By Elisinio Castillo

Kerman Lejarraga, the European welterweight champion, will put his continental title on the line against the former WAB" regular" world champion David Avanesyan.

This fight has been announced by the promoter MGZ. The contest will be held in Miribilla (Bilbao) on March 30.

Lejarraga will face the most experienced challenger of his career, at a time when his name begins to sound strong in the United States. In fact, he already appears on the lists of several analysts who assume that he'll fight for a world title before the end of the year, but before that happens the hard puncher wants to prove that he is the best welterweight in Europe. He is in the Top 10 of the four world ranking organizations.

Avanesyan, is a complicated Russian boxer who resides in England and held the World Boxing Association "regular" belt in 2016.

He currently has a record with 23 wins (11 by KO) and three defeats (one before the limit). In February 2017 he gave up the belt by losing a unanimous decision against Lamont Peterson. Since that fight the Russian has fought twice. In December 2017, he won points against Cameroonian Serge Ambomo and in February of last year, eleven months ago, he fell by KO at the hands of unbeaten Lithuanian Egidijus Kavaliauskas.

Among his achievements is the victory against three division champion 'Sugar' Shane Mosley , who retired after that defeat. Now seeks to reign in Europe to get another chance to regain his throne. Recently he was going to measure up against Josh Kelly, but the British boxer withdrew from the contest.

Txutxi Del Valle, the coach of Kerman, emphasizes that they could have chosen simpler options for this voluntary defense but this contest is "bringing us to number 1 in Europe and demonstrates our confidence in Kerman and our commitment to fans."

At 26, Lejarraga has a spectacular record of 26 wins, 22 of them by KO and won the European title on April 28 of last year in Bilbao by defeating Bradley Skeete in two rounds. On November 17 he successfully defended his crown with a fourth round KO over Englishman Frankie Gavin.