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. Grigorian would continue to defend his title a total of seventeen times, a new record in the lightweight division. Artur was just one more defense away from becoming the longest reigning lightweight champion, but ultimately lost his belt to
Acelino Freitas by unanimous decision on 3 January 2004. Grigorian had surgery on his right shoulder prior to the bout. Freitas lost the belt in his first title defense against
Diego Corrales. Grigorian retired later that year after winning one more bout. On 24 February 2009, at the age of 41, Artur came out of retirement for one more bout in which he won a six-round unanimous decision against Bulgarian
Kirkor Kirkorov. Kirkorov is also of Armenian descent and also a 1991 World Amateur Boxing Championships medalist. ==Personal life==