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‘The Krusher’ Sergey Kovalev might be coming off a virtually two-year layoff to face unbeaten Robin Safar on February seventeenth on the Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
ESPN reports that the 40-year-old former IBF, WBA & WBO mild heavyweight champion Kovalev will face the 31-year-old Swede boxer Safar (16-0, 12 KOs) in a cruiserweight bout.
Safar has been preventing little-known opposition his whole seven-year skilled profession, so it’s tough to know the way he’ll reply in opposition to Kovalev. Properly, a minimum of Kovalev isn’t being thrown in with former IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia. That wouldn’t be fairly.
Kovalev’s Comeback or Money Seize?
There’s no phrase on whether or not the Kovalev vs. Safar might be within the co-feature spot on the Fury-Usyk card, but it surely wouldn’t be an enormous shock.
Whether or not it is a comeback by Kovalev stays to be seen. It’s potential that the Saudis supplied Sergey a pleasant payday to return to the ring, and he could resume his inactivity or retirement, no matter it’s.
The Saudis have a approach of doing unconventional bouts that appear circus-like, resembling Fury in opposition to Francis Ngannou and now Anthony Joshua-Ngannou. Joshua vs. Otto Wallin was an odd one as properly. Wallin didn’t belong within the ring with a fighter like Joshua, not at this level in his profession. That struggle wasn’t even sporting, but it surely most likely was by no means meant to be. AJ matched weakly to maintain him from shedding once more.
It’s unknown whether or not Kovalev has spent the fortune that he constituted of fights in opposition to Canelo Alvarez, Bernard Hopkins, and Andre Ward, amongst others.
A Blast from the Previous
Kovalev (34-5-1, 29 KOs) has been chosen to struggle on the cardboard for some motive, maybe to draw curiosity from older boxing followers who keep in mind him throughout his heyday eight years in the past.
The Russian fighter Kovalev final fought in Might 2022, defeating 38-year-old Tervel Pulev, the brother of Kubrat Pulev, by a lopsided ten spherical unanimous determination.
Kovalev’s finest profession wins:
- Bernard Hopkins
- Nathan Cleverly
- Jean Pascal
- Anthony Yarde
- Isaac Chilemba
- Eleider Alvarez
Some boxing followers consider Kovalev was robbed in his first struggle in opposition to Andre Ward in 2017, a struggle during which he appeared to defeat the American however discovered himself on the receiving finish of a controversial determination.
The rematch between them in 2018 had a really, very unusual ending, with Ward hitting Kovalev with what seemed to be three consecutive low blows, and the referee Tony Weeks jumped in and stopped it, giving Andre an eighth-round knockout.
That stoppage by Weeks is arguably even worse than his unusual fight-ending stoppages for final Saturday’s Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs. Fredrick Lawson and final yr’s Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero vs. Ismael Barroso.
Followers questioned what was taking place, as they felt that Kovalev ought to have been given a timeout to get well from the low blows and that Ward wanted to be penalized. As an alternative, the referee Weeks gave Ward a knockout win.
It’s a must to really feel sorry for Kovalev with how his two fights with Ward turned out as a result of, with the best judges and a top quality referee, he may need received each.
Kovalev stopped preventing for a number of years after being knocked out within the eleventh spherical by Canelo Alvarez in 2019. That was a struggle during which Kovalev fought like he was sparring, and a few followers felt that he was taking it simple on Canelo out of gratitude for being given the payday.
For individuals who had seen Kovalev struggle many occasions, it simply appeared like he was sparring with Canelo. Hopefully, Kovalev doesn’t struggle like that subsequent month on the Riyadh card as a result of the Saudis and the followers received’t get their cash’s value.
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