By Ian S Palmer
David Avanesyan of Russia will be defending his WBA Welterweight Title against former two-time world champion Lamont Peterson of Washington, D.C. at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati this Saturday, February 18th. American fans can check out the action live on the Showtime Network while British fans can catch the contest on BoxNation. Avanesyan beat former world champ Shane Mosley by a 12-round unanimous decision in May in his last outing while Peterson beat Felix Diaz by a 12-round majority decision in his last contest in October of 2015.
The 33-year-old Peterson will be climbing through the ropes with a record of 34-3-1 along with 17 Kos. He stands 5-feet-9-inches tall and with a 72-inch reach and 264 rounds under his belt since turning pro in 2004. Peterson isn’t known for his power and his knockout ratio currently stands at 44 per cent. He’s been in the ring against some top-notch boxers such as Amir Khan, Danny Garcia, Lucas Matthysse, Dierry Jean, Kendall Holt, Timothy Bradley and Victor Ortiz. However, Peterson sometimes struggles against elite fighters.
He won a very controversial decision against Khan and later failed a drug test. His losses came against Bradley, Matthysse and Garcia, with Matthysse stopping him in three rounds in May of 2013. His draw was a 10-round affair against Victor Ortiz in 2010. Peterson has plenty of experience, but doesn’t have the greatest chin in the division and hasn’t fought in well over a year now. He needs to make sure he doesn’t walk into one of the champion’s power shots. Peterson is a good boxer though who has a lot of energy and can produce a high work rate when needed. He isn’t afraid to slug it out either if the occasion calls for it.
The 28-year-old Avanesyan enters the ring with an impressive record of 22-1-1 along with 11 Kos. You may not have heard of him before he met Mosley as he’d been fighting boxers such as Charlie Navarro, Dean Byrne and Kaizer Mabuza. The Russian turned pro in 2009 and has fought 158 rounds since then. He stands 5-feet-8-inches tall and has a reach of 68.5 inches. He’s on a nine-bout winning streak and took the interim belt from the 36-year-old Navarro before defending it against Mosley. Avanesyan has good speed, but he’s not known as a knockout artist as his knockout ratio is currently at 46 per cent.
The champ is a pretty good body puncher and likes to throw combinations rather than one shot at a time. His lone loss came at the hands of Andrey Klimov by a six-round unanimous decision in his second pro fight in 2009 and he fought to a 12-round draw with Aslanbek Kozaev in 2013. Avanesyan has been on a hot streak recently as he hasn’t lost in his past 22 bouts, a run which stretches back to 2009.
Prediction…
Peterson is a fine boxer and can be entertaining when he lets his hands go. Avanesyan is relatively unknown to most boxing fans even after his win over Shane Mosley. Peterson may have some ring rust to deal with, but if he’s at his peak he should be able to take the title by a decision with a late stoppage being a slight possibility.
