The last few years have not been the most rosy for Sergey Kovalev.

After losing a fight with Saul Alvarez, the ex-world light heavyweight champion managed to get a suspended sentence for beating a model and failing a doping test twice, because of which he lost his license, and his career was in jeopardy.

And even when he managed to get the opportunity to perform again, things did not go so smoothly.

The fight with Meng Fanlong was canceled after the Chinese chose to fight Jean Pascal, and the Russian had to look for a new opponent.

As a result, the long-awaited return of the 39-year-old veteran was postponed until mid-May, and the undefeated Bulgarian Tervel Pulev, the brother of the famous heavyweight Kubrat, who had previously fought Wladimir Klitschko and Anthony Joshua, became his opponent.

Thus, about two and a half years have passed since the last fight of Kovalev - more than a respectable period, especially for an age fighter.

He himself admitted that it was very difficult to roll into the training process and at first he could not do anything with his sparring partners, and in general he was afraid of the negative consequences of a long downtime.

Another circumstance complicated the situation: Sergey spent almost his entire career in light heavyweight, and fought in the cruiserweight only once - in 2011.

In the second round, Grover Young was hit in the back of the head and forced to withdraw from the fight.

A draw was declared, as a result of which the winning streak of the Russian from 16 fights was interrupted.

And it was extremely interesting to watch how Kovalev would look in an unusual category for himself, and even with an opponent superior to him in anthropometry.

According to the organizers of the show, Pulev was not only nine centimeters taller (192 centimeters), but also had a larger arm span.

The last time a Russian fought with such an overall opponent was more than four years ago, but he did an excellent job with the test.

Vyacheslav Shabransky lasted less than two rounds, during which he found himself on the floor three times.

However, it was hardly worth expecting that Pulev would share the fate of the Ukrainian.

Not only his physical data spoke for him, but also his great amateur experience.

In 2012, he won a bronze medal at the London Olympics, and also won three European championships.

And although he did not meet serious opponents as a professional, the record looked more than impressive.

The Bulgarian won all 16 fights, and completed 13 of them ahead of schedule.

Nevertheless, in the ring it became perfectly noticeable that Triller clearly got excited with the assessment of Pulev's height.

Although he was a little taller than Kovalev, but rather by four centimeters (this is exactly the data provided by the BoxRec portal).

And, I couldn't really use them.

In the first round, Tervel scored only a few dangerous attacks, but it was not possible to take the enemy by surprise.

Sergey was extremely cold-blooded and prudent: he tried to control the distance and work with a jab, as well as alternate blows on the “floors”.

All this put the Bulgarian in an uncomfortable position and did not allow him to find his own rhythm.

And if the first three-minute period was relatively equal, then the next six passed with a big advantage of the Russians.

Kovalev did not deviate from the plan for the battle and acted, albeit not in the most spectacular manner, but extremely effectively.

He did not try to hunt for Pulev's head, but calmly "smashed" him, not allowing himself to create any problems.

The front arm worked flawlessly and time after time left Tervel utterly confused.

He did not understand how to go to the close distance, and at the long distance he was uncompetitive.

And in the second half of the battle, Pulev became noticeably nervous from his helplessness.

Increasingly, he rushed forward, increasing the risk of a headbutt, and in the seventh round he even delivered a dirty blow.

The right straight Bulgarian passed by, but the elbow hit exactly in the head.

The referee gave Kovalev time to recover, but did not punish the opponent with a penalty point.

Coincidence or not, but it was after this that Pulev had one of the best segments.

In the eighth round, he actively went forward and even overtook Kovalev several times.

First, he provoked an exchange and brought the left hook to the target, and then felt for the jaw with a right straight one.

The Russian continued to exert pressure, but did not score significant hits.

In past years, an elbow to the face and a lost round could well have made Kovalev forget about the fight plan and rush for a knockout, but this time this did not happen.

Coach Buddy McGirt did his best to restrain the Russian from impulsive impulses, and he resembled himself as a model of the second fight with Eleider Alvarez.

In the first fight, he lost to the Cuban by knockout, but in the second he performed almost perfectly and outright outboxed his opponent in a classic manner.

And this time he did the same.

Kovalev was never able to send Pulev to the floor, but he still caused some damage.

At the end of the final, tenth segment, a small cut appeared under the left eye of the Bulgarian, but this did not prevent him from holding out until the final gong.

The judges, as expected, sided with the Russian.

Two gave him eight rounds, and the third was a little more favorable to his opponent - 98:92, 98:92, 97:93.

Kovalev won the first victory after a full transition to the category up to 90.7 kilograms, but was not completely satisfied with his performance.

According to him, he approached this fight too hard and was not as fast and sharp as we would like.

As for the future, he has previously stated that he would like to end his career as a world champion, and so far does not intend to deviate from his goal.

True, the boxer himself admitted: at the moment he is not ready for a title fight.

According to Sergey, before that he needs to have at least one warm-up fight.