Miguel Cotto Undercard Recap Pawel Wolak and James Moore wow
On paper, it appeared that Vanes Martirosyan was in for a tough battle on Saturday night against “Mean” Joe Greene for the NABF and NABO junior middleweight title. After all, the California native would be fighting in enemy territory in taking on the New York native in Yankee Stadium. Most importantly, he was facing an undefeated prospect who could match him in speed and technique. Certainly, Martirosyan was familiar with the task at hand: he is friends with Greene from their amateur boxing days, and they are even Facebook friends (although Martirosyan said he would remove Greene before the fight and add him back after).
Perhaps it was familiarity that made Martirosyan so comfortable in the ring, or simply having fought tougher opponents in high-profile situations. Whatever the reason, Martirosyan surged on the biggest stage of his young career while Greene floundered, as the former U.S. Olympian Martirosyan earned and easy 10-round decision to highlight to undercard to Miguel Cotto’s TKO victory over Yuri Foreman.
Martirosyan (28-17 KOs) had it easy for most of the fight. Neither fighter seemed too interested in throwing combinations, making the early rounds of the fight a battle of jabs. That was a perfect scenario for the taller and stronger Martirosyan, who was able to keep his opponent at bay. Greene (22-1, 14 KOs) struggled from the onset, generally settling for throwing single punches rather than attempting to throw combinations that could hurt Martirosyan.
While Martirosyan was cruising in the early rounds, things became more difficult in the middle rounds. Adversity would find him in the fifth round, when a series of sharp punches from Greene (and a possible head butt) would lead to Martirosyan’s left eye to rapidly swell. Martirosyan had not dealt with difficult situations well in the past – such as his controversial win over Kassim Ouma in January when he could never figure out the crafty veteran. Greene’s corner implored him to continue to jab and focus his attack on Martirosyan’s wounded eye.
But if Martirosyan had flinched under tough conditions in the past, he rose the occasion on Saturday night. He hardly seemed affected by the swelling of his eye, continuing to press the action with a stinging jab followed by some good straight rights that stunned Greene. As the fight continued, Martirosyan piled up the points, making it clear that Greene would need a knockout to win. This forced Greene to abandon his strategy of jabbing and moving, instead loading up for one big punch that could change the fight.
In the end, it was Martirosyan who would land the most telling punch of the late rounds, catching Greene behind the ear late in the 10th round with a right hand to score a flash knockdown. It wasn’t a hard shot, but it summed up the night for Greene – the former Golden Gloves champion simply lacked the power or activity to bother Martirosyan. It was no surprise that Martirosyan earned scores of 96-93 on two cards and 98-91 on a third to score the biggest win of his young career.
One of the most anticipated fights on the undercard was between junior middleweights Pawel Wolak and James Moore, and the two delivered an action-packed fight. In the end, it was the relentless pressure of Wolak (27-1, 17 KOs) that was too much for Moore (17-3, 10 KOs) to handle, as the “Raging Bull” scored a unanimous decision victory in their 10-round bout. There was very little defense on display in the featherweight contest between Korean Jae Sung Lee and New Jersey prospect Jorge Diaz – much to the delight of the crowd. Eventually Diaz (14-0. 9 KOs) had too much power for Lee (10-3-1, 7 KOs) with the fight being stopped in the sixth round.
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