Martirosyan, Roman in crossroads fight

Published Jun. 2, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Vanes “Nightmare” Martirosyan (29-0, 18 KO) is set to return to action against Saul “La Fiera” Roman (34-8, 25 KO) on Saturday.

The junior middleweight bout is scheduled for 12 rounds, and will be on the non-televised undercard portion of the Chavez-Zbik WBC middleweight title fight that will be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Roman is a seasoned veteran, having shared the ring with former junior middleweight titlist Kassim Ouma (W, SD 12), and future champions Sergio Martinez (L, KO 4) and Yuri Foreman (L, UD 10). Roman knocked out Michael Medina in two rounds on the Jan. 29 undercard of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.’s tune-up bout with Billy Lyell.

Martirosyan has been plagued by inactivity since his impressive 10-round unanimous-decision win over prospect Joe Green last June. After failing to land a big fight with Miguel Cotto, Martirosyan sat on the shelf until March, when he knocked out Bladimir Hernandez in two rounds.

The winner will move on to the final round of the WBC’s junior middleweight title eliminator.