd showed up at the Thomas and
Mack - the large majority of which came to see Martirosyan while
waving the flag of their country. He would dispatch of Oscar Gonzalez
in one round, bringing about a loud ovation from the cavernous, empty
arena.
"He's from that area, Glendale, which has a very big Armenian
population, and they're close knit and they're fans and they come for
him," says Arum, who insists with his ticket selling potential that
he will not rush his progression. "And you saw that Darchinyan got
the benefit, because when he fought, they were waving the same flags
they were waving for Vanes."
In the past, Martirosyan's bouts have been scheduled in the late
afternoon, hours before the TV cameras go on. Yet his loyal following
is among the first to arrive in the arena for the night's
proceedings. To them, the main event takes place long before the sun
goes down.
"The more people I see, the more excited I am, the more happy I am,"
Martirosyan tells Maxboxing. "I feel stronger. I just go out there
and do my best and make my fans happy."
And he can feel the groundswell of support in his hometown of
Glendale, a suburb of Los Angeles.
`When I walk down the street, people always come by, they take
pictures of me and they say hi. When I'm running, they always honk
and say good luck. So it feels great," he says.
But he's even been taken aback by the multitude of his people that
show up.
"Sometimes I'm surprised when I get to my fights and see all these
Armenians there and I'm like, 'Wow, what are those guys doing here?'"
Martirosyan says that his uncle and his friends, along with local
merchants in the area, are in charge of selling and distributing the
tickets. There are even fight posters made up promoting his
appearances. For his June 3rd date, there was a fight poster
featuring the images of he and Darchinyan, with no mention of
Castillo-Corrales III, almost treating that scheduled affair as a
walk-out bout. That poster ended up being prophetic.
"I think the most amazing thing is that Vanes, for each of his Las
Vegas fights, has sold at least $10,000 worth of tickets," said Nick
Khan, who co-manages 'the Nightmare' with Shelly Finkel. "And if you
consider the fact that most of those are the $50 and $100 tickets,
the let's say, not-most-expensive tickets, it's pretty amazing how
many people are driving a minimum of five hours to see him. And this
has been since his first Las Vegas fight, so it's tremendous to see
the support he gets in Glendale."
There was a time long ago - before television networks put up
exorbitant license fees - that fighters' purses were directly tied
into their ability to put butts into seats. At many club shows today,
there are still promoters and fighters who make deals for fighters to
get paid in tickets, which they will sell to their friends and
family.
"Bob has been kind enough basically to give Vanes as many tickets as
he needs. Vanes will then sell them and return whatever he can't
sell, obviously in a timely fashion, to Bob," explained Khan of their
protocol. And the selling of tickets has become a community and
ethnic affair. "Not only with local merchants," Khan points out, "but
literally between non-merchants just over the phone. And there's no
surcharge, no one's making any money off of it. It's basically a
word-of-mouth thing, 'Hey, I have access to good tickets on Vanes'
fight, here's the face value, that's what I'm selling them for, do
you want them?' And all of these people basically pool their money,
they give it to Vanes and he sends it to Top Rank."
No, he isn't selling out arenas, but to put this into perspective,
Martirosyan, a 2004 United States Olympian, has less than ten pro
bouts under his belt, has never headlined his own show or broadcast,
and yet can still move some ducats to fights that they know may not
be particularly competitive, and which take place in another state.
And it's not like the Armenians have a broad history in this sport
either.
Could he be the first Armenian box-office attraction?
`Good question," says Arum. "I don't know any other Armenians."
But the 20-year old hopeful embraces both cultures.
"I'm Armenian-American," he states proudly, "because I represented
the United States, I'm proud to be a US citizen and I'm also proud to
be Armenian. So I'm Armenian inside but I also have USA on my back.
So I'm proud to be an American."
And this outing is a chance to broaden his fan base across the
country.
"All my Armenian fans, they come early because they know me from
around here. But I'm happy I get to fight later on because now all my
American fans get to see what I can do," he says.
"It's by far his biggest showcase," says Khan of this opportunity to
fight under the bright lights of HBO Pay-Per-View. "The opening fight
of a heavyweight championship pay-per-view, he's 9-0 with six
knockouts - the important thing to keep in mind is at one point he
was 4-0 with one knockout. So over the course of his last five
fights, they've all ended by knockout. He's definitely developing
into the professional that we all thought he would and everyone's
excited to have him showcase it on TV."
One thing that will make him appealing to the masses is his hell-bent
for leather style. Martirosyan is a slugger who looks to bang out his
foes in a fast and furious fashion. He doesn't so much spar, but
brawl with headgear and 14-ounce gloves on. He's like that race-car
driver who just can't cruise at 60 mph or that thoroughbred that
can't just stretch his legs at a nice, leisurely pace.
"Yeah,' agreed his trainer, Freddie Roach. `He's OK - till he gets
hit. And in boxing that doesn't always take too long, so once he gets
hit, he gets a little aggressive, forgets about the gameplan and
wants to kill his opponent or take him out. He's explosive, but he's
young. So that does happen with young fighters sometimes."
Funny thing is, Martirosyan thinks he is actually toning it down.
`In sparring I try to take it easy," he claims. But asked later if he
is instructed by his trainer to gear down in sparring, he admits,
"Yeah, he tells me to calm down sometimes. I get too excited. But I
always try to look good in sparring; I take every sparring session
like it's a fight. So I always try to do my best."
A year ago, Martirosyan looked a bit stiff and mechanical. Today, he
looks more fluid and comfortable with the pro game.
`A little by little, it's a learning process. So everyday I learn
something new from Freddie, so I'm getting there," he says.
"He's come along pretty well," says Roach. `The better fighters we
put him in with, the better he does. I put him in with Roman
Karmazin, the former world champion, and he does great. I put him
with high-caliber fighters, he boxes well, and he's very
professional. But I put him with an ordinary guy sometimes and he
gets a little amateurish. So I think with the better opponents he
faces, the better he'll do. He rises to the occasion pretty much."
The question is just how quickly Martirosyan will be moved.
`I'd like to step up the pace a little bit," says his trainer. "Bruce
Trampler is being a little too careful with him, I believe, and I
think we need to step up the opponents a little bit, just to let him
develop."
Trampler is Top Rank's highly respected matchmaker.
Khan says of the situation: "We agree that after the fight, a little
bit of a step up in class. I always defer to Freddie on these things.
In terms of stepping up rounds, again, I would leave that to Freddie,
who had indicated to me that he wants to keep him at sixes until the
end of the calendar year."
Which seems to be news to the fighter.
`This is my last six-rounder," he says. "I'm going up in eight and
then to ten. It's up to my manager and Bob Arum."
But Arum, who thinks he may have something here, isn't going to rush
things. A fighter, like fine wine, needs time to develop.
`We have no time frame," he insists. "Bruce is a great matchmaker,
and he's a great evaluator of talent. Obviously, the management wants
to push, they want to go up to eight-rounders. Bruce is resisting it;
he says he's not ready yet for eight-rounders.
`Eventually, when the time comes, the time will come."
MARINATING
Even though Roach and Arum may have a slight disagreement on the
immediate future of Martirosyan, they both agree that fighters today,
in general, are moved much quicker - to their detriment - than in the
past.
And it happens for several different reasons.
"Television," says Roach. "People want to see competitive fights,
they don't want to see blowouts so much and that's what matchmakers
are paid to do for
TV - put competitive fights on."
Arum also thinks that the advent of the 'signing bonus' has changed
how managers handle their prospects.
"I think one of the problems is that people invest in them, which
they didn't before," he says. "And having made a substantial
investment, they want to see a return on that investment sooner,
rather than later. That's what it's all about. That's really what
it's all about.
`Before, when a fighter would go to a manager, because he was a good
manager - the manager put up nothing except his time and his effort.
He was willing to take much more time."
LOG JAM
As fights are being slotted for the rest of the year, there seems to
be a bit of a snafu in early December from what I understand. Somehow
two promoters (Lou DiBella with Jermain Taylor and Artie Pellulo with
Ricky Hatton) believe they have dibs on December 9th on HBO. Good
thing the suits at HBO aren't air traffic controllers.
The newest rumor making the rounds is that on December 2nd, Winky
Wright will face Kassim Ouma on HBO Pay-Per-View, which makes some
sense (no, not that this fight is somehow pay-per-view worthy) but
given that HBO loves to counter-program Showtime and that Golden Boy
doesn't mind stealing some (if not a lot of) thunder from Top Rank -
which has an Antonio Margarito/Miguel Cotto doubleheader that night
on that other network.
It's like killing two birds with two stones.
I've heard that perhaps moving one of the shows on the ninth to the
last weekend of November - where it could perhaps be paired up with
the Pacquiao-Morales III replay - is being looked into. Then you
figure the Wright-Ouma replay could be replayed with the Ricky Hatton
fight.
I'm not a programmer or anything, but that's my guess. My question
is, is it that hard to slot just one fight card for a particular
date?
PAY-PER-SATURATION
If Wright-Ouma does come to fruition on pay-per-view, that would mean
in a four week stretch from November 4th to December 2nd there could
be three pay-per-view shows (with Mayweather-TBA, Pacquiao-Morales
III and Wright-Ouma), only one of which seems to be pay-per-view
worthy( Pacquiao-Morales) based on recent track records.
I hear that Wright-Ouma is being considered for pay-per-view because
HBO's budget has run dry for 2006. Meanwhile, Nicolay Valuev-Monte
Barrett will be on HBO's 'Championship Boxing' on October 7th. OK,
the point is, Wright-Ouma is a good fight (potentially very good) but
folks will be reluctant to pay $40-45 bucks for it. And I ask this:
why is Valuev, who has been basically ignored by everybody in the
states, suddenly worthy of HBO? Could it be because he has one of
those belts (the WBA, in this instance) that this same network has
deemed 'worthless'?
Anyone else want to know why many folks are separating themselves
from the game of boxing or why many others consider it a 'dying
game'?
I don't think it is, but I just hope it can survive the current
leadership at HBO, like you hope the New York Knicks can survive the
regime of Isiah Thomas and James Dolan.
http://www.maxboxing.com/kim/kim0801106.as p