New York, July 2—The strength, speed, power and stamina of the thoroughbred will be on display at Saratoga throughout its upcoming summer racing meet. DiBella Entertainment's undefeated "thoroughbred" – future boxing champion Andre Berto – will showcase all of those qualities and more in Saratoga on July 27 when the welterweight star takes on Cosme Rivera on ESPN2's Friday Night Fights at the Saratoga Springs City Center.

Los Angeles, CA (June 28th) - Former US Olympian and highly regarded boxing prospect Vanes "The Nightmare" Martirosyan (13-0, 9KO's) will take Alberto Mercedes (13-14-1, 9KO's) this Friday night, June 29th from the Cliff Castle Casino in Camp Verde, AZ, just north of Phoenix. This bout will be televised live on TELEFUTURA - Solo Boxeo starting at 8pm PT/ET. For Tickets call 928-567-7999 or visit CliffCastleCasino.net.

CHATTANOOGA, TENN. – Six full days of boxing culminated in 11 championship round bouts on Saturday at the Chattanooga Convention Center. All 22 boxers stepped through the ropes with one thing on their mind – a National Golden Gloves championship. Yet only 11 could walk away with a national championship.

The first boxer to be crowned a 2007 National Golden Gloves champion enjoyed the same experience the previous year as defending light flyweight champion Luis Yanez (Duncanville, Texas) took home his second straight Golden Gloves title. Yanez defeated Francisco Ibarra (Brighton, Colo.) in their championship bout to take home his fourth national championship in the past two years.

Photo by: vanesboxing.com

LOS ANGELES, CA, April 2nd - This weeks Rising Star is Vanes Martirosyan. Born in Abovyan, Armenia, Martirosyan makes his home Glendale, CA, where he has lived since age of four. Martirosyan began boxing at the age of seven. At the age of eighteen, Martirosyan represented the United States in the 2004 Olympics as a welterweight.

His amateur record was a fantastic 120-10. Following the 2004 Athens Olympics, Martirosyan signed a promotional contract with Bob Arum's Top Rank, and began his professional career. Vanes first professional fight took place on April 8th, 2005 in Phoenix, AZ.

Going 12-0 (8KO's) in his first 12 fights, Vanes has shown himself to be one of boxing's brightest young athletes. His exciting fighting style as well as his mature attitude has caught the attention of boxing insiders as well as fans. He has a large following of fans, particularly in the Armenian community. He hopes to one day join the likes of his fellow countrymen Vic Darchinyan and Arthur Abraham as undefeated World Champions.

Vanes is currently trained by Freddie Roach and managed by Shelly Finkel.

Photo by: Gary Shaw Productions
LOS ANGELES, CA, MARCH 26 - This week's Rising Star is Light Heavyweight "Bad" Chad Dawson of New Haven, Connecticut. Dawson earned the 2000 United States National Under-19 championship fighting at 165lbs and is the former WBC Youth Champion. Dawson was a high school athlete playing Varsity Basketball and Quarterback. His natural athletic abilities allowed him to excel in sports throughout his life. With an amateur record is 67-13, Dawson went pro in 2001. Currently, with an undefeated professional record of 23-0, 15KO's, Dawson began as a middleweight before moving up in weight.

Photo by: Teddy Blackburn/DiBella Entertainment

LOS ANGELES, CA, March 19 - In our first segment of "Rising Star," we are proud to feature welterweight Andre Berto (17-0, 15KO's). Currently undefeated, Berto, who is only 23 years old, has produced knockouts in all but two of his professional bouts. With lightning speed and power, Berto is one of the most exciting fighters we've seen in a long time. Having participated in the 2004 Olympic games, Berto is a two-time National Golden Gloves Champion, a three-time US amateur champion, a two-time national PAL champion and won a bronze medal at the 2003 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Bangkok, Thailand. Berto made his pro debut on April 12th, 2004.

We are excited to announce a new weekly segment called “Rising Stars.” Beginning next week, touchgloves.com will interview promising young stars about their experiences both inside and outside the ring. We will provide fans with an inside look into the lives of future champions and go in-depth with analysis and exclusive news.

Our first interview is a 2004 Olympic Boxer who is taking the division by storm. His knock-out power and speed have proven to be overbearing for every opponent he has faced so far. Check out the entire story which will be featured Monday March 19, 2007.