He was included in the Russian national boxing team in 2006 and won a gold medal at the 2006 European Amateur Boxing Championships in Plovdiv. Ayrapetyan is only the second Russian boxer to become a European Champion in the light flyweight division, after the highly decorated veteran Sergey Kazakov. In 2006 and 2007, Ayrapetyan beat Kazakov at the Russian Championships and took his spot on the national team as first in the light flyweight division. At the 2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships, Ayrapetyan beat returning Vice-Champion Pál Bedák in the first round but next lost to reigning World Champion Zou Shiming, who went on to win the World Championships again. Ayrapetyan competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He unexpectedly lost in the first match to Georgiy Chygayev, who won the European Championship at flyweight that year and then moved down in weight class.