David Avanesyan is set to fight for a European title having been made mandatory challenger
35-year-old fan-favourite David Avanesyan (30-4-1, 18KO) has long been a top contender for the EBU title at welterweight.
Avanesyan has already held the EBU European welterweight title from 2019 to 2022 and successfully defended it most notably against then-unbeaten, fast-rising star Josh Kelly in a bitter grudge match back in January 2020 that ended with an early knockout victory for the Russian.
The Russian, trained by Carl Greaves, won two more defences against Brit Liam Taylor and Finnish fighter Oskari Metz before then stepping up to challenge Terence Crawford for the WBO world welterweight title in December 2022.
Avanesyan was stopped in the sixth round of that fight but then got back to winning ways last December when he forced journeyman Serge Ambomo to retire after four rounds, and now he has a chance to win back his old title.
A new post on X by his manager Neil Marsh shared the breaking news from the European Boxing Union regarding the mandatory challenger for their welterweight belt.“Very happy to say @DavidAvaBoxer is now mandatory for (HIS) EBU title @CarlGreavesPro @AlanLevene”
The opponent will be Jordy Weiss, a 30-year-old French fighter who has had 33 fights with no defeats, though has only beaten three opponents by knockout.
He has fought almost exclusively at home in France against the likes of Belgian welterweight champion Meriton Karaxha and unbeaten prospect Jon Miguez, who defeated Brit boxer James Moorcroft by knockout.
Weiss fought twice last year and has already notched up a win in 2024 against Polish champion Michael Lesniak in March when he took a unanimous points decision over 12 rounds.
Purse bids have been called for the fight and are set to take place on Monday, May 6 at 12 noon CET, unless the parties can agree on a deal before then.