Watch out, Jaron Ennis: David Avanesyan’s trainer is adept at crafting upsets

Carl Greaves is preparing his fighter, David Avanesyan, to upset outstanding IBF welterweight champion, Jaron Ennis, in Philadelphia next Saturday night.

Greaves is in form. Just a couple of weeks ago, the Newark, England-based trainer helped turn over another Matchroom fighter when his junior bantamweight Emma Dolan outpointed Shannon Ryan in Birmingham.

The 26-year-old from Newark dropped Ryan in the second round and then outboxed her down the stretch to earn a split decision victory. Despite the close scorecards, Dolan (7-0, 1 KO), was a deserving winner and made history by adding the newly minted women’s British title belt to her Commonwealth title.

“Emma just kept it basic,” Greaves told BoxingScene. “We didn’t need to do anything. Long jab, long left hook, turn that jab into a hook. Straight right hand. Emma’s deceiving. She’s hard to beat.”

Although the well-schooled, upright Dolan fights in a totally different way to the heavy-handed, aggressive Avanesyan, Greaves sees a parallel in the way the no-nonsense, understated stablemates go about their business. 

“If you looked at Josh Kelly in the corner and watched him on the pads and then compared him to David, there’s only one winner. Same with Shannon and Emma,” said Greaves, referencing Avanesyan’s stoppage victory over Kelly in 2021. “I’ve been there and seen and done a lot and that doesn’t win fights, though.

“Emma’s a bit like David. Nothing fazes her. I’ve had other kids who I’ve expected big things from and they’ve got onto the big stage and just froze. They don’t know how to handle it. Emma was in the lion’s den to a degree. She was the Commonwealth champion but she was in the away corner and all the limelight was around Shannon. She was just so confident. The right hand she landed before the knockdown was a great shot. She was walking onto it, moving to her left and Emma just threw the right hand and it nearly took her off her feet. Then she just threw a cluster and put her down.”

Having battled hard for recognition, Dolan should now be set for some big nights. Beating Ryan cements her place at the top of the British ranking and earned her a place inside the world top 10. 

Greaves, who also manages Dolan, believes that she has one piece of domestic business left to clear up before moving on to the world scene. 

“We’re under contract to Matchroom now. I think there was a mention of a rematch but Emma spoke to her after and she said she thinks she’ll go down to flyweight. Same with Nicola Hopewell [who Dolan beat last year] . These girls are bigger than Emma when they get into the ring but Emma looks big. She’s tall, lean and got good attributes,” he said.

“We’ll do whatever they [Matchroom] want. We’re not afraid of fighting anyone in the division. The next fight in my opinion should be Lauren Parker because she’s got the European title. She hasn’t got a big promoter behind her and it’d be an easy fight to make. There would be three belts on the line. The winner of that really could go on to fight for a world title. She’s not far off now, Emma.”