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Thursday, September 22, 2022

Interview with Prospect David Alaverdian

David Alaverdian is scheduled to fight in Jackson, Mississippi, USA on October 8. The 6-0 prospect spoke with The Jewish Boxing Blog about a variety of topics including his start in boxing, his sparring partners, his coach, and his style of fighting.

Alaverdian started boxing when he was about eight years old growing up in Israel. His dad forced him to box because David was a small kid. David hated it and stopped after a while. When he was in eleventh grade, he saw a friend come back from a boxing tournament in Ukraine with a medal. That sparked a hunger to return to the sport, but his schedule was too hectic that year. He began training again in twelfth grade, saw the great Vasiliy Lomachenko box in the amateur championships in Baku, and started watching old fights. As a result, Alaverdian fell in love with boxing.

David faced many disappointments as an amateur but kept going. "That's my mentality," he told The JBB. "I don't let shit bother me. I'm not a quitter."

People in the know soon recognized Alaverdian's talent, and he's been brought in as a sparring partner for many top fighters. He's sparred with WBO super flyweight champion Kazuto Ioka, one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. David was impressed with Ioka's patience. "After sparring with him for two rounds, I said, 'I can be a world champion right now!'" David exclaims. "But after ten rounds, I realized how good he is. In the fifth or sixth round, his experience showed."

The U.S.-based Israeli elaborated on Ioka's patience, "If I hit him with a good shot, he waited to get me back. Most fighters, when you hit them with a good shot, they want revenge immediately. He waited for the right moment."

Alaverdian has also sparred with the Moloney twins, Andrew and Jason, who he says are "very good people." He remembers, "It was such a great experience. The heavier one, Jason, hits harder." David calls 2012 Olympic silver medalist Tugstsogt Nyambayar "an awesome guy." He helped King Tug prepare for his fight with Gary Russell by offering light sparring and moving around the ring with him.

Alaverdian and two-time Olympic gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez "were going pretty easy," David recalls. "At the end of the match, he unloads on me." Ramirez is four weight-classes above Alaverdian. "I got pissed off and started throwing hard shots back!" David says of Ramirez, "He's very, very good."

Floyd Mayweather Sr. has the highest profile of David's coaches, but Cedric Ferguson is his primary coach. Alaverdian praises Ferguson's calm and the sense of confidence he instills in the fighter. According to David, he has a good approach in the corner in between rounds and gives clear instructions. "I've had a lot of coaches, and he has the right style for me. There's good chemistry, and that's important."

As long as it works, Ferguson lets his 29 year old charge do what he wants, including switching to southpaw. "Many coaches don't want you to switch," David says. "They say you lose something on defense or you lose power. But as long as it works, he lets me do it."

Alaverdian spends half of his training as an orthodox fighter and the other half as a southpaw. He believes he has more power to the body as a righty, but he uses angles more effectively as a southpaw.

In the European amateur champions this past May, Alaverdian uncharacteristically stayed in the orthodox stance against Dmytro Zamotaev of Ukraine. When asked why, he responded, "I had the wrong mindset. I kept thinking, 'They're going to rob me.' So I came forward and tried to knock him out." That proved to be difficult with the poor quality gloves given to amateurs. "I hit him to the body in the third round, and I heard him [gasp]. If I had the gloves we wear in a professional fight, I don't know, I think I would have at least knocked him down." As it turned out, Zamotaev won a highly disputed decision.

Against Zamotaev, David kept his hands high as he came forward, but in his last pro fight, against Jeno Tonte, his hands were low. "If a person is fast, I keep my hands up, "Alaverdian says, "But as soon as the fight started against Tonte, I knew I was too fast for him.

"My job as a boxer is to entertain, and I was very entertaining in that fight. The crowd loved it. I stole the show." Alaverdian won by way of second round TKO to score his fifth knockout as a professional.

On October 8, he says there is a good, undefeated opponent lined up although it's not 100% confirmed yet. Regardless of the opponent, it'll be entertaining. David Alaverdian's fights always are.

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