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Forgotten Warriors: Pavel Melkomyan


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Pavel Melkomyan was a talented cruiserweight of the 2000’s who looked like he might win a world title for a while, but ultimately failed. He is most famous for taking Krzysztof Wlodarczyk’s zero and has also defeated the best Paraguayan boxer, Juan Carlos Gimenez, but after losing important fights to Grigory Drozd and Rudolf Kraj, his career went downhill. 
 

Born in Moscow 12 July 1980, he is of at least partial Armenian descent, since Melkomyan is an Armenian last name (a first world war hero’s last name too). He stands 6’1 1/2 or 187 cm tall and fought from orthodox stance. There is no information on whether he had an amateur career, but since he turned professional at 19, it was likely short. Pavel relocated to Hamburg in Germany to begin his professional career and had his first fight on 11 December ‘99, winning on points. He went 13-0 with 6 knockouts before fighting his first big fight against 20-0 Pole Krzyzstof Wlodarczyk, future two-time world champion. That was on 26 April ‘03 in Schwerin, Germany and Melkomyan sent Wlodarzcyk down with a short left in the first round. In the fourth round Melkomyan suffered a bad cut and the fight was stopped at the start of the fifth, Melkomyan winning on all cards. 
 

On 19 April ‘05 came his second greatest victory when he took on the former super middleweight world title challenger Juan Carlos Gimenez in Bischofshofen in Austria and won by a wide 10-round decision. This then paved the way for a major fight against a hot young contender, fellow Russian Grigory Drozd, 23-0 at the time. They fought in Munich on 7 January ‘06 and Melkomyan got off to a good start, dropping Drozd with a right hook in round two. In the third round, Melkomyan got cut on the forehead by an accidental butt as Drozd started clinching and roughing him up. Drozd got two points deducted in that round for the use of his head. Late in the fourth, Melkomyan was crouching when he got hit with a body shot and dropped. In the start of the fifth, he was put down with a few punches that looked illegal because Drozd was holding him with one hand while Melkomyan had turned sideways. He couldn’t make the count and that was it. 
 

It was obvious Drozd’s very physical style didn’t suit him, but he looked the better and cleaner boxer in this fight, also exposing Drozd’s defense as not good and Drozd got stopped later that year by Firat Arslan. Melkomyan was definitely more a boxer and Drozd more a brawler. 3 months later, he came back to the ring and stopped Marco Heinichen by TKO4, before fighting the strong Czech contender Rudolf Kraj, for the vacant WBC International title. The fight was in Prague on 10 October and the 8-0 Kraj won by TKO12, as the fight was stopped with only 15 seconds remaining. Melkomyan was back in action already two months later, but lost again by UD10 to Valery Volozhenin in Moscow, 10 December. 
 

Almost exactly 7 years after turning pro, that fight turned out to be his last. He retired with a record of 20 wins, 8 by ko, and 3 losses, 2 by ko. Pavel Melkomyan was a capable fighter, who hit with short and precise, snappy punches. He had fast hands and hit hard enough, but his style was a more technical than brawling one, so he didn’t score too many knockouts. The fact that he dropped tough guys like Wlodarczyk and Drozd definitely shows he had pop but also a good timing and accuracy. It is a shame he lost the Drozd fight under such circumstances, both controversial and unlucky. He has since faded into obscurity and that is why he is a FORGOTTEN WARRIOR!

 

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