There was only one day left between the super fight between Sergey Kovalev and Saul Alvarez. Already on November 2, athletes will fight for the world light heavyweight title according to the WBO, which is currently owned by a Russian. While the boxers themselves continue to prepare, new details of one of the main fights of 2019 appear in the press.
Sporting News has published data on the fees of fighters. According to the portal, Kovalev will earn $ 3 million, while Canelo will receive $ 35. Given the popularity of the Mexican and its multi-million dollar agreement with the DAZN streaming platform, such a figure should not be surprised, but the Russian clearly deserves more. So, Andy Ruiz earned about $ 7 million for a fight with Anthony Joshua, and this is taking into account the fact that until that moment he had never been a world champion.
For comparison, Kovalev owned the WBO belt three times, and in 2016 he was one step away from the title of absolute world light heavyweight champion. The Russians lacked only the WBC title, which at that time was held by Adonis Stevenson. But two consecutive defeats against Andre Ward at least delayed the repetition of the achievement of Roy Jones Jr.
But Kovalev has problems and is more serious. According to the mentor of the Russian athlete Buddy McGirt, the main one is the judges who are quite capable of helping Alvarez get the upper hand.
“This is how I see it. If we overcome it, but the decision is not in our favor, the whole world will see it. A guy like Canelo will not be able to put up with this, he will want revenge. The main thing is to go out and do what you need without worrying about the judges or anything else, ”McGirt quotes BoxingScene.
It is worth noting that such statements by a specialist can hardly be called groundless, bearing in mind the confrontation between Canelo and Gennady Golovkin. So, the first battle ended in a separate draw, and the second - victory of Saul by a majority decision, which caused great discontent of the Kazakhstani.
The most resonant was the result of the first fight, during which Golovkin solidly surpassed his opponent in the total number of hits (218: 169. - according to Compubox), and minimally lost in the number of power (110: 114). However, Judge Don Trell saw a draw in the ring, and Adelaide Bird completely gave Gennady just two rounds of twelve. Subsequently, her assessment caused a serious response in the media, and she herself had to take a break from work.
It is noteworthy that this fight is viewed mainly through the prism of Canelo’s path to champion status in four divisions, and Sergey’s choice as an opponent is explained by his weakness in comparison with other light heavyweight title holders - Arthur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. However, Sergei himself strongly disagrees with this.
“If he wants to go down in history, then with whom should he fight in the light heavyweight? I am the best in this category. At the moment I can not agree that Beterbiev is better. Yes, he has two titles, but remember that one IBF belt belongs to me. He got his title after defeating nouname. I don’t know anything about that guy. (At that time. - RT) the title was vacant, ”said Kovalev.
According to the current world champion according to the WBO, he is set up exclusively to win the battle with Canelo and considers it as a stage on the way to the battle with Beterbiev.
Despite the Russian confidence in success, most experts prefer his counterpart. So, the famous boxers Andre Ward and Danny Garcia have already spoken about this, and the Olympic champion Yevgeny Tishchenko made up the company.
“There is always a chance, especially Canelo from a lighter weight category. But the favorite will still be Alvarez. I don’t think that Sergei can be sued in the USA, because he has been popular there for a long time as his own. But anything is possible, of course. If Kovalev wins, he will be the greatest Russian boxer. He already went down in history. And the victory over Saul will be the biggest event of his career, ”the Championship quotes Tishchenko.
He expressed the opinion that Kovalev was able to draw conclusions from his past fights and deal with endurance problems, but noted that the fight with Alvarez could draw a line under his performances in the ring.
“I do not exclude that this may be his last fight, because he is already an age-old boxer, but it is up to him to decide,” Tishchenko concluded.
Unlike the Olympic champion, the winner of the WBA title, Dmitry Bivol, did not name the favorite, but admitted that he would support his compatriot.
“I’ll be rooting for Sergey, but I won’t hide that I want to meet the WBO light heavyweight champion in the unification match,” the press service of the Boxing World quoted Bivola as saying.
He told what tactics Sergey should adhere to and what should be paid attention to.
“The task of Kovalev, of course, is to keep Canelo at a distance, and he can do it. He is a good boxer ... Let's see how Sergey will be ready functionally. I would like to wish him good luck, because I know how much this person plowed in sports, ”Bivol added.
A similar opinion is shared by the head of the promotion company Boxing World, Andrei Ryabinsky. He said that he would support Kovalev and expressed confidence that he had the necessary qualities for success.
“Here my sympathies are entirely on the side of Sergey. We all know his path in boxing, and I believe that Kovalev has something to defeat Canelo in addition to the advantage in size. But Alvarez is also a very strong boxer. He has a good team, they chose this particular battle for the light heavyweight title. The duel will show what they counted on, or maybe what they miscalculated in. And Dmitry Bivol, of course, will wait for the winner, ”Ryabinsky concluded.