Their rivalry has been simmering away for months now – and although for the time being at least , both men are pursuing different avenues – the war of words between Russian knockout artist Sergey Kovalev and lineal 175 lb champion Adonis Stevenson shows no sign of abating – with Kovalev coming up with a blunt alternative to his rival’s “Superman” moniker.
Adonis “Piece Of Sh**” Stevenson was his offering to ES news reporting.
Ohh-kay…..
American pound for pound great Andre Ward made his long anticipated return to the squared circle last Saturday when he defeated Paul Smith by 9th round stoppage. The bout, which took place in Ward’s hometown of Oakland, was Ward’s first in 19 months. Ward dominated Smith from start to finish, and his victory proves that he should still be considered one of the absolute elite talents in the boxing world, even following his lengthy layoff. Ward hasn’t seemed to have lost a step.
The match between Ward and Smith took place at an agreed upon catch weight of 172 pounds (although Smith missed the mark by almost 4 and a half pounds). Does this catch weight signify a crossroads moment in Ward’s impressive career?
After his recent ill-advised “racist” tweet ostensibly suggesting that 175lb rival and WBC champion Adonis Steven (26-1, 21ko) is a chimpanzee, unbeaten Russian banger Sergey Kovalev (27-0-1, 24ko) has gone on twitter once again to attempt to hype any potential clash – albeit in a slightly less offensive manner.
Two tweets from the “Krusher” in particular have been re-tweeted hundreds of times.
The first read;
Earlier this week on twitter and numerous other sites a picture of Sergey Kovalev gathered real steam when it showed him pointing to the t-shirt of a small child in his arms (presumably his son) that featured an image of a chimpanzee wearing boxing gloves.
Beneath the image, Kovalev (27-0,24ko) included a caption, referring to rival and Haitian national (WBC 175lb king) Adonis Stevenson (26-1,21ko) that simply read;
“Adonis is looking great”
The picture quickly provoked a storm on social media with twitter users referring to the dominant Russian champion as “ignorant”, “racist” and “naïve”.
With the impressive win, Beterbiev’s stock has risen, and it brings the potential prospects of a bout between him and former amateur foe Sergey Kovalev one step closer to possibly becoming a reality in the distant, but not too distant future.
The concretization of the The Ring, WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO light heavyweight unification fight between Adonis “Superman” Stevenson and Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev has taken another important step. The World Boxing Council (WBC) has ordered a purse bid to take place April 17 in order to determine the promoter of this major event.
Initially requested by Groupe Yvon Michel (GYM) to insure the required time to prepare for a major event like this super fight, the WBC agreed to host the purse bid on Apr. 17 in Mexico.
Ensei L. (Ontario, CA): I’m a huge GGG fan and looking at Kovalev, I couldn’t help but think about how great a matchup would be between the two. Do you ever see that fight happening down the line?
Vivek W. (ESB): As much as I would love to see that fight, I have very little hope that we will ever see it. It’s one of those topics that really challenges me, personally. You never want to take a negative or harsh disposition towards an emerging talent in the sport, but when you look at the negative narratives that follow proven commodities in the sport, contrasted by images drawn up to illustrate perceptions of those who aren’t, it’s just not proper. When I think of a Danny Garcia, or an Andre Ward, there’s a consistent rhetoric that almost mandates that they take on a certain level of competition or be banished to hell for not “proving themselves”.
(Photo Credit: David Spagnolo/Main Events) Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev stopped the unstoppable Jean Pascal, but not before Pascal gave him his toughest fight to date. Pascal’s hometown capacity crowd at the Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada were in shock when, in the eighth round, Referee Luis Pabon waived an end to Pascal valiant efforts to continue. Loyal Pascal fans were muted as they witnessed Kovalev’s powerful and efficient dispatch of their hero.
As loyal as they are to Pascal, they were obliged to respect Krusher. He had vanquished their champion. He did it by overcoming, overpowering and quashing all Pascal had to offer, which was considerable. His victory came with a price in the form of some bumps and bruises, but the Krusher proved yet again that he is a helluva fighter. Ringside analyst Bernard” Alien” Hopkins explained that Sergey continues to improve with each fight, adding “That’s scary!”
Kovalev defended his WBO, WBA Super and IBF light heavyweight titles with a substandard performance vs. a durable but technically and tactically bridled strongman. Both competitors were one-dimensional in their own way and showed little capacity or tendency to adapt or at least modify their efforts according to the flow of battle. Pascal had not been stopped or knocked down as a pro and was expected give the “Krusher” a run for his money.
Round 1: Kovalev moved forward in a straight line trying to walk down Jean Pascal to the ropes or to get him to fight. Pascal would not take the fight and bounced around ducking low whenever he felt threatened. Kovalev did not advance indiscriminately, his basic skills are rock-steady and he is very particular in observing range. He does not care too much about the opponent’s range; he is preoccupied with his own comfort zone as he is tall and has long arms. If he is in range, the opponent often isn’t and when the opponent tries to get close, Kovalev’s best defense is his frontal punch power. Pascal was met by rapid fire upstairs and downstairs whenever he tried to get into position. His rally in the end of the round was more of distress call than a serious attack.
(Photo Credits: David Spagnolo/Main Events) In the much-anticipated main event of the evening, Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (27-0-1, 24 KOs)* and Jean Pascal (29-3-1, 17 KOs) pleased fans with an action-packed battle. Both fighters started by trading some good shots, but Kovalev started to throw some nasty combinations in the third round to take the wind out of the hostile crowd at the Centre Bell in Montreal.
Just before the end of the third round, Kovalev knocked Pascal through the ropes but Pascal was saved by the bell. Sergey came out swinging in the fourth to try to capitalize on the near KO, but Pascal managed to stay on his feet and land a huge right to show Kovalev he was still in the fight. As the bell rang to end the fourth round, both men were still trading big shots.