If in football there is still debate about who was greater between Pelè and Maradona, in the world of kickboxing there is no doubt: it is Giorgio Petrosyan. «I put this sport before myself to be number one», says the martial arts king who was once Armenian and now, he proudly asserts, «I am 100% Italian». But now it’s time to say enough about elbows, kicks and knees to the face (this is why he has a hooked nose like a boxer): at 39 years old, having won 110 fights and 21 world belts in the 70 kg category, he is ready to leave the crown: tonight, in fact, he will enter the ring at the Allianz Cloud in Milan for the Final Fight. “I like it when people compare me to Pelè or Maradona. I never stop, I never enjoy winning.
My happiness was only fifteen seconds away when the referee raised my hand. Then I immediately thought about the next meeting. This is my strength to move forward and continue to win.”
Petrosyan’s fighters came from far away, from the Yerevan he fled when he was 13, with his father and brother, hiding in the truck that dropped them off in Milan.
They are fleeing violence, because in Armenia, blood-stained by the war with Azerbaijan, soldiers can come home at any time to recruit boys to send to the front. Once he arrived at Central station, where he fell ill, with a fever reaching 40, they had nothing to eat and his father was afraid of losing it. Caritas helped them and found a house for them in Gorizia, a family welcomed them to the house of their company trustee and other parts of the Petrosyan family also came, Armen’s mother, sister and younger brother, who have been by his side since then. The kickboxing demon, discovered on TV thanks to Van Damme’s kicks, had mastered him at the age of 10. “I will be number one,” he predicted. And that’s how it ended, with the world, quite literally, at his feet. Always following Mameli’s song: «Italy has given me so much, I arrived in Milan and slept at the station. And now I’m here in my city to play my last game in front of 5,000 fans. This explains everything.”
But what makes Petrosyan unique is his ability to neutralize his opponents, without ever losing control of his emotions, and is a symbol of technical perfection. Every injection was studied and thus earned the nickname “The Doctor”, not only because he was often taken to the surgeon: «I had eleven operations on my left hand», he said.
Most importantly, Petrosyan was a source of inspiration for many of the people he took off the streets and into the gym.
“I leave a legacy to the younger generation, I hope the younger generation can defend the tricolor as I have done for these 24 years, flying the flag high all over the world.” An era will end tonight against Portugal’s Sousa, but the legend remains.
