Sergei Alexandrovich Kovalev

Sergei Kovalev
Sergei Alexandrowitsch Kovalev (2014)
Data
Birth Name	Sergei Alexandrovich Kovalev
Fight name	Krusher
Weight class	Light heavyweight
nationality	Russian
birthday	April 2, 1983
place of birth	Koperisk
style	Left delivery
size	1.83 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	39
Victories	34
Knockout victories	29
Defeats	4th
draw	1
Profile in the BoxRec database

Sergei Alexandrowitsch Kowaljow ( Russian Сергей Александрович Ковалёв ; born April 2, 1983 in Kopeisk ) is a Russian professional boxer. He is a former, three-time WBO world champion as well as world champion of the IBF and the WBA , each in the light heavyweight division.

He is Ring Magazine Boxer of the Year 2014.

Amateur career

Sergei Kovalev started boxing at the age of eleven, fought for the Russian national team from 1998 to 2009 and won 193 of his 215 amateur fights. At the national level he was Russian youth champion in 1997 and 1999, and in 1998 Russian vice youth champion. In 2000 and 2001 he was the Russian Vice Junior Champion. In 2004 he reached second place in the middleweight division at the Russian Championships. He failed in the final against Matwei Korobow . In 2005 he was Russian middleweight champion and reached 3rd place in the light heavyweight division in 2007, after this time he was eliminated in the semifinals against Artur Beterbijew with 24:25. In 2008 he was runner-up again.

As a soldier in the Russian armed forces , he took part in the 2005 World Military Championships in Pretoria for the first time, beating the starters from Ukraine, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA and Turkey and thus winning the gold medal in the light heavyweight division. At the 2006 Military World Cup in Warendorf , he reached 2nd place in the light heavyweight division, after he left the final due to an injury and thus the German Gottlieb Weiss was declared the winner. In 2007 he won the military World Cup in Hyderabad again after he was able to prevail in the light heavyweight division against Moussa Konate from Mali, Donald Makola from South Africa, Saur Teimurow from Azerbaijan, Abdelhafid Benchabla from Algeria and Oleg Dimkowets from Belarus.

Professional career

In 2009 he turned pro in the US and moved to Fort Lauderdale , Florida. His coaches have included or include Don Turner , Abel Sanchez and John David Jackson . He won his first nine fights in a row by knockout in one of the first two rounds. In October 2010 he defeated Darnell Boone , who sensationally knocked out Adonis Stevenson six months earlier . After five more victories, including four knockouts, he won on July 29, 2011 by knockout in the second round against Douglas Otieno Okola, the US championship of NABA .

On August 27, 2011, he boxed against Grover Young, who had to give up the fight due to injury in the second round due to an unintentional foul . Since the injury was not caused by impact, but an unintentional foul, the fight was counted as a draw. On December 5, 2011, Kowaljow won the Asian Championship of the WBC after defeating his compatriot Roman Simakow in the seventh round by tKo. Simakov had to be taken out of the ring on a stretcher and died three days later from injuries sustained in the fight.

Kowaljow won four more fights by knockout, including again against Darnell Boone and Gabriel Campillo . On August 17, 2013, he boxed in Wales against the undefeated WBO world champion Nathan Cleverly . He had the Welshman on the ground twice in the third round, which was the first rainfall in Cleverly's professional career. In the fourth round, Kowaljow pursued vigorously and brought Cleverly to the verge of a knockout before the referee stepped in and called off the fight. Kowaljow was declared the winner by tKo.

His first title defense he denied on November 30, 2013 in Canada against Ismail Sillach and won by knockout in the second round. He won his second title defense on March 29, 2014 in Atlantic City by knockout in the seventh round against the undefeated American Cedric Agnew. He won another title defense on August 2, 2014 by tKo in the second round against the also undefeated Australian Blake Caparello.

On November 8, 2014, he boxed against WBA and IBF world champion Bernard Hopkins in Atlantic City . Kowaljow scored a knockdown in the first round and won after twelve rounds unanimously on points. In March 2015 he defeated the Canadian Jean Pascal prematurely in the eighth round when the referee took him out of the fight after heavy hits and suffering from balance problems.

On July 25, 2015, he beat the French Nadjib Mohammedi by knockout in the third round and had him on the ground in the second. The revenge between Kowaljow and the Canadian Jean Pascal increased on January 30, 2016, which Kowaljow was able to win in the end by giving up in the 7th round, as Jean Pascal's team threw in the towel to save him from worse.

On July 11, 2016, he boxed in Yekaterinburg against the previously unbeaten Malawian, Isaac Chilemba . Kowaljow scored a knockdown in the seventh round and won after twelve rounds unanimously on points.

On November 19, 2016, he lost unanimously on points to Andre Ward and thus suffered the first loss of his professional career. Ward was then named the best boxer pound for pound . On June 17, 2017, Kowaljow lost the rematch against Andre Ward controversially by TKo in the eighth round.

On November 25, 2017, Kovalyov again won the WBO world light heavyweight title. He defeated Vyacheslav Schabranskyj by technical knockout in the second round, after he had his opponent on the ground twice in the first round. In March 2018 he defeated Igor Mikhalkin prematurely in the seventh round. He finally lost his title on August 4, 2018 through a TKO defeat in the seventh round to the Colombian Eleider Álvarez .

Kowaljow then prepared under Buddy McGirt and Teddy Cruz for the rematch against Álvarez on February 2, 2019. He won this in Texas by a unanimous victory on points and was thus again WBO world light heavyweight champion. He won his first title defense in August 2019 through TKO against Anthony Yarde . On November 2, 2019, he lost his WBO light heavyweight title in Las Vegas by a knockout loss to the Mexican Saúl Álvarez in the eleventh round.

List of professional fights

34 wins (29 knockout wins), 4 defeats , 1 draw
year	Day	place	opponent	Result for Kovalyov
2009	July 25th	Greenboro Coliseum, Greensboro, USA	Daniel Chavez professional debut	Victory / TKO 1st round
	8th August	Metropolitan Convention Center, Columbia (South Carolina), USA	Darryl Johnson	Victory / TKO 1st round
	29th August	Emerald Queen Casino, Tacoma (Washington), USA	Michael Birthmark	Victory / abandonment 1st round
	12th September	Playboy Mansion , Beverly Hills, USA	Ayodeji Fadeyi	Victory / abandonment 1st round
	October 10th	Coliseum Complex Events Center, Greensboro, USA	Micky Stackhouse	Victory / TKO 2nd round
2010	6th March	George Mason University , Fairfax (Virginia), USA	Francois Ambang	Victory / KO 2nd round
	19th March	Derby Park Expo, Louisville (Kentucky), USA	Nathan Bedwell	Victory / TKO 1st round
	June 19th	Emerald Queen Casino, Tacoma (Washington), USA	Harley Kilfian	Victory / TKO 2nd round
	September 11	Playboy Mansion , Beverly Hills, USA	Kia Daniels	Victory / KO 1st round
	9th October	Metro Fitness, Atlanta, USA	Darnell Boone	Points victory (polyphonic) / 8 rounds
	November 19th	UIC Pavillion, Chicago, USA	Dallas Vargas	Victory / TKO 2nd round
	15th December	Vodoley, Ekaterinburg, Russia	Karen Avetisyan	Points victory (unanimous) / 6 rounds
2011	March 12th	Hilton Towers Ballroom, Louisiana, USA	William Johnson	Victory / TKO 2nd round
	April 1st	UIC Pavillion, Chicago, USA	Julius Fogle	Victory / KO 2nd round
	May 6th	Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio (California), USA	Terrance Woods	Victory / KO 3rd round
	29th of July	The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas , Las Vegas, USA	Douglas Otieno Okola WBA NABA Light Heavyweight Championship	Victory / KO 2nd round
	August 27	Playboy Mansion , Beverly Hills, USA	Grover Young	Draw / TD 2nd round
	December 5th	Palace of Game Sports (Yekaterinburg) , Yekaterinburg, Russia	Roman Simakow WBC ABC Light Heavyweight Championship	Victory / TKO 7th round
2012	June 1st	Sands Casino Resort, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA	Darnell Boone	Victory / TKO 2nd round
	21st September	Sands Casino Resort, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA	Lionell Thompson	Victory / TKO 3rd round
2013	January 19th	Mohegan Sun Casino, Connecticut, USA	Gabriel Campillo	Victory / TKO 3rd round
	14th June	Sands Casino Resort, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA	Cornelius White	Victory / TKO 3rd round
	17th August	Motorpoint Arena Cardiff , Cardiff, UK	Nathan Cleverly WBO World Light Heavyweight Championship	Victory / TKO 4th round
	30th of November	Colisee Pepsi , Quebec, Canada	Ismail Sillach WBO light heavyweight title defense	Victory / KO 2nd round
2014	March 29	Boardwalk Hall , Atlantic City (New Jersey), USA	Cedric Agnew WBO light heavyweight title defense	Victory / KO 7th round
	August 2nd	Revel Resort , Atlantic City (New Jersey), USA	Blake Caparello WBO light heavyweight title defense	Victory / TKO 2nd round
	November 8th	Boardwalk Hall , Atlantic City (New Jersey), USA	Bernard Hopkins IBF / WBA / WBO light heavyweight title association	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
2015	the 14th of March	Bell Center , Montreal, Canada	Jean Pascal IBF / WBA / WBO light heavyweight title defense	Victory / TKO 8th round
	July 25th	Mandalay Bay Events Center , Las Vegas, USA	Nadjib Mohammedi IBF / WBA / WBO light heavyweight title defense	Victory / KO 3rd round
2016	January 30th	Bell Center , Montreal, Canada	Jean Pascal IBF / WBA / WBO light heavyweight title defense	Victory / abandonment 7th round
	July 11th	Palace of Game Sports (Yekaterinburg) , Yekaterinburg, Russia	Isaac Chilemba IBF / WBA / WBO light heavyweight title defense	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
	November 19th	T-Mobile Arena (Las Vegas) , Las Vegas, USA	Andre Ward IBF / WBA / WBO light heavyweight title defense	Loss of points (unanimously) / 12 rounds
2017	17th of June	Mandalay Bay Events Center , Las Vegas, USA	Andre Ward IBF / WBA / WBO World Light Heavyweight Championship	Loss / TKO 8th round
	25. November	The Theater at Madison Square Garden, New York City, USA	Vyacheslav Schabranskyj vacant WBO world light heavyweight championship	Victory / TKO 2nd round
2018	3 March	The Theater at Madison Square Garden, New York City, USA	Igor Mikhalkin WBO light heavyweight title defense	Victory / TKO 7th round
	4th of August	Mark G. Etess Arena, Atlantic City (New Jersey), USA	Eleider Álvarez WBO light heavyweight title defense	Loss / TKO 7th round
2019	February 2nd	Ford Center at The Star, Frisco (Texas), USA	Eleider Álvarez WBO World Light Heavyweight Championship	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
	August 24th	Tractor ice rink , Chelyabinsk, Russia	Anthony Yarde WBO light heavyweight title defense	Victory / TKO 11th round
	November 2	MGM Grand Garden Arena , Las Vegas, USA	Saúl Álvarez WBO light heavyweight title defense	Defeat / TKO 11th round
Source: Sergei Alexandrowitsch Kowaljow in the BoxRec database

Boxing style

Due to his amateur past, Kowaljow is considered a technically experienced boxer who often tries to put his opponent under pressure with various punching techniques. In addition, he has a good ability to anticipate, which means that he knows how to adapt to his opponents. In crucial moments, Kowaljow knows how to follow up effectively in order to seek the early decision.

Web links

• Sergei Alexandrowitsch Kowaljow in the BoxRec database
• Biography in the BoxRec Wiki
• Official website of Sergei Kovalev
• Interview at Max Boxing

Individual evidence

predecessor	Office	successor
Nathan Cleverly	Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( WBO ) August 17, 2013 - November 19, 2016	Andre Ward vacant
Bernard Hopkins	Super Light Heavyweight Champion ( WBA ) November 8, 2014 - November 19, 2016	Andre Ward vacant
Bernard Hopkins	Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( IBF ) November 8, 2014 - November 19, 2016	Andre Ward vacant
Andre Ward vacant	Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( WBO ) November 25, 2017 - August 4, 2018	Eleider Álvarez
Eleider Álvarez	Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( WBO ) February 2, 2019 -