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Sunday, February 23, 2025

David Alaverdian Wins Comeback Fight by Decision

Flyweight David Alaverdian defeated Josue "Zurdo" Morales by unanimous decision tonight at the Westgate Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. This was Alaverdian's first fight in over 22 months.

Alaverdian, a 31 year old switcher from Israel, boxed for much of the first two rounds against Morales, a 32 year old slick southpaw from Texas. Both exhibited expert defense, which left them frustrated offensively. The result was that the early rounds sometimes resembled a dance competition more than a fight. Alaverdian even gave a little shimmy in celebration after each round.

At one point, Morales imitated Alaverdian's bolo windup and then mocked David's stutter step, which has been known to freeze an opponent and leave them open. Just ask Jeno Tonte. Morales paid for his taunts. Midway through the second round, Alaverdian started to walk down the Houstonian.

Morales had some success to the body, but Alaverdian landed some bombs. As a righty, his left hook downstairs produced many sickening thuds. As a lefty, his right hooks and lefts to the midsection were pulverizing. David was also very creative with his offense, which was necessary because of Morales's high guard. He often threw the jab upstairs to set up his body shots. Hooks to the body occasionally came off pivots, and he juked Morales with deceiving footwork, which created openings. Alaverdian also executed a pull counter at the beginning of the third round.

Morales had his moments throughout the fight, but there weren't enough of them. His punches didn't have the same pop as Alaverdian's. David slipped and blocked many of Morales's attempts. Zurdo blocked Alaverdian's punches early in the fight, but David adjusted and used his inventive offensive moves to connect far more than did Morales.

The fifth round was the best one for the Texan since the first. He was tired of the beating his ribs were taking, so he threw combinations of his own downstairs. But David came back with a more damaging assault. The sixth was more of the same in favor of the Israeli.

The Jewish Boxing Blog scored the bout 60-54 for Alaverdian. The judges had it 59-55 (twice) and 58-56 the same way. It has been a long road back for David, who performed well against a tricky opponent. When he found his rhythm in the third, his innovative offense was fun to watch. This was David's third six-rounder while Morales has now boxed 288 rounds in his 53 fights.

David has had a busy week; he got married on Tuesday and fought on Saturday. With his win tonight, he is now 9-0-1 with 6 KOs. Morales falls to 31-17-4 with 13 KOs. He still has never been stopped.

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