David Alaverdian Dominates in Preliminaries of Euro Championships

David Alaverdian, a 6-0 pro boxer, dominated his preliminary bout today in Yerevan, Armenia against Akritidis Panagiotis of Greece. Alaverdian used slick defense, set effective traps, and ravaged the body to earn a wide victory.

Representing Israel, Alaverdian fought out of the blue corner. Per amateur boxing rules, David was forced to shave his facial hair which made the 28 year old look like a Bar Mitzvah boy (I can relate).  While not sporting the most intimidating look, he held a slight height advantage over the 24 year old man from Greece.

There were two matches going on simultaneously in the room. Alaverdian, who fought in ring A, began the opening round pumping his jab as the public address announcer introduced the combatants for ring B. Bells designed for ring B rang in the middle of the rounds. Despite the aural chaos, Alaverdian switched to southpaw and threw a couple of lead lefts from the outside. He switched back and smacked a left hook to Panagiotis's body, which caused him to wince in a mixture of pain and frustration. He then knew he was in trouble.

Alaverdian bounced at the end of the first, which is usually considered a bad habit because boxers must set their feet to land a hard punch, so when boxers bounce, they basically announce to the opponent when a punch is coming. It's not something David does normally, and he soon stopped. To start the second, Alaverdian loaded up with big rights that Panagiotis was able to avoid, another habit David rarely does. Panagiotis had his best moments to open the second round by getting in close and throwing pitty pat punches that touched the Israeli.

Alaverdian quickly got back on his jab as a righty, and the fight opened up for him. He found a short counter right over the top when Panagiotis was in close trying to pitty pat and that effectively ended Panagiotis's offense. Alaverdian was money from either stance with hooks and body shots. At one point in the second, he was trapped in the corner, but Panagiotis could do no damage.

After the round, coach Pavlo Ishchenko, a 2012 Olympian and former pro Jewish boxer, snapped a towel in front of David to give him some air as Pavlo gave his charge instructions. Alaverdian convincingly grabbed the third round with a beautiful stick-and-move style. He occasionally set himself and landed some hard left hooks as a righty. At one point, he shoe-shined to distract Panagiotis and then smacked him with a left hook to the midsection. The only problem in the round was when David received a stern warning for lowering his head, which is an amateur rule referees are apparently told to enforce as if their lives depend on it.

All five judges gave Alaverdian a shutout victory. The judges from Kazakhstan and Czechia scored it 30-27, and the judges from England, Algeria, and Lithuania had it 30-26. The English judged gave Alaverdian a 10-8 round in the second and the other two scored the final period 10-8. It should be noted, the judges and the referee did an excellent job.

In the quarterfinals, Alaverdian is scheduled to fight Dmytro Zamotaev of Ukraine on Friday, May 27 during the afternoon session. Zamotaev is a frenetic fighter who knocked out his German opponent's mouthpiece three times on route to a third round amateur-style stoppage, as the opponent was not really hurt.