Comments Thread For: Kerman Lejarraga vs. Luis Solis is Set Down For June 8

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

Welterweight contender Kerman Lejarraga is already set to return for the first time since suffering his first career defeat, which came last month at the hands of veteran boxer David Avanesyan in their EBU title clash. Lejarraga will face Mexico's Luis "Muecas" Solis on June 8 in Bilbao.
[Click Here To Read More]

[BigZ44]

What the hell happened to the Avanesyan rematch??

[nidaros997]

What the hell happened to the Avanesyan rematch??

It can still be made.

This is KL's return to the ring, fairly soon after his loss. Spanish media say's that after this fight, if he is successful, they will make a decision on the rematch with Avanesyan.

Meanwhile, the European Boxing Union has stated that Josh Kelly is the mandatory for Avanesyan's European title. This means that a possible rematch between Avanesyan and Lejarraga would happen without the title at stake. Things get further complicated with the fact that Kelly and Avanesyan were shceduled to fight 8 December last year, but after struggling to make weight and feeling sick, Kelly pulled out of the fight hours before it was to take place, inflicting an economic loss for Avanesyan's team etc. Consequently, the temperature has been pretty heated by the two British teams (as Avanesyan is partly based in the UK), and as it seems now, Avanesyan's team is not so interested anymore in the fight Kelly vs. Avanesyan. Instead they await the situation to see if there will be a rematch with Lejarraga, and/or the possibility that Avanesyan, who is now ranked by all four sanctioning bodies, could look for something better, on the road for a new title shot.

After Kelly's last fight against Runowski it was said though that Kelly and his coach wants to fight Avanesyan for the EBU title, but so far that just seems like talk, not to loose face as Kelly received a lot of criticism when he ducked Avanesyan (as they did not want to sign a rematch after the 8 December fight was cancelled, claiming they did not know if Kelly at that time could continue fighting as a welter). In other interviews Kelly has been more reluctant to say anything more specific about fighting Avanesyan. First, it seems like they want Avanesyan and Lejarraga to fight again, and whatever happens there Kelly will continue fighting boxers that make him shine (next stop New York 1 June), probably hoping Avanesyan loses the rematch or, if he wins it, moves on for a title shot and abandons the EBU title.

In my opinion Lejarraga should rebuild his career without taking the rematch, as Avanesyan was all wrong for him, and he has a lot to work on: defence, footwork and sorting out his health issues (after the Avanesyan match they thought he has been over trained, entered the ring several kgs less than he normally does, and some blood tests revealed he had been sick). As such, the rematch against this Mexican is a high risk fight too. I think he returns to the ring too soon, against a puncher, before he has had time to improve his shortcomings and possibly recovered health wise.

The most likely outcome though, should the EBU allow the title to be at stake in their rematch, is that Lejarraga will fight Avanesyan in Bilbao in October/November.