Video by Ryan Burton

He wasn’t a familiar name on this side of the Atlantic but 27-year old interim WBA welterweight titlist David Avanesyan got himself in line to be known on Saturday night at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona. Knocking off a faded warrior once among the best in the world will up his “Q” rating for now.

Avanesyan (22-1-1, 11 KO), 146 ¾, of Pyatigorsk, Russia, banged out a unanimous decision victory and may have given an incentive for 44-year old former three-division champion Shane Mosley (49-10-1, 41 KO), 146, of Pomona, California, to hang them up after a long career. Mosley drops to 3-5-1 in his last ten bouts. Avanesyan now earns a WBA mandated crack at the winner of June’s anticipated Keith Thurman-Shawn Porter fight.

The referee was Wes Melton.

After a first round controlled by his jab and set at his pace, Mosley found Avanesyan more challenging in the next three rounds. Avanesyan warmed to the task and started to sneak in good, hard counters, making a case for the edge in each frame. His cases got stronger as the rounds wore on.

With increasing confidence, Avanesyan started to walk Mosley down. The younger man was beginning to show the physical edge and by the seventh Mosley was clinching to stymie the incoming. In the eighth both men got their shots in but in the final minute it was Avanesyan stunning Mosley with a hard hook.

Grinding away, Avanesyan kept quietly piling up points with the better, harder punches in the ninth and tenth rounds. Mosley lost a point in the latter for a low blow after several warnings earlier in the fight. Mosley came back after the deduction to land some hard shots and make a case for an even round.

Mosley had a fiery start to the eleventh but couldn’t sustain the energy. A left to the body from Avanesyan drew a reaction from Mosley who was on the back foot for much of the round from there. Again in the twelfth Mosley got off to a good start but the return fire slowed his effort. Mosley held often and hard for the last two minutes of the fight, occasionally slipping in a big shot to try to steal the round while getting outlanded down the stretch.

The early bursts from Mosley in many rounds weren’t enough to fool the judges as Avanesyan got the deserved decision at a too close 114-113 and twin scores of 117-110.