By Jim Dower: Youth prevailed tonight with interim WBA welterweight champion David Avanesyan (22-1-1, 11 KOs) defeating a game but limited 44-year-old Sugar Shane Mosley (49-10-1, 41 KOs) by a hard fought 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night in their fight on CBS Sports Net from the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
The final judges’ scores were 114-113, 117-110, 117-110. #3 WBA Mosley fought well for a fighter his age, but he wasted his opportunity by holding too much. Mosley was clinching at every opponent and made the fight resemble a fight between heavyweights with his holding rather than welterweights.
Mosley frequently fought well for the first minute of every round, but then he would seem to go into a pattern where he would throw less punches and hold. The punches that Mosley did throw after the first minute of every round were generally jabs. This meant that he would be stuck trying to win a round against a guy that was throwing power shots. In hindsight, it was a mistake on Mosley’s part to throw so few power shots.
Mosley did a great deal of leaning and holding in the 7th round. He was leaning on Avanesyan and pushing him into the ropes like a Billy goat. There were very few punches thrown in the round due to Mosley leaning and not letting Avanesyan get space to throw his punches. It looked like Mosley was tired and stalling out the round with this tactic. He looked old.
In the 8th round, Avanesyan landed a big left hook that snapped Mosley’s head back and appeared to stun him. The shot came near the end of the round and it likely impressed the judges.
Mosley had a point deducted in the 10th round for a low blow. The referee had warned Mosley earlier in the fight in the 3rd round to stop throwing low blows, as he’d already done a lot of damage to Avanesyan with those shots in the first two rounds. However, Mosley continued to throw low blows after the warning without the referee doing anything about it. Finally in the 10th round, Mosley ran out of luck and was docked a point for the low blow.
Mosley fought well in the 1st, 10th and 12th rounds. I thought he clearly won those rounds. However, Mosley’s point deduction in the 10th for a low blow meant it was an even round.
The win for Avanesyan means he’ll be fighting the winner of next month’s fight between WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter. I don’t like Avanesyan’s chances against either of those guys. Avanesyan won’t likely be able to compete against either of those guys because he’s very limited. A better opponent for the winner of the Thurman-Porter fight would be Errol Spence Jr. He would have a very good chance of beating both of those guys. Avanesyan would have no chance.
Mosley didn’t argue about the decision afterwards. He showed a good attitude in not making a fuss about the decision because a lot of fighters would have if they were in the same situation. There were many rounds that there close, and it would be understandable if Mosley had complained afterwards.
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In the undercard, super middleweight prospect Shane Mosley Jr. (7-1, 5 Kos) had to struggle to defeat journeyman Roberto Yong (5-8, 4 KOs) by a close six round majority decision. The final judges’ scores were 57-57, 59-55, and 58-56.
Yong was nailing Mosley Jr. with big shots in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th round that snapped his head back constantly and appeared to stun him at times. However, fortunately for Mosley Jr., Yong gassed out after the 4th, and this enabled Moseley Jr. to come on strong and take the last to rounds to get the victory. Mosley Jr. hurt Fong in the 6th round that caused him to bend forward. The referee could have scored it a knockdown but he didn’t. It was a good thing that this missed call didn’t effect the results of the fight.
Mosley Jr. looked very flawed tonight, and it’s hard to imagine him going anywhere in the division. It’ll likely take him ages to fix all the problems in his game, and it’s hard to imagine him being able to do that. He just looks like a journeyman level fighter rather than a prospect or someone that has chance of becoming a contender one day.
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Cruiserweight Dimar Ortuz (11-0-2, 8 KOs) defeated Ricardo Campillo (9-10-1, 7 KOs) by a 6th round stoppage. The fight was halted at 0:25 of the round.