Saturday night at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, the biggest fight of the year is finally happening: Three-Time Light Heavyweight World Champion and current WBO Light Heavyweight World Champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (34-3-1, 29 KOs) will defend his title against WBC Franchise, WBA, Lineal, Ring Magazine Middleweight World Champion and WBA Super Middleweight World Champion Canelo Alvarez (52-1-2, 35 KOs).
Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (34-3-1, 29 KOs), hosted an international media conference call yesterday to discuss his upcoming 12-round bout against Canelo Alvarez (51-1-2, 34 KOs) for Kovalev’s WBO Light Heavyweight World Title.
Fighting in his own hometown for the first time in his professional boxing career, WBO World Light Heavyweight Champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (33-3-1, 28 KOs) takes on the WBO’s mandatory challenger, Anthony Yarde (18-0, 17 KOs) of the UK, on Saturday, August 24th at the Traktor Arena in Chelyabinsk, Russia.
On Friday night at Turning Stone Resort Casino the fighters stepped on the scale ahead of a stacked card with two championship fights, headlined by WBA Light Heavyweight Titlist Dmitry Bivol making his fifth defense against Joe Smith Jr.
When current WBO Light Heavyweight World Champion, Eleider Alvarez, steps in the ring to face Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev in their much-anticipated rematch on February 2 at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas live on ESPN+ (https://plus.espn.com)
Daniel Jacobs is gunning for a Middleweight World title unification battle with Canelo Alvarez in 2019 – and the IBF World ruler says their showdown is one of the biggest fights in boxing.
Dmitry Bivol of St. Petersburg, Russia (14-0, 11 KOs) defeated former champion Jean Pascal of Montreal, Canada (33-6-1, 20 KOs) in a hard fought unanimous decision to retain his WBA Light Heavyweight Title.
Saturday’s HBO World Championship Boxing doubleheader telecast begins at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.
Opening up the telecast from the Etess Arena at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City is a 10-round super bantamweight bout between Murodjon Akhmadaliev and Issac Zarate.
Dmitry Bivol of Russia (14-0, 11 KOs) defends his WBA Light Heavyweight World Title against former Olympian and former WBC, IBO, and Ring Magazine champion Jean Pascal of Canada (33-5-1, 20 KOs) on Saturday, November 24, 2018 as HBO World Championship Boxing returns to the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino’s Etess Arena in Atlantic City.
QUESTION:
Jean, you’re obviously viewed as the underdog in this fight. How much motivation has that provided for you, and how are you looking at this going into the fight?