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Sunday, February 9, 2025

David Alaverdian to Face Josue Morales

David Alaverdian will step into a professional ring for the first time in 22 months on February 22 at the Westgate Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. He's scheduled to face Josue Morales in a step-up fight.

Alaverdian is a 31 year old with a record of 8-0-1 (6 KOs). His lone draw was due to- quite frankly- a bullshit decision. David dominated another Morales, Angel Geovanny Meza over six rounds in Mexico, but judge Gary Eder Lopez somehow sided with his countryman, Meza Morales, who has more names than punches landed that night. Another judge, Jorge Luis Romero Cota inexplicably called it a draw. Only Carlos Parra scored the fight accurately, 59-55 for the Israeli from Nahariya.

Josue Morales is a 32 year old from Houston, Texas with a record of 31-16-4 (13 KOs). Alaverdian's fans may have preferred a softer touch for his comeback bout, because Morales knows how to box. In his 52 prizefights, he has never been stopped.

Boxing fans might expect this paragraph to be about the tough Mexican-American's iron jaw, but Morales, nicknamed Zurdo, is a classy southpaw. He's defensively oriented and falls into moments of passivity on offense. He keeps a high guard, expertly catching the opponent's punches on his gloves. Morales usually fights on the backfoot and moves around the perimeter a good deal. He's also adept at using subtle foot movement to avoid punches. All combined makes for a fighter who doesn't get hurt in the ring.

Josue is a true road warrior. He started boxing 20 years ago and turned pro in 2013. Since then he's fought in the U.S., Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua, and Puerto Rico (which is a U.S. territory). He has fought the far better competition as a pro. He lost to Olympian Nico Hernandez and to Jesse Rodriguez when Bam was just a baby long before his face tattoo. Every time Morales has stepped up to a certain level, he's lost by decision. A lot of his wins are against inexperienced opponents, but he has beaten some good fighters as well. And he often fights in the opponent's hometown, which has led to a couple of unfair losses.

Morales has picked up some minor titles along the way. He won a title from the UBO, which has about as much credibility as a country bumpkin claiming to have seen a UFO. He also has collected other tchotchkes including the ABF America West super bantamweight title, the ABF intercontinental super flyweight title, the IBA intercontinental super flyweight title, and the WBC USA silver flyweight title. If that all sounds impressive, keep in mind that in boxing terms, the value of those belts is primarily to keep one's pants from falling down.

Morales started his career with a mediocre record of 11-12-4. Since then, he has gone 20-4, the inverse of a typical boxer's arc. In addition to having more experience than Alaverdian, Morales has also been far more active. David last fought in 2023 while Morales has fought ten times since then, more fights than David has in his entire five-year career. Zurdo is also the naturally bigger man, fighting as high as 127 pounds and campaigning mostly above the bantamweight limit. Alaverdian has his share of advantages though: hand speed, agility, punch and style variety, and power. 

Years ago, Morales described himself as a boxer in the hit-and-don't get-hit style who prefers to counterpunch, but he rarely counters. He's more of a your-turn-my-turn guy, throwing 2-3 punch combinations when it's his turn. Conventional wisdom suggests the best way to fight that type of opponent is not to give him a turn and just keep throwing. Alaverdian isn't a volume puncher, he's more of a boxer-puncher, but he can fight in different styles. Changing levels and utilizing his angles are the best chances to get to Morales. With his high guard, Morales does leave his body open at times.

Cletus Seldin once told me, "Rust is real." For Alaverdian, coming off a long respiratory illness which led to a long layoff, he shouldn't press for the knockout. Morales has done just enough to lose against some of his better opponents, so if David stays within himself, he should pull off the best win of his career. Morales will need to up his work-rate and ditch his safety-first mentality to beat Alaverdian and grab the best win of his career.

Alaverdian-Morales is scheduled for six rounds in the flyweight division.

Saturday, February 8, 2025

Daniel Ivanovski Wins by Stoppage

Cruiserweight Daniel Ivanovski defeated Stephen Kirnon by second round TKO last night at the Pendennis Club in Louisville, Kentucky, USA last night.

Ivanovski, a 23 year old Israeli, is now 3-0 with 3 KOs. Kirnon falls to 2-8-1 with one KO. This was the fifth time he has been stopped, all against undefeated prospects. More details to come about this fight.

Ivanovski is next scheduled to fight at the Durham Armory in Durham, North Carolina, USA next Saturday against Romelle Terrell.

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

The 100th Anniversary of Jackie Fields's Debut

On February 5, 1925 Jackie Fields made his professional boxing debut at the Armory in Pasadena, California. The previous summer, the reigning Olympic champion had become the youngest boxer ever to win a gold medal at the Games, a record that will never be broken. By stepping through the ropes as a pro against Benny Pascal, Fields was breaking the rules.


After Fields beat his friend Joe Salas in the gold medal match at the 1924 Paris Olympics, he traveled first to his native Chicago before arriving in his adopted hometown of Los Angeles two weeks later. Fields heard chatter that Salas had been badmouthing him, accusing Fields of butting Salas in the final. A rematch was set up for September 18 at the Vernon Arena. Both boxers were paid $500 for the fight, far more than amateurs were typically allotted.

After a close three rounds, a spontaneously arranged fourth round was ordered. Fields won and thus held two wins over his now former-friend.

Jackie asked his coach and mentor, George Blake, if he could turn pro. Blake balked. He told Jackie that he felt the boy needed more seasoning before becoming a prizefighter. Plus, Blake would be busy managing the burgeoning career of Fidel LaBarba, the Olympic gold medalist in the flyweight division. LaBarba was a fellow Los Angeles Athletic Club (LAAC) member and two and a half years older than Fields.

“I couldn’t get mad about his concentrating on LaBarba," Fields said later. "He was a great little fighter."

So Fields continued to fight in amateur bouts and the occasional smoker that fall. He was scheduled to take on Salas in a third fight on December 18, but a major change threw a wrench into those plans.

On December 10, Joe Salas had his pro debut. Afterwards, Jackie again asked Blake if he could turn pro. After all, he had beaten Salas twice and now Salas was a pro. "You’ll have to have more time to bring you along," Blake replied. "I’m too busy, anyway, with Salas and LaBarba."

A distraught Fields later admitted, "It broke my heart, and I went home and cried."

Fields split with the LAAC and fought a couple of more times as an amateur. In December, he played a supporting role in a silent film called Battling Bunyon. But Fields needed to make more money. His father's restaurant had turned sour and so had his old man's health.

Jackie's father Morris was dying of tuberculosis. The family had moved from Chicago to Los Angeles in 1921 because warmer, drier climates were seen as beneficial for sufferers of TB. Jackie's older brother Max had gone back to Chicago, so it was up to Jackie to make money for his rather large family.
In mid-January, just as Jackie's idol Benny Leonard was retiring, the young Olympic champ signed with William "Gig" Rooney, a well-known figure within L.A.'s boxing circles. Rooney said he would move the youngster slowly, have him fight only every two or three months. Other managers felt Rooney was babying Jackie.

Jackie was, after all, just a babe. The minimum age for a boxer to fight in the state of California was 18. Jackie was famous for winning the gold medal at the sprightly age of 16 and would only turn 17 on February 9, four days after his pro debut. That debut was scheduled for six rounds, an amount that was an impossibility in California just weeks earlier.

On January 1, 1925 California enacted a law that essentially legalized boxing in the state. The law ended the the so-called four-round era and allowed decisions in fights up to ten rounds. The new law coincided nicely with the start of Jackie's professional boxing career.

Fields's opponent, Benny Pascal, was an 18 year old hard-hitter from Philadelphia. The tough two-and-half year pro was entering his 50th fight in the paid ranks. Making $150 for the fight, Fields comfortably outboxed Pascal over the first four rounds. The pink-cheeked debutant knocked down his veteran foe in the fifth and finished the final round strong.

Jackie Fields, the youngest ever Olympic gold medalist boxer and a future two-time welterweight world champion, was 1-0.



Note: I'd like to announce that I've been working on a biography of Jackie Fields for the past two and half years, doing a ton of research and a lot of writing in that time. I still have a ways to go and would love to hear from anyone who met or knew Jackie Fields. Please email me at JewishBoxing at yahoo dot come. Thank you in advance!