Demetrius Andrade vs Vanes Martirosyan: One for the purists

By Peter Wells: (twitter- @boxingsaddler):



Heated: Martirosyan(left) & Andrade(right) at yesterday's weigh in

When it comes to fighters deserving a shot at a world championship, very few would begrudge Demetrius Andrade and Vanes Martirosyan their WBO Light Middleweight title bid tonight on an intriguing triple header (Donaire-Darchinyan preview can be found on home page).


The weigh-in almost boiled over yesterday as Andrade shoved Martirosyan after a heated stare down. With so much on the line this type of passion and tension is exactly what these fights are all about. And its not the first time that Martirosyan has traded words and shoves with his opponents, as himself and Erislandy Lara got personal in their weigh in last year.

Martirosyan is 33-0-1(21) and since beating Willie Lee(TKO 3) in December 2009 he has been waiting for this opportunity. Wins over Kassim Ouma(UD 10), Joe Greene(UD 10), Saul Roman(TKO 7) and a technical draw with Erislandy Lara did not bring him a shot he had been working towards with the WBC, but eventually with the WBO title being made vacant the Armenian fighting out of California gets his long awaited shot at a world title.



Made to miss: Lara nor Martirosyan took control in a scrappy fight

As for Andrade 19-0(13) this shot comes off the back of a long winded building job. The Rhode Island fighter has looked scintillating in dominating all 19 of his previous opponents including a 10 round shutout of Freddy Hernandez last time out.

Both have only 1 contest this year after their initial clash was postponed but these two youthful fighters should not have any problems with rust come Saturday night.

Vanes and Demetrius both stand above 6ft and a long range chess match will be expected, implementing the correct tactics will be vitally important. As the more experienced boxer the expectation would be for Martirosyan to take the fight to Andrade but I expect the slightly bigger Andrade to be on the front foot, controlling centre ring.

Martirosyan is awkward and can be unattractive to watch at times, but Andrade's patience has thus far been exceptional, waiting to pick the right shots, never rushing to find a stoppage even against the most unwilling of opponents on his way up the ladder.


Variety: Andrade's exhibits his punch output vs Hernandez(left)

There is the concern that Andrade could be hit by the same unknown reality as Daniel Jacobs was just a few years ago when he was favourite to win the WBO Middleweight title against the also unbeaten Dmitry Pirog. Jacobs was stunned in 5 rounds, but I don't believe that Andrade will suffer the same fate.

The pick is for Andrade to boss the opening rounds, before Martirosyan edges his way back into the contest, making Andrade miss and working hard to nick close rounds. That is when Andrade can show his versatility, making the correct adjustments, moving around the ring himself, giving Vanes little chance at counterpunching or winning rounds on activity. Any wild swings from Martirosyan will be punished as Andrade fires in quick counters and/or combinations before switching back behind his jab to close out the fight, taking a unanimous decision win.