Weights: Mosley 146, Avanesyan 146.7

By Boxing News - 05/27/2016 - Comments

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By Dan Ambrose: Challenger Sugar Shane Mosley (49-9-1, 41 KOs) made weight on Friday afternoon for his title shot against interim WBA welterweight champion David Avanesyan (21-1-1, 11 KOs) for their fight on Saturday night on May 28 at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

Mosley, 44, weighed in at 146lbs and looked in great shape as usual for him. WBA champion Avanesyan weighed in at 146.7lbs. Boxing fans can watch the Mosley vs. Avanesyan on Saturday on CBS Sports Net. The start time is at 10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT.

The winner of the contest will face the winner of next month’s title fight between WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter. Mosley has already said that if he beats Avanesyan, he won’t fight Porter if he comes out the winner against Thurman. Mosley is friends with Porter, and he doesn’t want to fight him.

Mosley has no problems with fighting Thurman. However, Mosley says he prefers not to be fighting a lot of young lions. He wants to fight the established stars Floyd Mayweather Jr., Miguel Cotto, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Manny Pacquiao or Juan Manuel Marquez.

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It might be better if the 27-year-old Avanesyan wins the fight on Saturday night because he doesn’t have any hang-ups about fighting Porter if he comes out on top in his fight against Thurman on June 25. It would be bad if Mosley beats Avanesyan and then shortly after that he vacates his interim WBA title if Porter beats Thurman.

The good thing is that Avanesyan is the favorite in this fight, so there’s a good chance that it’ll be him facing the winner of the Thurman-Porter fight. The boxing fans want to see a clear fight ahead and they won’t be able to get that if Mosley wins on Saturday night. It won’t be decided whether Mosley will fight the winner of the Thurman-Porter fight until that fight takes place and we see if Thurman wins or not.

Avanesyan is a pretty good fighter. He’s got excellent hand speed and power. The thing that might hurt him against Mosley is his bad habit of covering up behind his guard and waiting for his opponents to stop throwing before he lets his hands go.

Avanesyan has a fighting style that is very similar to that of former WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham, who typically hides behind a high guard and waits for his opponents to stop throwing before he lets his hands go. If Avanesyan fights like that against Mosley, he’ll make the fight a lot closer than it should be. If Avanesyan can throw a lot of punches, he could outwork Mosley and beat him with his youth.

In Avanesyan’s last five fights, he’s beaten Charlie Navarro, Den Byrne, Ramon de la Cruz Sena, Laszlo Fazekas and Kaizer Mabuza. Avanesyan’s lack of experience could be a problem for him on Saturday because he’s not had the proper fights to be ready for a fighter like Mosley. That’s the problem that he has. Without the experience, Avanesyan could fall apart on Saturday night.