Artur Razmikovich Grigorian (; born 20 October 1967) is a retired Armenian-Uzbek professional boxer.

Grigorian is a former WBO lightweight champion. He defended his title against record-breaking 17 boxers, and held it for seven years, six months and twenty days; nearly as long as record holder Benny Leonard held his lightweight title (7 years, 8 months).

Biography Grigorian was born on 20 October 1967 in Soviet Tashkent, Uzbek SSR to an Armenian family from Nagorno-Karabakh. He has a brother and sister.

Amateur career Grigorian began boxing at the age of 11. He defeated Shane Mosley and won a gold medal at the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle City.Interview with Artur Grigorian Grigorian won a silver medal at the 1991 World Amateur Boxing Championships and competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

1991 2nd place as a lightweight at the World Championships in Sydney, Australia. His results were: Defeated Juan Carlos Saiz (Spain) PTS (26–18) Defeated Julio Gonzalez (Cuba) PTS (15–12) Defeated Hong Sung-Sik (South Korea) PTS (19–7) Defeated Justin Rowsell (Australia) PTS (21–15) Lost to Marco Rudolph (Germany) PTS (14–19) 1992 Grigorian represented the Unified Team (Former Soviet Union) at the Barcelona Olympic Games as a lightweight. His results were: Defeated Óscar Palomino (Spain) 11–10 Lost to Hong Sung-Sik (South Korea) 3–9

Artur had a final amateur record of 361–23.

Professional career Trained by Fritz Sdunek, Grigorian began his professional career in 1994 and won eight consecutive bouts. On 23 July 1994, Grigorian defeated Turkish boxer Senturk Ozdemir by a fifth-round technical knockout and won the vacant German International lightweight title.

On 1 April 1995, Grigorian defeated Antonio Strabello and became the WBO Inter-Continental champion. After six non-title bouts and one title defense, Artur, with a perfect 19–0 record, became eligible to fight for the WBO lightweight championship world title. The title had recently been vacated by Oscar De La Hoya after he moved up to the light welterweight division.

Grigorian faced Puerto Rican Antonio Rivera on 13 April 1996, for the vacant WBO lightweight title. Both were the two top contenders in the lightweight division. Artur won by knocking Rivera out in the twelfth round and became the new WBO lightweight champion.

After four title defenses, Grigorian defended his belt against undefeated challenger Marco Rudolph. Rudolph had bested Grigorian seven years earlier at the 1991 World Amateur Boxing Championship finals. Grigorian avenged his amateur defeat by stopping Rudolph in the sixth round.

Grigorian would continue to defend his title a total of seventeen times, a new record in the lightweight division. Artur was just one more defense away from becoming the longest reigning lightweight champion, but ultimately lost his belt to Acelino Freitas by unanimous decision on 3 January 2004. Grigorian had surgery on his right shoulder prior to the bout. Freitas lost the belt in his first title defense against Diego Corrales. Grigorian retired later that year after winning one more bout.

On 24 February 2009, at the age of 41, Artur came out of retirement for one more bout in which he won a six-round unanimous decision against Bulgarian Kirkor Kirkorov. Kirkorov is also of Armenian descent and also a 1991 World Amateur Boxing Championships medalist.

Personal life Grigorian lives in Germany with his wife and three daughters. He currently works as a boxing trainer.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes39Win38–1 Kirkor KirkorovPTS624 Feb 2009 38Win37–1 Vasile HertegTKO4 (8), 11 Sep 2004 37Loss36–1 Acelino FreitasUD123 Jan 2004 36Win36–0 Matt ZeganMD1218 Jan 2003 35Win35–0 Stefano ZoffUD1214 Sep 2002 34Win34–0 Rocky MartinezTKO8 (12), 5 Jan 2002 33Win33–0 Aldo Nazareno RiosUD1216 Jun 2001 32Win32–0 Angel Jose PerezTKO6 (12), 24 Feb 2001 31Win31–0 Antonio PitaluaUD1225 Nov 2000 30Win30–0 Zoltan KalocsaiTKO12 (12), 23 Jun 2000 29Win29–0 Sandro CasamonicaTKO9 (12), 19 Feb 2000 28Win28–0 Wilson Enrique GalliTKO10 (12), 27 Nov 1999 27Win27–0 Michael ClarkKO5 (12), 9 Oct 1999 26Win26–0 Oscar Garcia CanoUD1213 Mar 1999 25Win25–0 Giorgio CampanellaTKO10 (12), 24 Oct 1998 24Win24–0 Marco RudolphTKO6 (12), 14 Mar 1998 23Win23–0 David ArmstrongUD1211 Oct 1997 22Win22–0 Raul Horacio BalbiTKO11 (12), 22 Feb 1997 21Win21–0 Marty JakubowskiUD1216 Nov 1996 20Win20–0 Gene ReedKO2 (12), 21 Sep 1996 19Win19–0 Antonio RiveraKO12 (12), 13 Apr 1996 18Win18–0 Esteban Perez QuinonesTKO62 Oct 1996 17Win17–0 Paul KaomaPTS82 Dec 1995 16Win16–0 Jean-Marc CamaleriTKO2 (8)7 Oct 1995 15Win15–0 Pascal RagautTKO4 (8)23 Sep 1995 14Win14–0 Angel AldamaTKO5 (12)19 Aug 1995 13Win13–0 Carlos PenaPTS810 Jun 1995 12Win12–0 Mark SmithPTS420 May 1995 11Win11–0 Antonio StrabelloTKO8 (12), 1 Apr 1995 10Win10–0 Armando Juan ReyesTKO4 11 Mar 1995 9Win9–0 Bobby BrewerTD4 (4)28 Jan 1995 8Win8–0 Benito MartinezTKO517 Dec 1994 7Win7–0 Jose Carlos CanteroTKO53 Dec 1994 6Win6–0 Alberto AliceaTKO522 Oct 1994 5Win5–0 Oscar PalominoPTS810 Sep 1994 4Win4–0 Senturk OzdemirTKO5 (10)23 Jul 1994 3Win3–0 Pascal MontuletPTS828 May 1994 2Win2–0 Marcelo RodriguezPTS823 Apr 1994 1Win1–0 Juan TubbsTKO210 Apr 1994

See also List of WBO world champions List of lightweight boxing champions

References

External links