By Jim Dower: Former WBA World welterweight champion David Avanesyan (24-3-1, 12 KOs) pulled off a minor upset on Saturday night in stopping the inexperienced EBU welterweight champion Kerman Lejarraga (27-1, 22 KOs) by a ninth round knockout at the Bilbao Arena, in Bilbao, Spain.
Avanesyan, 30, hurt the Spaniard Lejarraga with a right hand to the head in the ninth. Avanesyan then unloaded on the hurt 27-year-old Lejarraga with a storm of shots that drove him across the ring to the ropes. Avanesyan continued to nail Lejarraga with unanswered shots until the referee Robin Dolpierre jumped in between them and stopped the bout. Immediately after the fight was stopped, Lejarraga hit the deck.
Earlier in the fight, Lejarraga backed Avanesyan to the ropes in the fourth round, but was dropped suddenly by a sharp right hook by the Russian fighter. Lejarraga got careless and was put on the deck hard. The remainder of the fight saw Avanesyan getting the better of the action with his speedy combinations against the plodding Lejarraga, who looked over-matched.
The fight was an important one for Lejarraga, as he came into it highly ranked at #2 WBC, #5 IBF and #5 WBA. However, it was soon apparently that Lejarraga didn’t deserve the high ranking that those organizations gave to him. Avanesyan was hitting Lejarraga with combinations throughout the fight, and looking like the much more talented guy. Although Lejarraga did appear to hurt Avanesyan in the eighth round, he wasn’t able to put him away, and he found himself taking a lot of punishment a round later in the ninth.
The outcome of this fight shouldn’t be a surprise to the knowledgeable boxing fans, since Lejarraga had never fought any of the talented welterweights during his six-year pro career in Spain. Lejarraga came into the fight with his best wins coming against these guys: Frankie Gavin, Denton Vassell, Bradley Skeete, Jose Antonio Abreu, and Johnny Navarrete. Lejarraga lacked the experience to be considered a true favorite against a guy with Avanesyan’s background in boxing. Lejarraga was getting hit with three and four punch combinations the entire fight.
Lejarraga would land a good shot, but then Avanesyan would come back with three or four punches to the head and body. The very slow Lejarraga fire back another hard shot, and continue to get nailed by Avanesyan’s fast combinations. Lejarraga being the stronger fighter of the two didn’t matter, because he didn’t have enough power to hurt Avanesyan with his single punches. Avanesyan’s combination punching made up for his lack of power. When you’re hitting your opponent approximately four to one all night, you’re going to win more often than not, as Avanesyan showed last Saturday night.
Avanesyan came into the fight off of a 13 month layoff after being stopped in the sixth round by Egidijus Kavaliauskas in February 2018. Avanesyan lost his WBA ‘regular’ 147 lb title to Lamont Peterson by a 12 round unanimous decision two years ago on February 18, 2017.
The win was a good one for Avanesyan, but it doesn’t mean he’s going to capture another world title. There aren’t any easy marks for Avanesyan to beat right now at 147 for him to pick up a world title the easy way.