Art "Lionheart" Hovhannisyan to fight Arash Usmanee

PanARMENIAN.Net - On Friday, June 14, Vito Mielnicki of GH3 Promotions and Greg Cohen of Greg Cohen Promotions (CGP), in association with First Round Promotions, will proudly present an exciting night of world-class professional boxing, live from the Richard J. Codey Arena at South Mountain in West Orange, New Jersey and broadcast worldwide on ESPN Friday Night Fights, BoxingScene.com reported.

In the 10-round main event, IBF #14-rated featherweight Arash Usmanee of Montreal, Canada (via Afghanistan) will face once-beaten contender Art "Lionheart" Hovhannisyan (15-1-2, 8 KOs) of Glendale, California (via Armenia).

And in the exciting 10-round heavyweight co-feature, WBA #2-rated Luis "El Mercedez" Ortiz (19-0, 16 KOs) of Miami, Florida (via Cuba), will take on WBA #11-rated Travis "The Truth" Kaufmann (24-1, 18 KOs) of Reading, Pennsylvania in a WBA Heavyweight Elimination Bout with the winner positioning himself for a title shot.

31-year-old Usmanee has already won the NABA and WBC Continental Americas Championships as a professional. As an amateur he was a five-time National Canadian Champion. Born in Kabul, Afghanistan, Usmanee and his family moved to Alberta, Canada, when he was three years old. He now resides in Montreal. Usmanee's only career defeat was a highly controversial 12-round decision to fellow contender Rances "Kid Blast" Barthelemy on January 4 of this year.

As an amateur, 31-year-old Hovhannisyan gained extensive international experience and was a four-time Armenian National Champion, going 163-12. He moved to the United States in 2007. He is coming off the only loss of his promising career, a very close decision to Alejandro Perez last February. Hovhannisyan has served a sparring partner for former pound-for-pound #1 Manny Pacquiao.