David Avanesyan Blasts Terence Crawford for Not Keeping Boxing ‘Clean’

In a conversation with YSM Sports Media, Avanesyan was asked about his thoughts on Crawford fighting Alvarez.

“He play, he take good money, you know. I think this is a good decision to take good money. Crawford, listen, when people ask me about Crawford, I remember bad gloves, you know. He give me bad memories about boxing,” he said.

Avanesyan’s frustration isn’t exactly misplaced. The former WBA (Regular) welterweight titleholder had lodged a complaint with the Nebraska Athletic Commission (NAC) questioning how ‘Bud’ was able to still fight after having a pair of faulty boxing gloves.

Notably, the fight’s referee, Sparkle Lee, acknowledged that there was damage to Crawford’s Everlast gloves at the start of round six. However, he allowed the round to go forward without a change of gloves. It was during this round that Avanesyan suffered a knockout loss. The Russian expressed his disappointment in Crawford for continuing a world title fight despite the tear in his gloves.

“Listen, I think boxing is clean sport you know. I no like this. This is no good,” he said. “He’s a big name for his home, Nebraska. And he fight in Nebraska, he no problem. He king for Nebraska, and nobody tell him.

“A Batch of Defective Leather”

Sports equipment brand Everlast, however, took the blame for the faulty gloves. In a statement, the company cleared Crawford and his team from any tampering while stating the reason as a defective piece of leather.

“During the development cycle of the custom fight gloves used in Crawford vs. Avanesyan, a batch of defective leather was used in production, resulting in a malfunction during the competition,” the company wrote. “A stoppage was called to review the equipment malfunction and the commission deemed the equipment was still suitable for competition. No foul play was at hand, nor was there any tampering of the product on behalf of Terence Crawford and his camp.”