Wayne McCullough watches Vanes Martirosyan add to his growing reputation by beating Kassim Ouma.
Martirosyan looks the part with another promising performance
Last weekend at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas Kassim Ouma took on the younger Vanes Martirosyan.
This bout was probably Ouma's last chance to get back into the spotlight. He had won the IBF light-middleweight belt back in 2004 and made one successful defence before losing in July 2005. After four wins back he moved up to middleweight but was defeated by Jermain Taylor in December 2006.
Ouma then went back down to junior middle and fought four more fights, losing three. His last fight was a shock loss to Gabriel Rosada in April 2009.
Martirosyan, who was born in Armenia, now fights out of California. He fought for the United States in the 2004 Olympic Games and is a good boxer with solid all-around skills. He is close to fighting for a world title and a win against Ouma would set that up.
Martirosyan picks his shots, making you miss and then making you pay for your mistakes. This fight was a big step up for him and it could just be the right time to get a win over a former champ.
Ouma, the southpaw, is a non-stop puncher. He came in 4lbs under the weight limit showing he was in great shape having trained with his new coach Livingstone Bramble. He started well, pressuring Martirosyan and landing right hooks to the head. Martirosyan was biding his time trying to figure out his opponent's style.
Martirosyan started to land his right hand but was finding Ouma's odd angle of punching awkward. In the foth round, Martirosyan seemed to finally get it as he moved left, then right, landing punches and now puzzling Ouma.
Finished
In the fifth, Martirosyan stopped moving as much and let Ouma back into the fight allowing him to land good right hooks to Martirosyan's head whose eye was bleeding from a headbutt caused in an earlier round.
Martirosyan got back into it in the seventh round using nice footwork and was scoring well, easily winning that round. Ouma slowed a little in the next couple but he still pushed forward and was showing that he wasn't a finished fighter.
Going into the final two rounds the fight looked like it was up for grabs as it was very close at that point. Just as Martirosyan threw a right in the ninth round, Ouma dropped him with a right hook to the chin. Martirosyan went to the canvas but immediately did a backflip to his feet. It was just a flash knockdown and he wasn't hurt.
He went on to pick his shots in the final round and was awarded a unanimous decision on scores of 97-92 and 97-93 twice. I had scored it a little closer at 96-94, but thought Martirosyan looked like the winner.
This was Martirosyan's best performance to date. He was pushed hard for 10 rounds by a former world champion in Ouma who showed that he can still compete at this level and isn't done yet.
Martirosyan was tested and came through this fight showing that he can become a world champion himself. Every young fighter needs a good test like this to prove himself and Martirosyan did just that.
