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Martirosian bows
out to Cuban veteran 3d5de
Whittier
Daily news, Los
Angeles, August 20, 2004.
Of course, it had to be a Cuban.
That's the way it's gone more often than
not for the U.S. boxing team in recent Olympics.
Some Cuban fighting gray at the temples
schooling some U.S. boxer fresh from earning
his learner's permit.
The boxing program on that little tropical
island remains one of the hottest in the
world. The once great amateur program in
the U.S., cold as ice.
Since the 1988 Olympics the U.S. has won
a grand total of two boxing gold medals.
Meanwhile, Cuba brought home 13.
Nothing is expected to change here. Cuba
is favored to advance six boxers to the
finals and the U.S. maybe one.
So it came Thursday afternoon that the
USA's Vanes Martirosian drew Cuba's Lorenzo
Aragon in his second-round match.
Aragon owns cigars older than Martirosian.
He's 30 and has won two world championships.
One more serious Cuban boxing veteran.
Understand, in Cuba they don't turn pro.
Their best boxers just keep appearing at
Olympics and world championships. They get
better and better until deemed too old and
replaced by the next 28-year-old rookie.
Fidel Castro may be on his last legs, communism
crumbling, the Cuban economy in shambles,
but the country's boxing remains a regular
world leader.
On the surface, Thursday offered the biggest
of mismatches. A few months ago, no one
in the U.S. even knew Martirosian. He was
17 years old and ranked 14th nationally
at 152 pounds when he went to trials.
But with two of the top boxers in his weight
class disqualified Andre Berto for throwing
Juan Mherson to the ground, forcing Mherson
out with an injury Martirosian turned it
on and stunned just about everyone by winning
the welterweight class.
Martirosian was born in Armenia and came
to the U.S. at age 4 with his family. He's
now the pride of Glendale's swelling Armenian
community, but all logic pointed to his
being outclassed against Aragon.
Martirosian entered the ring first. You
figured his knees might be shaking. He won
his first Olympic bout against Algeria's
Benamar Meskine, but Aragon was a whole
other level.
"I wasn't nervous,' Martirosian said.
"I just love boxing so much, I can't
wait to get into the ring.'
Martirosian talks about boxing with the
kind of enthusiasm most teenagers reserve
for PlayStation 2. And he clearly was not
afraid of the veteran.
But Aragon is a serious veteran, and looked
it. Apparently the judges thought so, too.
He scored early and often with punches
that barely seem to graze the kid. He'd
tie Martirosian up, then stick his arms
out straight like it was the kid holding
him.
Several times Martirosian was warned by
the official from Lestho (a small South
African country) not to hold.
"He was holding and I was getting
called for it,' Martirosian said. "It
was frustrating. He was trying to get into
my head, but I stuck to my game plan.'
He had fought and lost to Aragon once before
in May, starting well but getting a little
too excited and allowing the Cuban to score
easily with jabs.
This time out, it went the other way. In
the electronic scoring system in the Olympics,
a point is scored for each blow landed,
regardless of its power.
Aragon jumped to a quick 8-2 lead after
the first round. Martirosian scored the
first two points of the second, and Aragon
the last six.
A 14-4 lead is huge in this four- round
format. Still, Martirosian kept up the pressure
and actually won the next round 4-3 and
split the final round.
That ended his dreams of gold, the Cuban
advancing with a 20-11 victory.
"I thought he scored more points than
he did,' said U.S. coach Basheer Aboullah.
"I wanted that one. I thought if he
beat the Cuban we could really build some
momentum for the rest of the tournament.'
Aragon, the 2003 and 2001 world champion,
acted like it was so much in a day's work.
At least a Cuban boxer's work.
"We Cubans are always optimistic because
we are the best team,' Aragon said. "We
aim at getting gold at all 11 weight classes.'
Martirosian made Aragon look like a very
beatable fighter. He landed the hardest
blow of the bout, staggering Aragon with
a right. But the official warned him for
slapping. Must have been some slap.
"He showed me a lot of respect this
time,' Martirosian said. "He knew I
hit hard. I caught him good in the first
round.'
Now he gets to play cheerleader for his
surviving U.S. teammates. Typically, boxers
use the Olympics as a springboard to a pro
career, but Martirosian now 18 isn't so
sure.
"I'm still young,' he said. "I'm
still going to get better. He's 30 years
old. You might see me in 2008, who knows?
"To me, it's not about the money.
I just love amateur boxing.'
The pros do offer one major advantage,
though. No Cubans.
-- Steve Dilbeck can be reached at (818)
713-3607.
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