Challenger David Avanesyan and IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis met today for their final press conference to discuss their 12-round fight this Saturday night on DAZN at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
Avanesyan says he’s glad to be fighting Boots Ennis, who many view as the #1 fighter in the 147-lb division. He feels he has a real shot at upsetting Ennis and capturing his IBF welterweight title.
Lingering Resentment from Crawford Fight
During the press conference, Avanesyan expressed his anger over what happened in his last fight against WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford on December 10, 2022. Crawford’s gloves began splitting apart in the first round of their contest at the Chi Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
Crawford continued fighting with his gloves falling apart, and it was shocking that the match wasn’t halted to find another pair for him to wear.
Avanesyan seems to feel that the gloves played a factor in the fight’s outcome, as a single shot in the sixth round knocked him out. Crawford isn’t known for being a one-punch knockout artist, so that raised some eyebrows with fans, leaving Avanesyan still bitter about it two years later.
Undeterred and Ready to Prove Himself
If fans put an asterisk next to Avanesyan’s loss to Crawford and view it as a fighter that doesn’t count, the Russian fighter hasn’t lost a match in six years since his sixth-round knockout defeat against Egidijus Kavaliauskas in February 2018.
That guy has the power to knock out anybody in the welterweight division, so there’s no shame in Avanesyan getting stopped by him.
The veteran with the power advantage, Avanesyan (30-4-1, 18 KOs) looked considerably smaller than ‘Boots’ Ennis (31-0, 28 KOs) when the two stood for their face-off at the end of today’s press conference.
Size Difference and Hostile Environment
“I know Ennis is a good fighter. I want a good fighter,” said David Avanesyan during Thursday’s final press conference for his fight against IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis this Saturday night, live on DAZN.
“You’ve been in hostile environments before, particularly in Omaha,” said promoter Eddie Hearn. “You’ve built off the experiences from the Crawford fight. You were competitive in that fight. You have a similar kind of task ahead of you.
“You have another huge crowd on Saturday. You’ve had good experiences in your career that will serve you in good stead on Saturday.”
Bad History with Crawford
“My fight with Crawford was bad history,” said Avanesyan. “When you’re a big fighter, a world-class fighter, #1 with Top Rank, and you go inside the ring in the first round, and your gloves open, I don’t understand how it’s possible this moment.
“People who understand boxing understand me. People that don’t understand say, ‘It’s Crawford, he’s the best boxer.’ Yeah, I understand he’s a good boxer. When I go and fight, I never ask my coach to go see about his gloves.
“I know he’s a top fighter and that he does need to change gloves. When you see after fight, it’s not possible that after first round your gloves open. When he opens his hand, you see it’s opened gloves. Then after six rounds, you see see his gloves, and you think, ‘Two years fight,” said Avanesyan.
