Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev – WBO, WBA and IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion
“Hello everyone thank you so much for everything. I already changed diapers. I already lost track of how many diapers, maybe 15 or so. It is easy because I have experience with my nephews. My older sister has two babies so I have done this a lot. Beating Hopkins is a little bit more dangerous than changing diapers but he peed on my hand when I changed him. It is most important to be here with my family.
The world has already learned a lot about Chris Algieri, 20-0-0 (8KO), and it wants more. It has listened to him, observed him, sometimes chuckling at what is heard or seen. But, the truth of the matter is Algieri is unlike any other prizefighter practicing his wares, now or in the past. The sporting world might have a real gem in this young man from New York.
Usually the athletes who get the headlines and magazine covers are the men and women with extraordinary physical attributes. They stand out because of their uncommon prowess. They can knock the ball out of the park, or a man to the canvas.
In a recent interview with Wladimir Klitschko, the Ukrainian heavyweight champion has revealed that he is been annoyed with the way his future opponent Kubrat Pulev has been acting leading up to the fight. The Bulgarian challenger is slated to face Klitschko this coming Saturday in Hamburg, Germany.
It seems as though Pulev has been voicing his concerns more and more as the fight gets closer. This has been happening so much, that Wladimir Klitschko could only compare it to the barrage of issues that David Haye had when their fight was on the horizon.
Unbeaten contender Kubrat Pulev (20-0, 11 KOs) will be coming into tonight’s fight against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (62-3, 52 KOs) with a slight weight advantage when they meet up tonight in Hamburg, Germany. During Friday’s weigh-in, Pulev weighed in at 246.92 pounds compared to Wladimir’s 245.82.
WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs) has a formidable task ahead of him in facing the taller, younger and slicker Chris Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs) this month in their HBO pay-per-view fight from Macau, China. There’s a decent chance that Pacquiao could lose this fight if Algieri doesn’t fight stupid like Tim Bradley did in his rematch against Pacquiao. But despite Pacquiao having his hands full with Algieri, Pacquiao is still looking past him towards a big money match-up against WBA/WBC 147 pound champion Floyd Mayweather Jr.
That’s the fight that Pacquiao badly wants if he can get it. Pacquiao had an opportunity to get the Mayweather fight on several occasions, but the fights failed to take place due to questionable decisions on Pacquiao’s part.
Despite the fact that Wladimir Klitschko has been successfully defending his titles and dominating the heavyweight division for over a decade, the criticism of his ‘boring’ style and hand-picked opponents is only growing. It has always been either an opponent not in his class or a dreadfully boring bout, with Wladimir Klitschko doing something to cause that.
I must admit that Wladimir is not an explosive fighter, and comparing him to the former champions who were, is not exactly a direct evaluation. The reason for this non-linear comparison being flawed is because while his ability to stand and trade is not quite there, his technical skill is probably one of the best in the heavyweight history.
Kubrat Pulev’s grievances with the way he is treated by Klitschko and company are piling up before their fight on Nov. 15 at the O2 Arena in Hamburg, Germany. Pulev had to wait for a long time for this opportunity and he saw the fight postponed once due to an injury Klitschko sustained. Ever since he brought the Olympic drug testing issue, the Bulgarian is treated as a ‘persona non grata” by K2 promotions. He had a hard time getting tickets for friends – he was treated as a regular customer and advised to order tickets on-line if he could find any.
Now Pulev is at a loss with the gloves for the fight. The gloves Klitschko favors were agreed upon and those are gloves manufactured specifically for Wladimir. “I can’t find the Klitschko gloves”, Pulev says, “those are the gloves Wladimir trains with, they are not available for sale on the market”. Klitschko apparently would not let him try his and “The Cobra” still has not tried on the gloves he is supposed to wear on fight night and he does not know how to wrap up his hands for these gloves. He compared the situation to “going into a Formula 1 race without knowing what kind of tires you will have on the car”.
This past Saturday night, Sergey Kovalev was able to show that his style was indeed something that the older Bernard Hopkins was simply not able to adjust to. Kovalev won every single round, decisively. While he was unable to do any physical damage Hopkins, he did deliver a statement, one advising Hopkins to call it quits.
No matter how you turn it, no matter how you realign it, at this point in time Hopkins would lose to a fighter like Kovalev every time. While Hopkins looked in shape, and showed no lack of stamina or concentration, his savior from hitting the canvas for good was his well chiseled defense. Other than his turtle shell guard, his offense was nowhere to be found.