Artur Razmikovich Grigorian (Armenian: Արթուր Գրիգորյան; born 20 October 1967) is a retired Armenian-Uzbek professional boxer.
Grigorian is a former WBO lightweight champion. He defended his title against record-breaking 17 boxers, and held it for seven years, six months and twenty days; nearly as long as record holder Benny Leonard held his lightweight title (7 years, 8 months).
Grigorian was born on 20 October 1967 in Soviet Tashkent, Uzbek SSR to an Armenian family from Nagorno-Karabakh. He has a brother and sister.
Grigorian began boxing at the age of 11. He defeated Shane Mosley and won a gold medal at the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle City. Grigorian won a silver medal at the 1991 World Amateur Boxing Championships and competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.
1991 2nd place as a lightweight at the World Championships in Sydney, Australia. His results were:
Defeated Juan Carlos Saiz (Spain) PTS (26–18)
Defeated Julio Gonzalez (Cuba) PTS (15–12)
Defeated Hong Sung-Sik (South Korea) PTS (19–7)
Defeated Justin Rowsell (Australia) PTS (21–15)
Lost to Marco Rudolph (Germany) PTS (14–19)
1992 Grigorian represented the Unified Team (Former Soviet Union) at the Barcelona Olympic Games as a lightweight. His results were:
Defeated Óscar Palomino (Spain) 11–10
Lost to Hong Sung-Sik (South Korea) 3–9
Artur had a final amateur record of 361–23.
Trained by Fritz Sdunek, Grigorian began his professional career in 1994 and won eight consecutive bouts. On 23 July 1994, Grigorian defeated Turkish boxer Senturk Ozdemir by a fifth-round technical knockout and won the vacant German International lightweight title.
On 1 April 1995, Grigorian defeated Antonio Strabello and became the WBO Inter-Continental champion. After six non-title bouts and one title defense, Artur, with a perfect 19–0 record, became eligible to fight for the WBO lightweight championship world title. The title had recently been vacated by Oscar De La Hoya after he moved up to the light welterweight division.
Grigorian faced Puerto Rican Antonio Rivera on 13 April 1996, for the vacant WBO lightweight title. Both were the two top contenders in the lightweight division. Artur won by knocking Rivera out in the twelfth round and became the new WBO lightweight champion.
After four title defenses, Grigorian defended his belt against undefeated challenger Marco Rudolph. Rudolph had bested Grigorian seven years earlier at the 1991 World Amateur Boxing Championship finals. Grigorian avenged his amateur defeat by stopping Rudolph in the sixth round.