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

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

. Grigorian is a former

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxin ...

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing (sport), rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) boxing weight classes, weight class in the spor ...

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 Benny Leonard (born Benjamin Leiner; April 7, 1896 – April 18, 1947) was an American professional boxer who held the world lightweight championship for eight years, from 1917 to 1925. Widely considered one of the all-time greats, he was ranked ...

held his lightweight title (7 years, 8 months).

Biography

Grigorian was born on 20 October 1967 in

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

Uzbek SSR The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (, ), also known as Soviet Uzbekistan, the Uzbek SSR, UzSSR, or simply Uzbekistan and rarely Uzbekia, was a union republic of the Soviet Union. It was governed by the Uzbek branch of the Soviet Communist P ...

to an

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

family from

Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh (, ; ) is a region in Azerbaijan, covering the southeastern stretch of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range. Part of the greater region of Karabakh, it spans the area between Lower Karabakh and Syunik Province, Syunik. Its ter ...

. He has a brother and sister.

Amateur career

Grigorian began boxing at the age of 11. He defeated

Shane Mosley Shane Mosley (born September 7, 1971), often known by his nickname "Sugar" Shane Mosley, is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2016. He held multiple triple champion, world championships in three weight classes, incl ...

and won a gold medal at the 1990

Goodwill Games The Goodwill Games were an international sports competition created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s. In 1979, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused the United States and other ...

in Seattle City. Grigorian won a silver medal at the 1991 World Amateur Boxing Championships and competed at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

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 Justin Rowsell (born 22 December 1971) is an Australian boxer. He competed in the men's lightweight event at the 1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded a ...

(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 Óscar Palomino (born 18 April 1972) is a Spanish boxer. He competed in the men's lightweight event at the 1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barce ...

(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

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

championship world title. The title had recently been vacated by

Oscar De La Hoya Oscar De La Hoya ( , ; born February 4, 1973) is an American Promoter (entertainment), boxing promoter and former professional boxing, professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2008. His accolades include winning 11 list of boxing sextuple ch ...

after he moved up to the

light welterweight Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional boxing In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...

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 Diego "Chico" Corrales Jr. (August 25, 1977 – May 7, 2007) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2007. He was a multiple-time world champion in two weight divisions, having held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) s ...

. 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 Kirkor Kirkorov (; born March 4, 1968, as Krikor Kirkorian) is a retired Bulgarian boxer who competed for his native country at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. There he was defeated in the first round of the Men's Featherweight Di ...

. 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

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Grigorian, Artur 1967 births Living people Soviet male boxers Soviet Armenians Lightweight boxers Boxers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers for the Unified Team Uzbekistani people of Armenian descent World lightweight boxing champions World Boxing Organization champions Boxers from Tashkent Uzbekistani male boxers AIBA World Boxing Championships medalists Goodwill Games medalists in boxing Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games