{"id":302664,"date":"2025-11-23T23:53:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T23:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/302664\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T23:53:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T23:53:10","slug":"us-olympic-boxer-vanes-martirosyan-dead-at-39-after-two-year-battle-with-skin-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/302664\/","title":{"rendered":"US Olympic boxer Vanes Martirosyan dead at 39 after two-year battle with skin cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"author-section byline-plain\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/profile-1501\/jack-bezants.html\" class=\"author\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">JACK BEZANTS, US DEPUTY SPORTS EDITOR<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"byline-section\"> Published:  18:23 EST, 23 November 2025   |  Updated:  18:51 EST, 23 November 2025   <\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">American boxer Vanes Martirosyan has died at the age of 39 after a two-year battle with skin <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/cancer\/index.html\" id=\"mol-65be65c0-c8c3-11f0-8832-1b574bd57002\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">cancer<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Martirosyan was born in <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/armenia\/index.html\" id=\"mol-1b05d6e0-c8c7-11f0-8832-1b574bd57002\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Armenia<\/a> but his family moved to Glendale, <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/california\/index.html\" id=\"mol-65c73f60-c8c3-11f0-8832-1b574bd57002\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">California<\/a> when he four years old. He inherited his father&#8217;s love of boxing and first took up the sport when he was only seven years old.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He represented the United States at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece at the age of 18 at welterweight level and went on to fight <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/gennady-golovkin\/index.html\" id=\"mol-65d87d70-c8c3-11f0-8832-1b574bd57002\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Gennady Golovkin<\/a> during his professional career, losing in two rounds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Martirosyan leaves behind a wife and two children, a son called\u00a0Andrew and a daughter, Arianna. His family released a statement announcing his passing on social media on Sunday, saying: &#8216;Today our hearts are shattered. We are losing an incredible man &#8211; a loving husband, a devoted father, a kind soul, and someone who left a mark on everyone who ever met him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;Those who knew Vanes know how special he was, how big his heart was, and how deeply he loved. The emptiness he leaves behind is something we will feel forever.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;We love him so much, and we are going to miss him in ways words can&#8217;t explain. It won&#8217;t be easy&#8230; but we hold on to the thought that he is going to a better place, where there is no more pain or suffering. A place of peace.<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-457c2856dcbc4071\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/104127127-15319493-image-a-15_1763939935866.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\" alt=\"American boxer Vanes Martirosyan has died at the age of 39 after a battle with skin cancer\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">American boxer Vanes Martirosyan has died at the age of 39 after a battle with skin cancer\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-7f6a9159f9f2551\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/104127119-15319493-image-a-16_1763941755048.jpg\" height=\"435\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Martirosyan was born in Armenia but moved to California when he was four years old\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Martirosyan was born in Armenia but moved to California when he was four years old<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;Please keep him in your prayers so his spirit can rest gently and peacefully.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He turned professional at the age of 20 and was training by the legendaryFreddie Roach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Martirosyan will be remembered by most for his 2018 fight with\u00a0Gennady Golovkin, stepping in for Canelo Alvarez and entering the ring with just three weeks of preparation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He was knocked out by Golovkin in the second round and said his power was like &#8216;being hit by a train&#8217;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Martirosyan opened up about his health issues in an emotional interview with Boxing Scene in October 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;You know, in fighting, we have protection \u2013 the ringside doctor, an ambulance on standby, the referee. With cancer, we don\u2019t have any protection. What if it gets worse? I have no control over this,&#8217; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;I just pray to God to cure me. I pray for a miracle. The doctors tell me this is so rare, that it afflicts only one per cent of people.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">MORE TO FOLLOW\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                    Share or comment on this article:<br \/>\n                        US Olympic boxer Vanes Martirosyan dead at 39 after two-year battle with skin cancer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By JACK BEZANTS, US DEPUTY SPORTS EDITOR Published: 18:23 EST, 23 November 2025 | Updated: 18:51 EST, 23&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,3335,48,2093,20986,3057,4963,457,82,772],"class_list":{"0":"post-302664","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-dailymail","13":"tag-gennady-golovkin","14":"tag-greece","15":"tag-olympics","16":"tag-sport","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-united-states"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}