By Charles Brun: It’s official that EBU welterweight champion David Avanesyan will be defending against Josh ‘Pretty Boy’ Kelly next in late March. Matchroom Boxing guru Eddie Hearn has revealed the news of the Avanesyan vs. Kelly being a done deal.
Hopefully, Kelly, 25, doesn’t get sick again. That would be a big disappointment if he can’t go through with the Avanesyan fight due to some kind of ailment.
Both fighters have signed the contract, and now it’s all about picking the exact date and venue. Kelly (10-0-1, 6 KOs) is coming into the Avanesyan fight in less than desirable conditions unfortunately. He’s looked remarkably poor in his last three contests against these fighters:
- Przemyslaw Runowski (18-1, 4 KOs)
- Wiston Campos (31-7-6, 19 KOs)
- Ray Robinson (24-3-2, 12 KOs)
Kelly struggling against lower level opposition
The 2016 Olympian Kelly fought to a questionable 10 round draw against Ray Robinson on June 1 last year in New York. That’s a fight that Kelly was lucky to escape with a draw. Rather than take a rematch to clear up the controversy, Kelly fought journeyman Campos last December, and surprisingly struggled to defeat him by a 10 round decision.
Kelly won the fight by a 10 round unanimous decision, but Campos hurt him several times in the fight. Josh looked badly beaten around the face by the end of the fight, and he hardly looked like a winner. Kelly’s promoter Hearn is going to need to think of a career plan for him, because it’s apparent that he lacks the talent to make it to the upper level.
“End of March on monster show – both have signed 👍🏼” said Hearn on his social media site.
Kelly fighting Avanesyan at the wrong time
Avanesyan, 31, is fighting at a high level right now with recent knockout wins over Kerman Lejarraga and Jose Del Rio. It’s unclear whether Avanesyan’s power has suddenly increased or if Lejarraga and De Rios lacked sturdy enough chins to withstand his power. It would be bad news for Kelly if Avanesyan (26-3-1, 14 KOs) is punching with more power.
If Kelly loses badly to Avanesyan, then Hearn needs to figure out a good exit strategy for him. Kelly can perhaps make good money fighting a domestic scrap against Conor Benn. Fans would want to see that, but it’s going to be difficult for him to make life changing money without him fighting for a world title at some point in a headline attraction.
Murat Gassiev to make heavyweight debut on Feb.29
Former IBF/WBA cruiserweight champion Murat Gassiev (26-1, 19 KOs) will be fighting next month against a still to be determined opponent on the undercard of Mikey Garcia vs. Jessie Vargas card on February 29 on DAZN.
“You will see the heavyweight debut on the #GarciaVargas card news this week!” said Hearn of Gassiev’s next fight.
The hard hitting Gassiev hasn’t fought in a year and a half since his horrible performance against Oleksandr Usyk in the final of the World Boxing Super Series tournament on July 21, 2018 in Moscow, Russia. Usyk exposed the fact that Gassiev can’t punch in between shots.
Once Usyk realized that Gassiev would only throw punches when he would stop throwing his, he made it a point of keeping his jab constantly busy to nullify his offense.
Much of the time, Usyk looked like he wasn’t even trying to hit Gassiev with his jabs. He was mainly throwing the shots into the air to keep Gassiev from throwing his own punches. It worked perfectly for Usyk, but the fight was terribly boring to watch.
If Gassiev hasn’t improved his game since his fight with Usyk, he’s not going to do well at heavyweight. It would be a good idea for Hearn to match Gassiev carefully in his first few fights at heavyweight to make sure he’s improved his game before he puts him in with a live body.
Light middleweight prospect Israil Madrimov (4-0, 4 KOs) will also be fighting on the Garcia vs. Vargas undercard on February 29 on DAZN. No opponent has been mentioned yet for the 24-year-old Madrimov.
Joshua Buatsi to fight in late March
Light heavyweight contender Joshua Buatsi (12-0, 10 KOs) will be fighting in late March as well. Hearn hasn’t identified who Buatsi’s opponent will be. He’s got a lot of hopes for Buatsi in winning a world title at 175 in the future, but right now it would be the wrong time for him to fight a champion.
Hearn may have missed his window in failing to match Buatsi against the over-the-hill Sergey Kovalev when he held the WBO 175-lb title. Canelo Alvarez got to the vulnerable Kovalev first, and stopped him in the 11th round last November. Although Hearn is high on Buatsi, he doesn’t look remotely ready to take on the lions in the division like Artur Beterbiev or Dmitry Bivol. Those fighters are blessed with more talent than Buatsi, and they would likely make easy work of him if Hearn made the mistake of putting him in with them.
