A welterweight fight between David Avanesyan and Josh Kelly is once again back on the table.
The two camps burned the midnight oil—and well beyond—in order to come to terms for a planned showdown and avoiding a purse bid hearing in the process.
Neither a date nor location has yet been revealed for the bout, in which Avanesyan will defend his European Boxing Union (EBU) welterweight title.
“We didn’t discuss dates, it was 1:00am,” Neil Marsh, Avanesyan’s manager quipped to BoxingScene.com in confirming a deal has been reached in principle.
The fight was formally ordered by the EBU—by far the most notable title in Europe, and whose sanctioning standards are among the strictest in the world—with a purse bid hearing set aside for Wednesday afternoon. That process was avoided when an offer was extended to Russia’s Avanesyan (25-3-1, 13KOs)—who now lives and trains in England—by Kelly’s promoter, Eddie Hearn.
“We were made an offer and accepted,” noted Marsh. “Now it’s over to Eddie to agree with Josh and (Kelly’s trainer and manager, Adam) Booth, if not already done.”
Interestingly, the bout was once due to take place last December in Sheffield, England, only to fall through the day of the fight. Both boxers went through full training camps and made weight for the scheduled heat, only for Kelly (9-0-1, 6KOs) to fall ill shortly thereafter, withdrawing from the contest the morning of the fight.
The unbeaten Brit—who represented Great Britain in the 2016 Rio Olympics—has fought twice since then, scoring a 10-round shutout over Poland’s Przemyslaw Runowski in April, before struggling to a 10-round draw with veteran stinker Ray Robinson this past June in New York City.
Neither Avanesyan nor his team were thrilled with being left at the altar last December, but his career actually turned out all the better for the experience. The 31 year old was—and perhaps remains—best known for sending former three-division champion Shane Mosley into retirement following a 12-round points win in their May 2016 secondary welterweight title fight. The glory was short lived, suffering a 12-round defeat to Lamont Peterson in Feb. 2017, followed two fights later by a 5th round knockout loss to unbeaten Egidijus Kavaliauskas (21-0-1, 17KOs), the latter whom will next challenge unbeaten welterweight titlist Terence Crawford.
Avanesyan is now right back in the title picture thanks to a career resurrecting 2019 campaign comprising of a pair of knockout wins over Kerman Lejarraga. Avanesyan rallied from behind to score a 9th round knockout of the previously unbeaten welterweight on the road in Spain this past March. He returned to the scene of the crime to repeat the feat, this time in far more devastating fashion in twice flooring Lejarraga en route to a 1st round stoppage in September.
Shortly thereafter came the order to once again revisit old business with Kelly, with their past pushed aside in order to do big business in the future.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
