David Avanesyan suffered stoppage defeats to both Terence Crawford and Jaron Ennis, but said only one of them caused him to experience an unfamiliar feeling of pain.
The sturdy pressure fighter squared off with Crawford in 2022, just over seven months before ‘Bud’ became the undisputed welterweight king against Errol Spence Jr.
Back then, the American was coming off a 10th-round stoppage victory over Shawn Porter, making a voluntary defence of his WBO title against Avanesyan.
Having previously scored a sixth-round finish over Josh Kelly, Avanesyan represented a live opponent, but was ultimately halted in the same round against Crawford.
Around 19 months later, the Armenian was gearing up to face Ennis after collecting just one victory – a fourth-round stoppage at middleweight – following his defeat to Crawford.
Whether the lack of activity played a factor, only he will know, but Avanesyan nonetheless found himself on the receiving end of a fifth-round finish.
‘Boots’ would then unify the welterweight division before moving up to 154lbs, where he comes off a first-round demolition job against Uisma Lima.
When reflecting on their power, though, Avanesyan, who is a former WBA (Regular) welterweight champion, told trainer Carl Greaves – who, in turn, told BoxingScene – that Crawford was a noticeably bigger puncher than Ennis.
“I think that Crawford is a heavier-handed fighter. I was talking to David and he said that Crawford hits harder but that ‘Boots’ Ennis was a bit sharper and busier.
“Then you take into consideration that when David fought Crawford, the whole six rounds he was in there with him he had dodgy gloves. When he [Avanesyan] came out of the ring afterwards, he said he’d never had pain or lumps on his head like it.”
Indeed, much controversy surrounded the gloves of Crawford against Avanesyan, with Everlast subsequently admitting that they were produced from a batch of defective leather.
