Crawford vs Avanesyan predictions: Bud to extend perfect record
- Crawford is unbeaten in 38 professional fights
- No less than 29 of those victories have come by knockout
- Recommended bet: Crawford to win in rounds 1-3
Terence Crawford defends his WBO world welterweight title against David Avanesyan in Omaha, Nebraska this weekend.
Bud is unbeaten in 38 professional contests and the American is a genuine pound-for-pound contender, while Avanesyan is the European 147lbs king.
Ahead of the bout, we take a look at how the fight might play out.
Crawford has stellar CV
Crawford is undefeated in 38 fights and it is far from a padded record. The Nebraska fighter has overcome a pair of former world champions in Shawn Porter and Kell Brook in his last two fights and there are plenty of other big-names on his CV.
Amir Khan, Ricky Burns, Viktor Postol and Jeff Horn have all been beaten by the brilliant American and it is worth remembering that Bud was the undisputed light-welterweight king before stepping up.
The 35-year-old is a superb counter-puncher, he has lightning hand-speed and he has an excellent boxing IQ. However, it is not going to take much to figure out how Avanesyan will approach this fight.
Avanesyan to make it a battle
The Nottinghamshire-based Russian is a tough and rugged come-forward fighter and a high work-rate and punch-output has seen Ava claim the European welterweight title. The 34-year-old collected that crown when beating Kerman Lejarraga in 2019.
Avanesyan successfully defended his title against Sunderland's Josh Kelly last year, and after how PBK performed when winning the British title earlier this month, that does look good form.
However, Avanesyan was stopped by Egidijus Kavaliauskas in 2018 and Crawford knocked out the Lithuanian only a year later. It is fair to say that Ava may have improved since then, but this still looks like a monumental test for the Russian-born boxer.
Early finish in store
Crawford is not going to find the aggressive Avanesyan a tough target to hit, but the 34-year-old may find Bud's exceptional switch-hitting abilities difficult to avoid. It is hard to see Ava changing his come-forward approach and that may well prove his downfall.
The one area of concern for backers of Bud is inactivity. The American has fought only three times since 2019 and perhaps that could give hopes that Avanesyan's all-action style could catch a potentially rusty Bud out.
However, Crawford is understandably a red-hot favourite for this contest, despite the lack of ring practice, and it seems likely that the Nebraska man will win this contest by stoppage, which is available at 2/15 with LiveScore Bet.
Given how short that price is, it could also be worth considering going low on the total rounds boxed in this fight.
Bud is some levels above Avanesyan and the Nottinghamshire-based boxer's approach is unlikely to be conducive to a long drawn-out fight. Crawford certainly has the power to stop Ava in his tracks and the American could add an early stoppage to his tally of 29 career knockout victories.
