On April 1st of 2005, Karen Harutyunyan was recognized as boxing
champion in the 51 kilogram category in North America by the WBO
international boxing federation. Today, he places 7th in the top ten
boxers. We met Karen in Yerevan. The boxer came to the homeland from
the U.S. to get married. Karen came to our office with his American
directors who follow him everywhere and are planning on making a
documental about him..
The 23 year old champion has been boxing starting from the age of 10.
In contrast to many athletes, he has never dreamed of becoming a famous
athlete. Instead, he actually liked classical music and has learned how
to play the violin. “I was born in a family of musicians. My father is
a violinist and my mother is a pianist. I also liked to play the violin
and I have received a musical education. During the years when I was
growing up, my father was having a rough time making a living and did
not want me becoming a violinist so that I would not end up in his
situation,” says K. Harutyunyan. “I quit going to music school and
started to box. Soon I started participating in state competitions, I
won and I was into this sport so much that I had no time to decide my
profession.” Karen and his family moved to Los Angeles when he was only
15 years old. They had won the “Green Card”. Karen continued boxing in
Los Angeles. The Armenian community in Los Angeles knew him as a good
boxer but the big ring awaited him. “There are many Armenians there but
they are not very organized. It is very rare to see Armenians there
showing their talent outside of the Armenian community,” says Karen, “I
achieved that the hard way. I started from non-professional boxing. In
1999, I won the championship in the U.S. and was recognized as the best
boxer in the competition. But since I was a citizen of Armenia, I could
not represent the U.S. in the 2000 Olympics and it seemed as though my
career as a boxer was limited to being a non-professional. That is why
I decided to start boxing professionally. This year, I reached success
as I was recognized as a champion of North America. I plan on competing
for the world boxer title in the future.” In addition, each time Karen
gets ready to go to the boxing ring he is guided by the “Suseri Par”
(Sword dance) by Aram Khachaturyan and he waves the Armenian flag after
each fight. “There have been many invitations made by American
managers. I could have changed my last name by dropping the “ian” and
worked with them which would have given me the chance to make a lot of
money, but I refused. I am Armenian, even though I live in the States.
Until recently, I used to train by myself. But now I have a manager
whose name is Armen Hakobyan.”
There is no professional boxing in Armenia and that doesn’t give young
boxers in Armenia a chance to show their talent in foreign countries.
Karen has many friends who are boxers and who have had many successes,
received many certificates, but as he says, “you can’t earn a living
with that money”. As for making money, boxing is a profitable job and
if you work hard, you can earn a good living. The boxer comes to terms
with the salary before the fight and receives the amount beforehand,
whether he wins or loses.
In Karen’s case, it would be wrong to say that athletes can’t do
anything else besides play sports. Although boxing means everything to
Karen, he doesn’t limit himself to only boxing. Karen studies at the
philology department of California State University. The violin
continues to be his favorite musical instrument. When he has free time,
Karen likes to read and listen to classical music.
Karen will return to the U.S. in a week. He will go to trainings, the
ring, he has big goals to accomplish….after all, he has to fight for
the world boxing champion title.