David Alaverdian Deserved to Win, Fight Called Split Draw

Flyweights David Alaverdian and Angel Geovanny Meza Morales fought to a split draw tonight at GNP Segura Arena in humid Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico. Alaverdian, a 29 year old from Israel, dominated the six-round fight virtually from start to finish and deserved to win by a wide margin.

From the opening bell, Alaverdian controlled center ring with his jab and feints from the orthodox stance. At first he threw a range-finding jab, but by the end of the round that jab was landing effectively. Meza, a 22 year old from Mexico, wasn't able to counter the entire fight and kept his hands home most of the way. When Meza did throw, David used the shoulder roll defense to slip the shots.

In the second round, Alaverdian landed a beautiful lead left as a southpaw, avoided Meza's right with a quick step back, and then landed an eye-catching counter left to punctuate the fight's prettiest combination. Alaverdian attacked the body and landed a left uppercut as a righty to easily take the round.

David exuded confidence in the ring by the third round. In that round and the next, he landed left uppercuts from the outside and lead lefts as a southpaw. Both shots are dangerous to throw because they leave one open for a counter. By consistently shooting those punches, Alaverdian showed no concern for Meza's hand speed or counters. In the fourth, the Mexican prospect landed a right while Alaverdian was against the ropes, but the Israeli had won every round to that point.

Meza came out with fire in the fifth and backed Alaverdian to the ropes where he began launching bombs. Body shots and a right uppercut landed. It seemed as if Alaverdian was getting a bit too cute feeling he had the fight in hand. While he continued to jab and land left hooks to the body periodically throughout the round, Meza won it. He had David's back to the ropes multiple times and showed a bigger commitment to the body than before.

Alaverdian won the sixth and final round with his jab. When Meza connected with a shot to the midsection, Alaverdian landed several right back.

The judges scored the bout 59-55 one way, 58-56 the other, and 57-57 although it wasn't clear which score corresponded with which fighter. "I'm kind of bummed out it's a draw," David told The Jewish Boxing Blog. The JBB scored the fight 59-55 for Alaverdian. The only round that was close was the fifth, which The JBB scored for Meza.

"I'm frustrated. I felt like for every shot he landed, I landed five," Alaverdian said. Boxing's scoring system is subjective, but to put it frankly, Alaverdian was robbed of a win. Perhaps the judges favored the local fighter, which happens far too often in the sport, but incompetence in judging worldwide has reached epidemic proportions.

Alaverdian is now 6-0-1 with 5 KOs) while Angel Meza is very fortunate to maintain an undefeated record at 4-0-2 with 4 KOs.