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Mike CoppingerESPN
Everlast accepted responsibility for welterweight champion Terence Crawford’s glove malfunction during his sixth-round knockout win over David Avanesyan on Saturday in Omaha, Nebraska, saying the issue was not the fault of Crawford and his camp but due to “a batch of defective leather.”
Heading into the sixth round of Saturday’s fight, the referee paused the contest so commission officials could inspect Crawford’s gloves after both busted open to reveal padding.
The right thumb appeared to be exposed at the seams. It’s common practice for commission officials to approve and seal two pairs, but Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) was allowed to proceed with the gloves. Moments later, he scored a spectacular KO of Avanesyan with a left uppercut, right hook combination.
Everlast explained the issue in a statement released via Twitter on Tuesday.
“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,” Everlast wrote in its statement.
“In such cases, Everlast follows proper protocol by providing back up competition pairs to be replaced pending a decision by the sanctioning body overseeing the fight.
“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.”
Crawford, 35, is ESPN’s No. 1 pound-for-pound boxer.