"After the fight, let's see what excuse they come up with then. It's clear the guys they are picking Canelo to fight; I thought they were crazy picking Paul Williams, but then the accident happened unfortunately. Now, he's fighting Josesito. With all due respect to Josesito, because he is a great fighter at 140, 147, but I'm a real 154-pound fighter and I think it should be me. People are going to know Canelo anyway. But I can't worry about all that. I'm just gonna do me and people are going to realize who's the real champion and who's not," stated undefeated jr. middleweight contender Vanes Martirosyan, who talked about a potential showdown with Erislandy Lara and much more. Check it out!

DK: Vanes, what's going on? How are things going for you?

VM: Everything is fine. We are finally getting what we asked for. Everything is going good.

DK: You were supposed to have a fight on the Donaire undercard a few weeks ago, but your opponent didn't pass his physical. What went wrong for him?

VM: To tell you the truth, I have no idea what went wrong. The day of the weigh-in is when my manager tells me the guy can't pass his physical. I was like, "Why didn't they check a few weeks ago?" I was two pounds under weight, in great shape, and they told me at the weigh-in that the fight was off. I waited until after the weigh-in and asked somebody if the fight was really off and they said yes, so I started drinking Gatorade and thinking that this sucks.

DK: How frustrating is it for a fighter to train for so long, only to not get the opportunity to fight, and in the same breath, lose out on a payday?

VM: I mean, for this fight, we trained for two, two and a half, three months. We had a strength and conditioning trainer, Roman, who worked with us and we were in fantastic shape. I was in great shape and wanted to show off to everyone. Top Rank is good at what they do, so they took care of me. Now we just go from there.

DK: You have been the #1 contender for the WBC jr. middleweight title now for quite some time. Canelo Alvarez is obviously the champion, but now the WBC has scheduled a purse bid title eliminator between you and Erislandy Lara. Are you okay with this decision or do you feel, with a record of 32-0 with 20 knockouts, that you shouldn't have to fight an eliminator?

VM: I think it's not fair, but at the same time, I think the hell with it. Let's do it. After the fight, let's see what excuse they come up with then. It's clear the guys they are picking Canelo to fight; I thought they were crazy picking Paul Williams, but then the accident happened unfortunately. Now, he's fighting Josesito. With all due respect to Josesito, because he is a great fighter at 140, 147, but I'm a real 154-pound fighter and I think it should be me. People are going to know Canelo anyway. But I can't worry about all that. I'm just gonna do me and people are going to realize who's the real champion and who's not.

DK: How has the Top Rank/Golden Boy feud affected your career?

VM: Um, well, Top Rank, they do a great job. I don't see why they can't work with each other. There's so many great fights that can be put on and the fans don't get to see them. But I'm happy with Top Rank and whatever decision they make, I'm happy with them. But if we could all get along, that would be great.

DK: Do you think the feud is as bad for boxing as everyone says it is?

VM: I don't know what it is, but to me, it's not Top Rank. They just do it differently. Top Rank does it one way and Golden Boy does it another way. But I don't know what the problem is. All I can do is stand behind my promoter.

DK: Switching gears a bit, you train out of the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles and are trained partially by Freddie Roach. A lot of questions have started to come up lately about Freddie having too much on his plate. Pacquiao having technically lost to Bradley, even though most didn't see it that way, and now Khan getting knocked out. Being one of the fighters trained by Freddie, have you seen the effects of his Parkinson's, on top of his workload, affect his performance as a trainer?

VM: Absolutely not. I think Freddie is getting better and better. Sometimes he pushes me so hard, and I see he pushes Amir, and Manny, and Chavez so hard that we kind of get tired. I think Amir just got caught and left his head out of the game. He let his heart get in there. I think if he boxed, he would've did fine. I think Garcia's dad got to Amir. Then, Garcia just landed a beautiful shot. I think that's all it was.

DK: Are you concerned that you aren't getting enough attention from Freddie Roach?

VM: Um, I mean, I would love to get more attention from Freddie, but at the same time, I'm very thankful, and whatever I'm getting is enough for me for right now. I learn so much from him now that I take it all in. But later on, with bigger fights, we're going to sit down with Freddie and say we need more attention. But right now, I think we get what we deserve.

DK: The purse bid just took place, right?

VM: It was Friday. The purse bid was won by Top Rank. Golden Boy came in second. Golden Boy bid $326,000. Top Rank bid $405,000. I was watching it on WBC online. They're gonna go to the office because they were just in Mexico promoting Chavez Jr.-Martinez. I know Bob is going to the Philippines in early August to go sit down with Manny. Carl Moretti and Bruce Trampler have been talking with us, and with my manager, so we'll know when it gets made soon. Hopefully it happens soon because I was ready for the last fight, and I'm already in great shape. I'm ready to go.

DK: I'm glad to hear it all went through. Alright Vanes. I appreciate the time. Any final thoughts to the fans out there?

VM: I wanna thank all the fans for the continued support. Thank you for the interview. The fans can follow me twitter @Vanesboxing.

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