Trimmed hair and beard, royal blue Lacoste jacket, matching pants and sneakers: Erik Bazinyan looks like a well-dressed athlete, but not necessarily a boxer, on this rainy afternoon in a café-bakery in Laval.
Only a fresh, but subtle bruise under the left eye bears witness to the profession he has been practicing professionally for 10 years now. It is attributable to a blow from Steven Butler, with whom he has just had a mock fight at the gymnasium of his trainer Marc Ramsay, in the north of Montreal.
“It was the last sparring,” Bazinyan said softly of Butler, who was fighting for the world championship the following week in California. “We just did four rounds. He is ready. »
As the opponent was left-handed, Bazinyan was the perfect partner for his teammate from the Eye of the Tiger Management (EOTTM) stable. A natural right-hander, he can turn left-handed on command, even during combat, when the situation calls for it.
“I broke my hand when I was 14 or 15,” he explains, showing the scars of the injury. I started boxing left-handed. First in the sparrings and then in the fights. Now I am very comfortable on both sides. »
This adaptability still defines him in the ring and in life. The 28-year-old pugilist gave us an appointment in this Laval bakery located close to the Cosmodôme rocket and his condo, where he lives with his wife Zhanna and Edouard, their just 5-year-old son.
We didn’t have time to offer him coffee, he offered it himself before leaning over an iced latte in a discreet corner of the establishment.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Erik Bazinyan manhandles Alantez Fox during a boxing gala at the Casino de Montreal on February 2.
Despite his immaculate 29-win record and his No. 2 status in the world in three major sanctioning bodies, he is still relatively unknown in Quebec, where he immigrated with his family from Armenia in 2011.
Arrival and integration
His father Ara, owner of a grocery store in Yerevan, the capital, saw a better future for his two sons, Erik, who was then 16, and Emile, four years his junior.
“We lived very well,” says Erik in French, his fourth language after Armenian, Russian and English.
“My parents have traveled all their lives. They visited maybe 100 countries. They loved the outdoor life. Armenia is a small country which is not rich. You also have to do compulsory military service for two years. My father did not see a good future for us. It was better here and it was a good decision to come. »
In Yerevan, he was wise at home, but “a different person” outside.
Before boxing, I smoked cigarettes, which my parents did not know. We had a very polite family, but I was always on the street with my friends. We were fighting every day. I was not the strongest physically, but no one ever got the better of me.
Erik Bazinyan
After four years of karate, six years of traditional Armenian dancing and a bit of kickboxing, he followed his friends to the boxing gym. Where former world champion Arthur Abraham trained, who was to become an idol like Vic Darchinyan, another great Armenian boxer.
“I started when I was 13. It wasn’t for a career. I liked it a lot, I had talent. I learned very quickly. It was natural. THE punch and all that. I went to the gym every day. My parents said, “He’s going to quit like all the sports he tries.” I said, “No, really, I like that.” »
The boxer
After a few months, he had his first fight: a defeat. He won his next 108 amateur matches, including a few on the international stage.
“I had some tough fights, but I got on well. I adapt to any style. I fight smart and I have good boxing sense. After three or four rounds, I change my style to hit more. »
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Erik Bazinyan
At 16, he received a last-minute invitation to compete in the European championships. But his parents had already obtained a visa for Canada, the expiry date of which coincided with the competition.
The adaptation was difficult for the teenager who learned French at the Saint-Maxime school in Chomedey. “It was very difficult, but my cousin and my aunt had been living here for a while. I learned about life here. With time, human beings get used to everything. »
Boxing has softened his integration. After a few months, he won the Golden Gloves in juniors, the biggest provincial competition.
“Everyone was wondering who this new guy was! “, remembers the one who continued his apprenticeship with the brothers Howard and Otis Grant.
Bazinyan participated in a few international tours with the Quebec team. After another success at the Golden Gloves in the senior category, he turned professional at the age of 18.
After a first victory in Halifax in 2013, he fought all over the greater Montreal area, including twice in major galas presented at the Bell Center in 2014 and 2015.
PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, PRESS ARCHIVES
Erik Bazinyan in a fight against Poland’s Michal Ludwiczak in 2016
In 2017, he took nearly forty books and experienced a conflict with his first promotion company, Rixa. After a brief stint with trainer Stéphan Larouche, he joined Marc Ramsay at EOTTM, where his progression has continued since 2018.
In the meantime, he married Zhanna, a childhood friend whom he courted from a distance.
“Five years after I arrived here, I started talking to him and we fell in love. I went to visit her two or three times a year. »
Their meetings and marriage took place in neighboring Georgia, as Bazinyan could not return to Armenia without risking arrest for escaping military service.
Between the cables, Bazinyan reached a milestone last year by disposing of the Argentinian Marcelo Esteban Coceres (30-3-1) by decision. This was the last fight his father attended.
The death of his father and the return to his native lands
Two weeks later, Erik received a call from his mother telling him that Ara had just died of cardiac arrest in Yerevan. He was 52 years old.
“He was young, he had no health problems. Only, a year earlier, he had problems [de respiration]. The doctors here said it was panic attacks. It happened to him twice a month. They even gave him pills for it. But the doctors in Armenia told me he had a problem with an artery for maybe two years. A [endoprothèse vasculaire] would have resolved the situation. His heart fractured. »
Unlike his wife and son, Bazinyan was not present in his homeland when his father passed away. He had not received the long-awaited “pardon” associated with his avoidance of military service. After being assured that he would have it, he landed in the capital two weeks after his father’s funeral. He had a few cold sweats when an agent checked his passport on the plane.
“I thought he was staring at me too long… I thought they would take me to the police station. Finally, he said to me: “Oh, you’re the boxer, aren’t you? We were expecting you.” They put me through the VIP line and I was able to get out. »
Eleven years after his departure, Bazinyan experienced this return to Armenia between joy and sadness. “I never thought I could come back. Every time I woke up it was like a dream to me. »
He saw his family, friends, and realized his newfound notoriety due to his exploits in the ring. “Everyone knows me there. I was coming out of my building to go for a coffee and I had to talk to 30 people. »
His stay lasted two months, the time to regularize his status. A resumption of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, a region disputed with Azerbaijan in the context of a conflict reignited in 2020, worried him. “But my uncle, who is the head of the secret service, told me not to worry, that he would take me out if something happened. »
While his scheduled fight in the fall was pushed back, he tried to keep in shape as much as possible. “Sometimes I didn’t have the energy to train. I was supposed to go to the gym and I was going to meditate with my father instead. »
The next challenge was to prepare for a first confrontation without the reassuring presence of his father.
On February 2, Bazinyan picked up an emotional win over American Alantez Fox at the Casino de Montreal. When the decision was announced, he wore a t-shirt with a picture of his father. On entering the locker room, he collapsed, his coach said.
“I experienced such stress,” he recalls modestly. It was like a relaxation of my body and my head. »
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Erik Bazinyan celebrates his emotional win over Alantez Fox last February.
This 29e victory allowed the Quebecer to be among the top two world super middleweight contenders in the WBC, WBA and WBO. His next duel against the Mexican Jose de Jesus Macias (28-11-4), the 1er June, at the Casino, is mostly a way to keep him active ahead of a long-awaited championship fight.
“I want to become world champion. That’s the next thing I want to achieve. And what my father wanted. »