IG Live Interview with David Alaverdian

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Isaac Chilemba to Fight on October 16

Isaac Chilemba is scheduled to fight on October 16 at the Carousel Casino in Hammanskraal, South Africa. The Malawi-born fighter has been based in South Africa throughout his career, but this will be his first fight in his adopted country in eleven and half years.

Chilemba (26-9-3, 10 KOs) has fought almost all of the best light heavyweights of his era. In his last two fights, he lost to two highly-touted super middleweight prospects. He last fought on May 27 against Osleys Iglesias in Poland. Since Chilemba last fought in South Africa, he has been a road warrior. In addition to Poland, Isaac has fought in the U.S., Canada, Russia, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Greece.

Earlier in the month, Chilemba said he would fight one of two more times. He has opened a gym in South Africa as he eyes retirement. No opponent has yet been announced for October 16.

David Alaverdian to Face Artrimus Sartor

Super flyweight David Alaverdian is scheduled to face Artrimus "El Chapo" Sartor in Jackson, Mississippi, USA. This will be Alaverdian's first pro fight since his impressive showing against Jeno Tonte last April.

Alaverdian (6-0, 5 KOs) is a 29 year old from Israel. He's now based in the U.S. This fight will likely be a showcase for David's tremendous skills.

Sartor (4-3, [one NC] one KO) is a 36 year old from Cincinnati, Ohio and is now based in Houston, Texas. "El Chapo" has one major advantage over Alaverdian; he's naturally the bigger man. Sartor once weighed as heavy as 133 pounds for a fight back in 2015. The lightest he has weighed in for a fight is 117.3 pounds in 2019. Alaverdian's heaviest is 114.8 pounds and says he walks around at about 120.

Otherwise, Alaverdian has all of the advantages. He's faster, fresher, and far more skilled. Sartor hasn't fought since October 10, 2019; Alaverdian's pro career started in December that year. Sartor won his first three fights, but his three losses came against two novices and a journeyman.

Sartor said his best punch is the jab, and he prefers the stick-and-move style. In 2017, Sartor fought his toughest opponent to date, Jesse Angel Hernandez, who was 8-1 at the time and has fought some quality opponents since. Hernandez switches stances like Alaverdian, but that's where the similarities stop. Sartor moved and countered Hernandez, but too often Artrimus argued with referee Neal Young. In the second round, he became trapped in the corner as Hernandez unloaded until Young stopped the bout. The fight was later changed to a no-contest, but unlike the result, the punches absorbed by Sartor didn't disappear.

Sartor answered a Facebook ad posted last week by promoter, matchmaker, and active boxer Britton Norwood, who offered $3,000 to anyone who would fight Alaverdian. BoxRec says Sartor is currently suspended by the New Jersey Athletic Control Board. He has never fought in New Jersey, but was scheduled to fight Jeremy Adorno on January 11, 2020. Adorno fought someone else on that night. It's possible Sartor failed a physical. The Mississippi commission tends not to be as strict as New Jersey's.

This bout is scheduled for six rounds. Check out David Alaverdian's recent interview with The Jewish Boxing Blog.

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.