2004 US Olympian Vanes Martirosyan reportedly died of cancer earlier today at the age of 39. Martirosyan (36-4-1, 21 KOs) battled squamous cell carcinoma cancer. He got treatment for the problem.
A sad day for boxing
Earlier in November 2025, it was revealed that Martirosyan was battling cancer. He had a biopsy after experiencing intense pain. He was later diagnosed with cancer.
Vanes began his career in 2005 and went undefeated until suffering his first loss to Demetrius Andrade via a 12-round split decision on November 9, 2013. His career was rocky from that point on, losing to Jermell Charlo, Erislandy Lara, and finally Gennadiy Golovkin.
Martirosyan retired after his second-round knockout loss to IBO and WBC middleweight champion Golovkin on May 5, 2018. It was still an excellent showing from GGG, so it’s understandable why Vanes lost that fight.
Had Martirosyan fought at 154 in this era, it would have been interesting to see how he would have fared against the top fighters. He had both the power and the size to compete at junior middleweight in this era of the sport.
When he was fighting, moving up to 160 at the end of his career was the wrong move. He had the power to dominate at 154, but came undone when he faced Andrade and Jermell Charlo.
Last updated on 23/11/2025
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