Vanes Martirosyan turns down Erislandy Lara fight

PanARMENIAN.Net - Eric Gomez, Vice President and matchmaker for Golden Boy Promotions, said that Vanes Martirosyan turned down a "very good offer" to face Erislandy Lara in a WBC final eliminator, with the winner falling in line to fight WBC champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (40-0-1, 29KOs).

Gomez reached out to Carl Morretti, VP for Top Rank, who advised him to cancel Friday's purse bid because Vanes was heading in another direction.

"This is the second time he turned down a final eliminator. The first time he turned down a fight with Alfredo Angulo because he didn't want to go to Mexico. I don't know what the reason is with Lara. We made a very good offer," Gomez said.

The WBC ordered Lara (16-1-1, 11KOs) vs. Vanes (32-0, 20KOs) after James Kirkland suffered a shoulder injury. Last year, Vanes defeated Saul Roman in a "semi-eliminator" and the victor was supposed to fight the winner of March's "other semi-eliminator" between Kirkland and Carlos Molina. Kirkland won the other half of the puzzle, but suffered a right shoulder injury during the contest and last month he underwent successful arthroscopic surgery to repair two tears in his shoulder, BoxingScene.com reported.