Frank Warren continues to bang the drum for a fight between his new signing David Avanesyan and Matchroom’s Conor Benn.
A clash between fighters from each outfit is a rarity and tends to only occur when the British Boxing Board nominates one in their monthly circular. See Billy Joe Saunders v John Ryder and Denzel Bentley v Felix Cash as two of not many examples.
Avanesyan, the current European welterweight champion, had been linked to a fight with Eddie Hearn’s rising welterweight star before he joined Warren’s ranks last October but the difference this time is noise on the matter won’t quieten.
“Last year Eddie Hearn said he [Benn] needs one more fight and ‘we’ll consider it’. I thought I’d make it easy for him. Let David fight Conor Benn on DAZN and I’ll pay for David’s purse. So, they don’t even have to pay for his purse.”
Boxing Social then asked Warren if he really expects that to happen.
“They’ve got to look at it from a financial perspective,” he answered. “They don’t have to pay a purse so they could give more money to Conor Benn to make it happen. I don’t know whether they’ve got the appetite for it, but we’ll have to wait and see. Let’s see what happens.”
In the meantime, Avanesyan (28-3-1, 16 KOs) needs a fight and Warren told Boxing Social that his Russian acquisition will fight in March. No opponent has been confirmed but the European Boxing Union website currently has Frenchman Jordy Weiss (28-0, 3 KOs) listed as being in ‘Private
negotiations’ for a fight against their welterweight champion.
2022 could provide a world title opportunity too for Avanesyan who has a top 10 ranking with three of the four governing bodies. Of those, his highest position is two with the World Boxing Council (WBC). One spot above him is Vergil Ortiz Jr who was set to fight on January 22 but instead will fight
Michael McKinson on March 19. The WBC had ordered a final eliminator between Ortiz and Avanesyan but that appears to have been shelved for the time being.
“We would love it,” Warren says of that potential fight.
“Let’s see if he wants the fight. I know David wants it. We’d have no problem with that. I don’t think he’s got a problem at this stage of his career with who he fights. He’s a very good fighter, he’s experienced and one thing’s for sure he’s exciting to watch. Whatever happens, he’ll fight in March.”