Comments Thread For: Kerman Lejarraga vs. David Avanesyan on March 30

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

Kerman Lejarraga, the European welterweight champion, will put his continental title on the line against the former WAB" regular" world champion David Avanesyan. This fight has been announced by the promoter MGZ. The contest will be held in Miribilla (Bilbao) on March 30.
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[JakeTheBoxer]

Stay busy fight for Lejarraga.

[BigZ44]

Good fight for Kerman to keep building, hope ESPN+ picks this up

[djb914]

I thought Avanesyan was going to fight Josh Kelly next.

[nidaros997]

I thought Avanesyan was going to fight Josh Kelly next.

Many think Kelly ducked Avanesyan. Heated debate on twitter between Avanesyan's manager and Josh Kelly himself. There was also an article about what happened when Kellly pulled out of their fight on fight day before Christmas.

Kelly claimed after the announcement of Lejarraga - Avanesyan that the reason a new fight had not been signed yet (and that he wanted to fight Avanesyan 23 march) was that he had undertaken tests to see whether he could continue fighting at welter or had to step up, and that the tests undertaken this week had confirmed he could stay at welter. Meanwhile, Kelly's management had not responded to Avanesyan's manager for weeks about signing a new deal, while the Spanish promoters needed an answer to know whether they should look for another opponent, as Avanesyan was ranked #1 by the EBU.

Long story short. Kelly's team should have signed a new contract with a new date immediately after the first fight was cancelled. They never did, and two months later, Avanesyan had a good offer he eventually had to decide on whether accept or not.

That Kelly could not sign a contract because he had to find out whether he could fight on as a welter is a rather slim excuse. He could have done that last month, and not kept Avanesyan in the waiting, and Kelly's team should have replied to Avanesyan's manager. After all, Avanesyan too went through a camp staying away from his newborn, only to see the fight being cancelled a few hours before it was to take place because Kelly had fallen sick while struggling to make weight. Avanesyan got some financial compensation, but not the bag he should have received as he was there prepared for the fight only to see it cancelled in the last moment.

All in all, the only way Kelly's team can convince everyone they did not duck Avanesyan would be to challenge the winner Lejarraga - Avanesyan, as Kelly is now #2 in the EBU rankings. Meanwhile, to stay busy, he could fight for example Garton for the British title, or Skeete or Gavin to stay busy.

[knockoutkid]

Long story short. Kelly's team should have signed a new contract with a new date immediately after the first fight was cancelled.

Aye, sounds like typical Matchroom, try and catch the other guy off guard by giving him a few days notice for the fight.