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Not even promoter Kathy Duva has any inkling of what to expect from her longtime charge, former light heavyweight titlist Sergey Kovalev, when he enters the ring as a cruiserweight.
Kovalev will break a nearly three-year absence from boxing when he takes on Tervel Pulev on May 14 in a 10-round cruiserweight (200-lb limit) bout in the main event of a Trill Fight Club pay-per-view show at The Forum in Los Angeles. The fight will mark Kovalev’s debut at the weight class and will also be the first time he has stepped away from the light heavyweight ranks.
The 38-year-old Kovalev, who has had his fair share of out-of-the-ring troubles in recent years (he pleaded guilty to sexual assault allegations in 2020), last fought in November of 2019, when he got knocked out by Canelo Alvarez in the 11th round of their 12-round light heavyweight title bout. Since then, the Russian native has had several aborted attempts to re-enter the ring. Most notably, his scheduled fight against Uzbek prospect Bektemir Melikuziev last January ended up being cancelled after Kovalev tested positive for a banned substance. Prior to that, in April of 2020, Kovalev was set to face veteran 175-pounder Sullivan Barrera, but that fight was scuttle because of the novel coronavirus.
Talk of Kovalev’s weight troubles have been circulating for quite some time, going back to his contentious two bouts with Andre Ward, who defeated him in both contests.
Duva, who has promoted Kovalev for nearly a decade, said the Canelo fight was the tipping point in Kovalev’s decision to finally move up in weight, adding that the move could turn out to be brilliant – or a total bust.
“Sergey had decided that he had to make a jump,” Duva told FightHype.com. “Making 175 was draining. You could see it. He was ahead on one of the cards in the Canelo fight. Then all of a sudden, boom. Well, that’s what happens when you have nothing left, literally. We’re gonna see. This jump in weight can either be great for him or it can be awful. We really don’t know what it’s going to be. But he has to make it, he has to try.”
Should Kovalev (34-4-1, 29 KOs) defeat Pulev (16-0, 13 KOs) – the younger brother Kubrat Pulev – as he is expected to, Duva will work to get him in line for a shot at a cruiserweight title, meaning he will have to defeat one of the following: South Africa’s Ilunga Makabu (WBC), France’s Arsen Goulamirian (WBA), Latvia’s Mairis Briedis (IBF), or England’s Lawrence Okoli (WBO).
“If he wins this fight the goal is to get him into a cruiserweight title fight as soon as possible,” Duva said. “But first you gotta get used to having a bigger body, used to training not to lose weight but to build muscle, which is the opposite of what he’s been doing.
“He was losing muscle to make weight in the last year or so that he was fighting at 175. This will be a great opportunity for him to make all those adjustments. He had a good two years to grow into this weight which I think has been a benefit. In the end, nothing matters except what he does on May 14th.”