As Vanes Martirosyan prepares for possibly the most dangerous fight of his career — a short notice bout against a serious puncher at a higher weight class — the California-based fighter talks to Fight Hub about what he’s going to bring to the table that no other Golovkin opponent has before.
Martirosyan on his reaction to learning that he landed the Golovkin fight:
“It was morning, I was in bed, my kids were jumping over me like they do all day. And then I got the call and it was [Don] King from the office, he was like ‘Do you wanna fight this guy named Triple G they call him?’ I’m like ‘Of course! Are you serious?’ He’s like ‘Yeah.’ I was like ‘Of course I’ll take that fight.’
“It was amazing news, it was a really happy day for me because I’ve been waiting for it — especially because I was scheduled two weeks before and they canceled that fight, so he knew I was training. So when I got the call I was really excited.”
On how he prepares for an opponent like Golovkin on short notice:
“Um, I see it like this: I got three, four weeks to get ready for him, but also he has three, four weeks to get ready for me also. So I look at it that way, you know what I mean? I’m good because I’ve had like five, six training camps, I’ve been active in the gym so no time off — so we were ready to go. So the fight with Golovkin, it was easy for me to say ‘yeah’ because I knew I was ready.”
On how formidable the task is to move up in weight to face a come-forward puncher:
“I mean it’s actually good, you know, I bring a little bit of power, I don’t have to kill myself to make the weight a little bit. I still gotta lose a little bit of weight — I feel like every fighter should lose a little bit of weight, there should be sacrifice. Um, there’s a little bit of sacrifice but also I get to eat a lil’ more carne asada and a little more meat [laughs].
On his thoughts on how the Nevada Commission handled the Canelo situation:
“I’m not happy with the way the commission disciplined him ‘cause [Julio Cesar] Chavez Jr. [got 9 months for marijuana] and PEDs for 6 months? I don’t know what that is about. Because [Antonio] Margarito loading his gloves, fighting [Shane] Mosley — they should be expelled because is someone is trying to do something to hurt another man?! Just go in there fist-to-fist, you know what I mean? And get the result that way.
“But if you’re trying to do something to be a superman, trying to hurt another man — especially he has a family — the trauma is really hard to the head. Just go in there and see the result. Be a man about it. You win some, you lose some but do it the manly way, not a cheating way.”
On if he feels Golovkin is a more skilled fighter than his past opponents in Erislandy Lara, Jermell Charlo, and Demetrius Andrade:
“Well those guys I had to chase ‘em. I had to chase Lara, I had to chase Andrade — I don’t gotta chase [Golovkin]. You know if you watch my Lara fight and those fights, as soon as I land a punch — when I dropped Andrade he got up from the first round he ran for the whole fight and he did beat me in that fight. I do give him that fight but Lara, he tasted my right hand, he starts moving.
“Golovkin’s gonna taste my right hand and we’ll see what he does ‘cause I’ma get him with another right hand and I know he’s gonna keep coming forward, I’m not afraid to get hit, and we’ll see if he’s afraid...What I’ve seen is that nobody has had the guts to stand in front of him and to land punches on him. I’m the guy that’s gonna do that and it’s actually gonna answer a lot of questions about him also.”
On what questions he has about Golovkin:
“We’ll see how he takes my punches. We’ll see how he fights a guy who’s not scared to take his punches, a guy that’s not scared to be there and exchange with him.”
On why he doesn’t plan on boxing Golovkin instead of trying to rumble with him:
“‘Cause it’s not Mexican style. We want Mexican style, baby.”
On how he sees himself beating Golovkin:
“Just going in there and hitting him with a train. You know it’s gonna be two trains going at it, it’s gonna answer a lot of questions about Golovkin, I promise you.”
Personally I think it’s a piss-poor strategy for Vanes to be moving up in weight, planning to get into a firefight with one of the best punchers in the sport but, hey, it should make it fun for as long as it lasts.