Sergey Kovalev didn’t let his WBO title defense get past the 11th round.
Sergey Kovalev’s fall from grace was short-lived. After seemingly losing his bloodlust in a losing effort to Eleider Alvarez in 2018, Kovalev rebounded in the very night fight, a rematch with his Colombian opponent. Since reclaiming the WBO belt at Light Heavyweight, Kovalev has made no other defenses, that is until today when he faced the hard-hitting Anthony Yarde on an ESPN+ matinee staged in Chelyabinsk, Russia.
Even though Kovalev resides in Los Angeles to be closer to the action, fighting in Russia looks to have energized the longstanding champion, now in his 3rd reign with the WBO belt. He certainly did disappoint the home crowd, as he managed to knock his opponent quite emphatically, in the decisive 11th round.
As ESPN’s senior boxing writer/editor Dan Rafael went on to say in his incident report the fight – the intention is to match Kovalev up with Canelo Alvarez for megafight on November 2nd. No word on whether the fight would be staged at Light Heavyweight, Middleweight (where Canelo currently reigns) or at a catchweight their choosing.
Before moving forward, it’s worth crediting Anthony Yarde for his performance against Kovalev. Although Sergey seemed to have a clear advantage in many facets the fight, Yarde was the quicker the boxers, an attribute he put to good use until the later rounds, when his gas tank was all but spent. Does a Kovalev-Canelo fight interest you? Comment below, and do tell, your pick the two fighters, should both sides enter negotiations for a megafight in November.