Martirosyan (24-0) wins Primm bout

PRIMM -- Things are about to get tougher for Vanes Martirosyan.

After Saturday's performance, in which he scored a first-round technical knockout of Harrison Cuello at Primm Valley Resorts' Star of the Desert Arena, it couldn't get any easier for Martirosyan (24-0).

Next for him is his first pay-per-view appearance, as he will face Andrey Tsurkan in a 10-round junior middleweight bout on Top Rank's June 27 card in Atlantic City. Martirosyan-Tsurkan is part of the undercard for the main event, which pits WBO junior featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez against Oliver Lontchi.

"It's going to be tough, but it's as tough as I want to make it," Martirosyan said of his next bout. "I have things to work on.

"The main thing is to be consistent."

Martirosyan was so dominant Saturday, he didn't have time to be consistent. His scheduled eight-round bout with Cuello lasted 2:13 as he pummeled him with a flurry of lefts and rights.

When Cuello (16-10-2) was unable to fight back, referee Jay Nady wisely stopped the bout.

"Before, when I landed a punch, I'd stand there and admire it," Martirosyan said. "This time, when I hit him, I stayed on him and finished him."

Freddie Roach, who is back training Martirosyan after Martirosyan spent a year with Ronnie Shields, said he was pleased with what he saw.

"I liked his aggressiveness," Roach said. "He has a tendency to be timid, and I told him to jump on this guy and see what he does."

Still, Roach said a lot of work needs to be done to get Martirosyan ready for what figures to be the toughest fight of his professional career to date.

"I'm trying to bring him back to where he was before he left," Roach said. "He'd picked up a few bad habits in the last year. Nothing personal against Ronnie. But he has his system, and I have mine.

"We'll get him moving his head better and work on his defense and get him going to the body more. But the tools are all there for him to move forward."

In the main event, lightweight Brandon Rios improved to 20-1-1 with a fifth-round technical knockout over Oscar Meza. Rios landed a right hook to the body, dropping Meza (18-3). He got up, but referee Tony Weeks determined Meza was in no shape to continue and stopped the bout 24 seconds into the round.

Las Vegas lightweight Diego Magdaleno improved to 10-0 after winning a six-round unanimous decision over Juan Montiel. All three judges had Magdaleno winning 60-54.

Sharif Bogere also stayed undefeated, as the super lightweight from Las Vegas stopped Kevin Carmody 40 seconds into the second round to improve to 9-0.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913.