Geraldo G. Rivas

“Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.”- Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

The career paths of Vanes “The Nightmare” Martirosyan and Erislandy Lara have both been described at some point as on the verge of “dying on the vine,” drying up from lack of support. Strangely, both combatants are with the two most prominent promotional companies in boxing: Martirosyan with Top Rank and Lara’s backing coming from Golden Boy. Come Saturday, both career vines will receive much needed water as they will meet in a Boxing After Dark main event live on HBO from the Wynn Resort in Las Vegas.

Erislandy Lara has been a perplexing case in the last couple of years. The Cuban southpaw, with an amateur resume that would make most Olympians gawk, has yet to reach the career heights envisioned by the boxing universe. Perhaps the fault does not lie with Lara, but rather his promotional company Golden Boy. As the praises for junior welterweight Canelo Alvarez (rightfully so in my opinion) rained down from Oscar De La Hoya and the rest at Golden Boy, Lara was viewed as the bridesmaid, staring at the Mexican prince from the sidelines. As a major push at 154 pounds was taking place for Canelo, with HBO dates and successful title opportunities, Lara was being placed on ShoBox and Friday Night Fight cards. Many felt Golden Boy were shielding Canelo from Lara, given his speed, strength, and experience, although one can only speculate. On the contrary, Canelo has a passionate and immense Mexican and Mexican-American following, and to be quite frank, Lara does not have the backers. This may all come to a screeching halt with a win on Saturday.

Vanes Martirosyan, a native of Gledale, Califonia, from Armenian descent, first burst onto the scene of June of 2010, when he defeated Joe Greene in a forgettable performance on the undercard of Cotto-Foreman. Prior to his HBO television debut, Martiosyan won a controversial decision against Kassim Ouma on Fox Sports. Since the Greene bout, Martirosyan’s career has been on cruise control with nameless victories over subpar opponents, with the exception of Saul Roman. Many have been critical of Vanes, calling him a keyboard warrior (his Twitter rants in the past are legendary) and accusing the former American Olympian of ducking opponents. The time for “The Nightmare” to make a move happens now. With one fight, the last two years of chatter from the detractors could evaporate with Martirosyan rising, waiting to say “I told you so!”

Some have said the winner of this fight will go on to grand paydays while the other fades away into obscurity. Statements like that are merely ridiculous hyperboles and should be utterly ignored. Both of these fighters have a tremendous upside and have a sun-like future; what this fight will tell is whose career transpires first. Win or lose, both fighters deserve the limelight that will shine down on them at the Wynn Resort. This is not the classic “Crossroads” fight, but it will determine who will board the money train first. I for one cannot wait to see the results come Saturday.

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