By Francisco Salazar

Vanes Martirosyan may be fighting with a heavy heart on Saturday night.

But that does not mean he cannot walk out of the ring victorious.

Martirosyan will fight Willie Nelson in a 10 round junior middleweight bout at the Foxwoods Resort in Mashantucket, Conn. The bout will be broadcast live on a special edition of "Showtime Championship Boxing," which will begin its telecast at 9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT.

Martirosyan (34-1-1, 21 KOs) will be dedicating Saturday's fight in the memory of Dan Goossen, the head of Goossen Tutor Promotions who passed away from liver cancer less than a week ago.

Although Martirosyan has only fought once under the Goossen Tutor Promotions banner, a 10 round unanimous decision victory over Mario Lozano on March 21, the Armenian-American wants to earn a victory in honor of the larger-than-life promoter.

"The thing I loved about Dan was that he would look into your eyes," Martirosyan told Boxingscene.com over the earlier this week. "You saw his honesty and you felt something positive. He treated you like a real man. He delivered on everything that he said. It's therefore I'm dedicating this fight to him."

Martirosyan will have his hands full against Nelson, who will have a three-inch height advantage and an eight-inch reach advantage as well. Nelson (23-1, 13 KOs) has won his last seven fights in a row since a majority decision loss to Vincent Arroyo in April of 2011.

While Martirosyan has fought the better opposition of the two, he is still not looking past Nelson.

"He's a good fighter who has lost once," said Martirosyan, who resides in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale. "He gets hurt, but he comes back to win. He has heart."

Despite an impressive record and having won a handful of regional titles, Martirosyan has come up short in two meaningful fights. He fought to a ninth round technical split decision draw against Erislandy Lara in November of 2012, a fight a majority at ringside thought he did enough to win.

Prior to the Lozano fight on November 9, Martirosyan lost a 12 round split decision to Demetrius Andrade, failing to win a world title belt.

Now working with trainer Joe Goossen (he began working with him two weeks before the Lozano fight), Martirosyan feels reinvigorated and energized. A win over Nelson would solidify his standing in the junior middleweight division and in line for a possible world title shot again.

He is eager to make a statement on Saturday night at the expense of Nelson.

"Dan and Joe opened my eyes to a lot of things. I felt lost, but since I've been working with Joe, I feel that I'm a better fighter. I am finding myself and I'm very comfortable. I'm mentally happy now."

"Even though I would win fights, I was fighting at 40 to 60 percent. Now I'm at 100 percent. People are going to see the best of me on Saturday night."

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Salazar also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, RingTV, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing