Review by AllTheBestFights.com: 2018-03-24, nice and tough fight between Arsen Goulamirian and Ryad Merhy: it gets three stars.Both undefeated, ‘Feroz’ Arsen Goulamirian entered this fight with a perfect record of 22-0-0 (14 knockouts) and he is ranked as the No.30 cruiserweight in the world while his opponent, Ryad Merhy, has an official boxing record of 24-0-0 (20 KOs=83%) and he entered as the No.28 in the same weight class. Goulamirian fought three times last year beating Alexander Kubich, Mitch Williams and Hamilton Ventura while Merhy fought twice winning over Mitch Williams and Nick Kisner. Goulamirian vs Merhy is valid for the vacant WBA World cruiserweight title. Watch the video and rate this fight!
Date: 2018-03-24
Where: Palais des Sports, Marseille, France
Division: cruiserweight (200 lbs, 90.7 kg)
Title: vacant WBA World cruiserweight title
Goulamirian’s next fight: Arsen Goulamirian vs Mark Flanagan
Goulamirian vs Merhy full fight video:
(Free embeddable video hosted on Youtube not uploaded by AllTheBestFights)
Boxing friends, do not miss this one. It’s a lot like Gassiev’s painstaking victory over Dorticos in the WBSS, where getting outclassed early does not have to mean you lose.
Merhy is a tiny bit better in most departments than Goulamirian. He’s faster, has a sharper jab, puts himself in better position and throws more fluid combinations. “You’re losing every round,” Abel Sanchez tells Goulamirian at the end of the third.
Talk about listening to your corner: breaking down Merhy begins immediately. Goulamirian proves to have both heavier hands and a better jaw which he needs because Merhy never rolls over, even as the Belgian starts to get marked up and buzzed once or twice. He can’t believe what he’s seeing, a sort of Rocky story. It was supposed to be Les Aventures de Tintin!
Alhough Abel was never satisfied, I gave all but one of the remaining rounds to Goulamirian. He gradually gains control until a spectacular Eubank Jr.-like flurry ends things brutally. The referee, in a stupidly generous mood, allows this to go on for 30 unanswered punches.
Hahaha! Très bon combat en effet! Le français s’est imposé physiquement et selon moi, ç’a fait toute la différence. Le belge a une très bonne technique, mais ça n’a pas suffi, Goulamirian était trop fort.
À la défense de l’arbitre sur l’arrêt du combat, j’avoue que moi aussi j’étais hésitant. Merhy gardait les mains hautes, bien qu’il prenait beaucoup de coups, je ne le sentais pas K.O. sur ses pieds. Quoi qu’il en soit, c’était légitime d’arrêter le combat à ce point-là, je suis bien d’accord.
Moi qui croyais que la couverture des combats était vraiment mauvaise en France… Eh bien, je viens de découvrir celle des belges! Ça me réconcilie presque avec HBO! Les commentateurs ne prétendaient même pas à une quelconque objectivité, c’était simplement comme de regarder le combat dans mon salon avec des amis belges qui ne feraient que souligner les bons coups de leur favori.