Vanes Martirosyan tells BoxingScene.com that he's willing to move up in weight to face WBA middlweight titlist Felix Sturm on November 26, which is the set date for Sturm's next bout. No opponent has been announced, but we do know that it won't be recent DiBella Entertainment signee Matthew Macklin, with whom Sturm had a great and debated fight on June 25.
"I have seen Macklin at Wild Card before and he is nothing special and he almost beat Sturm. I'm sure I can knock Sturm out. Tell him since he is looking for a fight and no one at 154 has the balls to fight me, that I will move up and fight him."
One thing this might tell us is that negotiations for a WBC eliminator fight at 154 pounds with Alfredo Angulo aren't going very well, which is no surprise. I doubt that Martirosyan or his team have a massive problem going to Mexico for that fight, but the fact that it's a requirement with Angulo unable to enter the United States due to visa problems might be a bit of a hitch in the giddy-up of any talks. Instead of being able to wrangle for more money to go to Mexico, they just kind of have to go to Mexico -- or somewhere else out of the country where it won't make much money -- to fight Angulo, who may or may not really be coming back any time soon. Angulo does have a fight set on August 20 in Mexico, but it's against Joseph Gomez (replacing JC Candelo) and it just feels like one of those fight dates that will get canceled. Angulo hasn't fought since July 2010.
As for Martirosyan moving up, look, I know a lot of people aren't particularly high on what Vanes' in-ring prospects anymore, but he is willing to fight anyone. It's not like he'd be in the bottom tier of guys that Sturm has defended the WBA belt against -- hell, he might be upper echelon. The fight probably won't happen, but I like it alright if it does.