Kovalev defeats Chilemba

By Vladimir S - 07/11/2016 - Comments

IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-0-1, 26 KOs) fought in a controlled and relaxed manner on Monday night in beating the 29-year-old Isaac Chilemba (24-4-2, 10 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision at the DIVS Palace of Sports in Ekaterinburg, Russia. Kovalev put Chilemba on the canvas in the 7th, and came within an eyelash of getting a knockout in that round. It looked like Kovalev took it easy on Chilemba until pouring it on in the last minute of the 12th round. Kovalev suddenly came alive and was punishing a badly hurt Chilemba as the fight ended. Chilemba’s nose was bleeding and he looked in bad shape. The question is did Kovalev take it easy on Chilemba to get rounds in so that he could get practice for the Andre Ward fight coming up? It sure looked that way to me.

The referee gave Chilemba a huge break by letting the fight continue despite the fact that he was staggered on his feet after he got up. Chilemba showed good recuperative powers in making it out of the round.

Kovalev had Chilemba hurt again in round 8 after hitting him with a hard left hook to the head that staggered him. Like in the previous round, Chilemba was fortunate that he was hurt late in the round.

The final judges’ scores were 117-110, 116-111, 118-109. It looked like Kovalev won every round. You can give Chilemba a couple of close ones possibly, but it looked to me like Kovalev pitched a shutout.

The victory now sets Kovalev up for a big fight against Andre Ward on November 19 if Ward wins his next fight on August 6 against Alexander Brand.