Mosley battles Avanesyan tonight

By Boxing News - 05/28/2016 - Comments

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By Dan Ambrose: Shane Mosley (49-9-1, 41 KOs) will be looking to capture the interim WBA welterweight title against David Avanesyan (21-1-1, 11 KOs) in a fight televised on CBS Sports Net starting at 10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT from the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

Mosley, 44, has turned his career around recently with two victories over Patrick Lopez and Ricardo Mayorga. However, beating those two fighters doesn’t mean the 44-year-old Mosley will be able to beat the 27-year-old Avanesyan.

Indeed, the oddsmaker don’t think Mosley will be able to overcome the youth and talent advantage of the Russian fighter, which is why they see Mosley as an underdog in this fight.

Mosley needs a win in this fight for him to get a chance at fighting the winner of the Keith Thurman vs. Shawn Porter fight. That fight takes place next month on June 25. Mosley doesn’t necessarily have to fight the winner of that fight for him to make things happen in his comeback. He’s already said he won’t fight Porter if he beats Thurman because he’s close friends with him. So the chance of Mosley fighting the winner of the Thurman-Porter fight will depend on him beating Avanesyan and Thurman beating Porter.

There are questions of how ready Mosley is for tonight’s fight against Avanesyan because he’s spent a lot of time recently promoting the fight. The energy and the time drain that Mosley has had to deal with in pumping up interest in the fight could turn around and hurt him when he gets inside the ring tonight and possibly doesn’t have the energy to beat the younger fighter.

Avanesyan isn’t considered to among the very best in the division in the eyes of many boxing fans, but he’s still a good fighter that is much younger than Mosley. Avanesyan could beat Mosley on youth only. Mosely hasn’t fought a live body in three years since his loss to Anthony Mundine in 2013. You cannot count Mosley’s last two opponents Patrick Lopez and 41-year-old Ricardo Mayorga as being quality opposition because they’re clearly not.

“I plan to put on a clinic. I’m not just going to win. I’m going to annihilate him. In 2009 they said I was done but they were wrong. I’m glad people know this is a real competitive fight. It will be a challenge, but when I win, the world will know,” said Mosley via ESPN.com.

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It would be pretty amazing if Mosley is able to make good on what he’s saying and put on a clinic against Avanesysan. I don’t know if that’s possible, but even if it is, Mosley is going to be in deep, deep trouble if he’s the one that fights Keith Thurman later this year. That’s a really scary thought to picture Mosley fighting Thurman because it’s such a bad mismatch on paper.

A lot of boxing fans believe that Mosley is still the same fighter he was years ago. They don’t realize that he hasn’t beaten a good fighter since his win over Antonio Margarito seven years ago in 2009. Mosley’s wins since then have come against Patrick Lopez, Mayorga and Pablo Cesar Cano. That’s all Mosley has to show for himself since his last real win over Margarito.