Golovkin expected to face Martirosyan on May 5

Boxingnews24.com

By Allan Fox

Unbeaten contender Sergiy Derevyanchenko might not like it, but it looks like IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) will be facing junior middleweight contender Vanes Martirosyan (36-3-1, 21 KOs) on May 5 at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. Lance Pugmire of the LA Times is reporting that the 31-year-old Martirosyan is expected to get the fight with GGG on May 5.

During his 13-year pro career, Martirosyan has been knocked down a couple of times in fights against the hard-hitting journeyman Saul Roman in June 2011 and Kassim Ouma in January 2010. Martirosyan got up off the deck in both of those fights to win.

Martirosyan fought for the U.S in the 2004 Olympics. He defeated Benamar Meskine of Algeria 45-0. In Martirosyan’s next match, he was beaten by Lorenzo Aragon Armenteros of Cuba by a 20-11 score. After turning pro in 2005, Martirosyan has piled up wins over Kassim Ouma, Joe Greene, Saul Roman, Ishe Smith and Willie Nelson.

Martirosyan has losses to Demetrius Andrade, Jermell Charlo and Erislandy Lara. Ouma knocked Martirosyan down in the 9th round in their fight in January 2010. However, Martirosyan was able to get back up and finish the fight to win a 10 round unanimous decision. Golovkin had a hard time against Ouma too in his fight with him in 2011. Golovkin ended up stopping Ouma in the 10th round, but it was a gruelling fight.

Martirosyan perhaps deserved a victory over Charlo, but it didn’t go his way. Martirosyan’s punching power has always been top notch. What have plagued him in the past are his stamina issues. Martirosyan looks strong in the first 4 to 6 rounds of his fights, but then he fades and struggles in the second half of his fights when facing better opposition. We saw Martirosyan’s stamina problems surface in his losses to Lara, Andrade and in his fights against Ouma and Greene.

Martirosyan has gotten a lot better at pacing himself in recent years, but he still has problems with his energy levels late in his fights. Martirosyan hasn’t looked like the same confident fighter he once was since his 12 round split loss to Demetrius Andrade in November 2013. Martirosyan knocked Andrade down in the 1st round of that fight. However, Martirosyan wasn’t able to keep fighting hard, and Andrade was able to take control over the contest to squeak out a victory.

What this means in terms of Golovkin’s IBF title is unknown at this time. It’s possible that the IBF could strip him if they decide that he should have fought his IBF mandatory challenger Derevyanchenko (12-0, 10 KOs), whose management have been pushing extremely hard for him to get the fight with GGG on May 5. Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler hasn’t shown interest in that fight, which is not altogether surprising given how tough of a fight that it would be. Golovkin hasn’t been training for Derevyanchenko, so it would be a rush for him to prepare for him in the 3 weeks remaining for the fight. Moreover, it’s a risky fight for Golovkin to take right now. Golovkin has a big money rematch with Saul Canelo Alvarez that is expected to take place in September, and a fight against Derevyanchenko, 32, would put that fight in jeopardy.

Golovkin and his team are likely willing to give up the IBF title so that they can stay on path to get the big payday against Canelo. If Golovkin wants to go after the IBF title later, it’ll be easy enough to do, because Derevyanchenko will likely gladly face Golovkin in a unification fight. However, we still don’t know if the IBF will in fact strip Golovkin of his IBF belt if he faces Martirosyan instead of Derevyanchenko on May 5. If the IBF does that, they’ll end up with a less popular fighter as their champion at middleweight, and there are no guarantees that Derevyanchenko will ever get a fight against the likes of Canelo.

The @IBFUSBAboxing won’t like it but expectation is @GGGBoxing is going to take a May 5 fight against @VanesBoxing @StubHubCenter on @HBO,” Lance Pugmire said on his Twitter.

Martirosyan has better boxing skills and pedigree than Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan. They both have stamina problems that have limited their success in the past. Martirosyan is still an overall better fighter than O’Sullivan. The problems with Martirosyan’s stamina and recent inactivity has hurt his career.

The California State Athletic Commission has already sanctioned Martirosyan as being a suitable opponent for GGG to fight on May 5th, but the IBF, WBA and WBC reportedly hasn’t. If Golovkin still fights Martirosyan, it’ll be interesting to see what the sanctioning bodies do. Would they not count this as a title defense for Golovkin or will they strip him of his belts? I can’t imagine that the World Boxing Council will take a drastic step like that just because Golovkin is defending his WBC title on short notice against Martirosyan on May 5. This is a replacement opponent for Golovkin, as his originally scheduled opponent Canelo Alverez pulled out of the fight just a little over a week ago.

It’s not as if Golovkin’s team knew about this month ago. They just found out, so they’ve been scrambling to try and find an opponent to step in take the fight on May 5. Team Golovkin thought they had a good replacement in Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan, but Golden Boy Promotions pulled the rug out from under them on Wednesday by choosing not to let their fighter take the fight.

Martirosyan hasn’t fought in 2 years, and he’s lost two out of his last three fights. He’s not a middleweight, but he is ranked #1 by the WBC at 154. Martirosyan had two scheduled fights that fell through for him. If not for that, he would have fought already.

If Golovkin stripped of his IBF title for fighting Martirosyan instead of Derevyanchenko, it won’t matter much in the big scheme of things. GGG’s focus right now is staying active while he waits for his rematch with Canelo. If the IBF is going to order Golovkin to take a fight on short notice against Derevyanchenko, it doesn’t leave him much choice but to give up the title.

About Author