By Ryan Burton

BoxingScene.com has been advised that fast rising welterweight Egidijus Kavaliauskas (18-0) will take a big step up in class when he faces former WBA "regular" welterweight champion David Avanesyan (23-2-1) on February 16th in Reno, Nevada in the ESPN televised co-feature of the evening.

The 10-round fight was first reported by ESPN.com. In the main event of the evening, Mexican veteran Ray Beltran will face Paulus Moses for the vacant WBO lightweight title.

The hard hitting Kavaliauskas, who is known as the Mean Machine and managed by well known manager Egis Klimas, went 3-0 last year with all three fights ending inside of the distance.

In his last fight he captured the vacant NABF welterweight title with a seventh round TKO of Mahonry Montes at the Convention Center in Tuscon, Arizona.

Avanesyan, who has never been stopped or seriously hurt in his career, suffered his first career defeat in his second pro fight in July 2009 against Andrey Klimov.

He then went on a big win streak that brought him to a clash with Charlie Navarro in November 2015. Avanesyan picked up a ninth round TKO win to capture the WBA's interim-welterweight title in Monte Carlo.

The big win led to a May 2016 clash with future Hall of Famer "Sugar" Shane Mosley in Arizona. And Avanesyan boxed his way to a twelve round unanimous decision victory.

He was then elevated to the status of WBA "regular" welterweight champion and became the mandatory challenger to full champion Keith Thurman.

But he lost his title in his first defense last February, by way of a twelve round decision to Lamont Peterson at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati.

Avanesyan bounced back from the loss with a points victory over Serge Ambomo last month at the Imperial Banqueting Suite in Bilston.

2016 Olympians Shakur Stevenson (4-0) and Robson Conceicao (5-0) and heavyweight contender Bryant Jennings (21-2) are also expected to return to action on the card.

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