| Artur Grigorian | |
| Realname: | Artur Razmikovich Grigoryan |
| Nickname: | King Artur |
| Weight: | Lightweight |
| Height: | 5feet |
| Reach: | 690NaN0 |
| Nationality: | Soviet → Uzbek |
| Birth Date: | 20 October 1967 |
| Birth Place: | Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union[1] |
| Style: | Southpaw |
| Total: | 39 |
| Wins: | 38 |
| Ko: | 23 |
| Losses: | 1 |
| Draws: | 0 |
| No Contests: | 0 |
Artur Razmikovich Grigorian (hy|Արթուր Գրիգորյան; born 20 October 1967) is a retired Armenian-Uzbek professional boxer.
Grigorian is a former WBO lightweight 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 held his lightweight title (7 years, 8 months).[2]
Grigorian was born on 20 October 1967 in Soviet Tashkent, Uzbek SSR to an Armenian family from Nagorno-Karabakh.[3] He has a brother and sister.
Grigorian began boxing at the age of 11. He defeated Shane Mosley and won a gold medal at the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle City.[4] Grigorian won a silver medal at the 1991 World Amateur Boxing Championships and competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.
Artur had a final amateur record of 361–23.[2]
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 WBO 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 lightweight championship world title. The title had recently been vacated by Oscar De La Hoya after he moved up to the light welterweight 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.[2]
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. 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. Kirkorov is also of Armenian descent and also a 1991 World Amateur Boxing Championships medalist.[3]
Grigorian lives in Germany with his wife and three daughters. He currently works as a boxing trainer.[3]
| Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39 | Win | 38–1 | Kirkor Kirkorov | PTS | 6 | 24 Feb 2009 |  | ||
| 38 | Win | 37–1 | Vasile Herteg | TKO | 4 (8), | 11 Sep 2004 |  | ||
| 37 | Loss | 36–1 |  Acelino Freitas | UD | 12 | 3 Jan 2004 |  | ||
| 36 | Win | 36–0 |  Matt Zegan | MD | 12 | 18 Jan 2003 | | ||
| 35 | Win | 35–0 |  Stefano Zoff | UD | 12 | 14 Sep 2002 | | ||
| 34 | Win | 34–0 |  Rocky Martinez | TKO | 8 (12), | 5 Jan 2002 | | ||
| 33 | Win | 33–0 |  Aldo Nazareno Rios | UD | 12 | 16 Jun 2001 | | ||
| 32 | Win | 32–0 |  Angel Jose Perez | TKO | 6 (12), | 24 Feb 2001 | | ||
| 31 | Win | 31–0 |  Antonio Pitalua | UD | 12 | 25 Nov 2000 | | ||
| 30 | Win | 30–0 | Zoltan Kalocsai | TKO | 12 (12), | 23 Jun 2000 | | ||
| 29 | Win | 29–0 | Sandro Casamonica | TKO | 9 (12), | 19 Feb 2000 | | ||
| 28 | Win | 28–0 | Wilson Enrique Galli | TKO | 10 (12), | 27 Nov 1999 | | ||
| 27 | Win | 27–0 | Michael Clark | KO | 5 (12), | 9 Oct 1999 | | ||
| 26 | Win | 26–0 | Oscar Garcia Cano | UD | 12 | 13 Mar 1999 | | ||
| 25 | Win | 25–0 | Giorgio Campanella | TD | 10 (12), | 24 Oct 1998 | | ||
| 24 | Win | 24–0 | Marco Rudolph | TKO | 6 (12), | 14 Mar 1998 | | ||
| 23 | Win | 23–0 | David Armstrong | UD | 12 | 11 Oct 1997 | | ||
| 22 | Win | 22–0 | Raul Horacio Balbi | TKO | 11 (12), | 22 Feb 1997 | | ||
| 21 | Win | 21–0 | Marty Jakubowski | UD | 12 | 16 Nov 1996 | | ||
| 20 | Win | 20–0 | Gene Reed | KO | 2 (12), | 21 Sep 1996 | | ||
| 19 | Win | 19–0 | Antonio Rivera | KO | 12 (12), | 13 Apr 1996 | | ||
| 18 | Win | 18–0 | Esteban Perez Quinones | TKO | 6 | 2 Oct 1996 | | ||
| 17 | Win | 17–0 | Paul Kaoma | PTS | 8 | 2 Dec 1995 | | ||
| 16 | Win | 16–0 |  Jean-Marc Camaleri | TKO | 2 (8) | 7 Oct 1995 | | ||
| 15 | Win | 15–0 |  Pascal Ragaut | TKO | 4 (8) | 23 Sep 1995 | | ||
| 14 | Win | 14–0 | Angel Aldama | TKO | 5 (12) | 19 Aug 1995 | | ||
| 13 | Win | 13–0 | Carlos Pena | PTS | 8 | 10 Jun 1995 | | ||
| 12 | Win | 12–0 | Mark Smith | PTS | 4 | 20 May 1995 | | ||
| 11 | Win | 11–0 | Antonio Strabello | TKO | 8 (12), | 1 Apr 1995 | | ||
| 10 | Win | 10–0 |  Armando Juan Reyes | TKO | 4 | 11 Mar 1995 | | ||
| 9 | Win | 9–0 | Bobby Brewer | TD | 4 (4) | 28 Jan 1995 | | ||
| 8 | Win | 8–0 | Benito Martinez | TKO | 5 | 17 Dec 1994 | | ||
| 7 | Win | 7–0 | Jose Carlos Cantero | TKO | 5 | 3 Dec 1994 | | ||
| 6 | Win | 6–0 |  Alberto Alicea | TKO | 5 | 22 Oct 1994 | | ||
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Oscar Palomino | PTS | 8 | 10 Sep 1994 | | ||
| 4 | Win | 4–0 |  Senturk Ozdemir | TKO | 5 (10) | 23 Jul 1994 | | ||
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Pascal Montulet | PTS | 8 | 28 May 1994 | | ||
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Marcelo Rodriguez | PTS | 8 | 23 Apr 1994 | | ||
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Juan Tubbs | TKO | 2 | 10 Apr 1994 | |
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