They met as part of a boxing evening held in the United States. Kovalev was considered the favorite of this fight, and he was close to winning - in the fourth round, the Russian carried out a series of powerful blows, after which Alvarez did not fall only by a miracle. In the next two three-minute periods, Kovalev's advantage was also obvious.

However, in the seventh round, the situation changed radically. Sergei missed a few blows and was knocked down. He managed to get up, only to be back on the canvas again. And the second time the referee did not stop the fight, but after the third knockdown the fight ended - Kovalev lost. This defeat was his third in his career with 33 wins, 28 of which he won by knockout.

After the fight, Kovalev published in his Instagram video in which he thanked the fans for their support, apologized to them for this failure, and also said that everything was fine with him. He also hinted at the imminent end of his career: "Apparently, it's time to hang up the gloves." However, Sergei also noted that he did not intend to draw hasty conclusions from the defeat.

However, it is possible that soon Kovalev will really leave boxing. His coach Abror Tursunpulatov believes that Sergei should end his career. He also blames himself for his charge's failure.

“I would like him to end his career. He no longer has the health of a young athlete. He did his job. He had several belts. He wrote his name in history. Such a fate. And the opponent also deserved the right to become world champion. " Alvarez worked for many years. If Sergey had not missed one blow, everything would have turned out differently, and the victory would have been on our side, "Soviet Sport quotes Tursunpulatov. - Sergey got good blows. Alvarez endured. Maybe we somewhere "went over". And my fault in this defeat is also there. I blame myself for this defeat. Probably, I prepared my boxer incorrectly. And for me this is a great experience, although we did not do any experiments. All the work was done according to plan ".

On this evening of boxing, a fight took place with the participation of another Russian. Dmitry Bivol defeated Malawian Isaac Chilemba by unanimous decision - 120:108, 120:108, 116:112 - and retained the WBA champion title. Bivol's manager Vadim Kornilov stressed that Dmitry is ready for unification fights and will most likely fight his next fight before the end of the year. It is possible that Alvarez will become his rival.

“Of course, Dmitry will hold the next fight before the end of the year,” TASS quotes Kornilov. “He is ready for unification fights, after the fight we will look at the opponent. As for Chilemba, in his manner he does not allow him to show a spectacular fight. But Dmitry spent everything rounds as planned."

Sergey Kovalev lost. It's time to go?

The main Russian boxer stopped a step away from the unification fight and is now close to the end of his career.

After two losses Andre Ward I thought not only about changing the coach, but also about adjusting my lifestyle. In almost every interview, the Russian said that previously he did not bother himself with training between fights, allowing himself to rest a little more than he should.

Before the fight with Alvarez, Crusher again repeated that he had changed, learned from painful defeats and was immensely glad that someone from above gave him another chance. In all these interviews, one thing was a little scary - Sergey talked too much about the past, and fights with Vyacheslav Shabransky and Igor Mikhalkin failed to appreciate the present. It was he who had to explain to all of us, and at the same time to Kovalev himself, whether the reboot was really a success.

According to rumors, which Sergei himself later indirectly confirmed, before the fight with the Colombian, he had one of the best training camps in his life. At the weigh-in before the fight itself, the Russian showed 78.9 kilograms on the scales, which is 500 grams less than the allowable limit. This was a good sign, given that the last time Kovalev had a rather difficult weight cut.

Then you can look for a catch in Sergey's excessive smile at the weigh-in and even during the fight. You can look for something in the look of a Russian before a fight. But all this will be just speculation and conspiracy theory. The truth is that Kovalev was winning the fight and outbid Alvarez.

At the time the fight was stopped, all three judges gave the victory to the Russian: 59-55, 59-55 and 58-56, and the strike statistics were also on Sergey's side: 91 to 73 hits on target out of 331 and 251, respectively.

The crasher failed the crash test. Alvarez knocked out Kovalev

Sergey Kovalev lost by heavy knockout for the first time.

Kovalev was more active, but Alvarez was more accurate. After each defeat from Ward, Sergey could always find excuses and, in fact, not prevaricate - in the first fight he was really sued. The second time, he actually got hit below the belt. Only many for some reason have forgotten the course of the second duel and no longer remember what preceded the final series of blows that led to a stop. Kovalev was losing the fight and in the eighth round Ward managed to shock the Russian with a clean punch.

This time, Kovalev, fans and spectators can again go the easy way and attribute everything to a random hit. This will be partly true again, but it will only once again take the focus away from certain problems, the nature of which is again very difficult to determine.

We have seen situations more than once when a boxer ages overnight right before our eyes, as was the case with Wladimir Klitschko in combat with Tyson Fury or with David Haye in two fights Tony Bellew. At the same time, it can be stated with confidence once again that in boxing, in no case can you trust the numbers in your passport.

If you suddenly didn’t know, Alvarez is only a year and six days younger than Kovalev. But the problem was different - Eleider was a contender for the WBC title for two years, and only by coincidence did he get the chance of a lifetime in a fight with another champion. How important this fight was for the Colombian could be seen from his look.

Sergey Kovalev lost by knockout to Eleider Alvarez. How it was

Crusher lost his WBO light heavyweight title.

Another simple solution would be to write off what happened to the notorious lack of hunger. You can talk about the underestimation of the opponent, which is frankly hard to believe.

Sergey's promoter Katie Duva has already shared her version. In an interview with ESPN, the head of Main Events explained what happened like this:

“Sergey was winning, but he seems to be tired after the sixth round. It's a magic round, as it was in the first fight with Ward. I guess he's just tired.

I was happy with how the fight was going, but I told Kovalev's manager Egis Klimas: "Let's go through the sixth round and I will relax." But you saw what happened. I do not want to belittle the merits of Alvarez. Sergey dominated, and Eleider came back and stopped him. This is quite an impressive achievement. Sergei fought brilliantly for six rounds.”

At the same time, Duva told a very important thing - the contract for the fight included a clause on revenge in the event of Sergey's defeat. Formally, Kovalev can get even at the end of this year, but…

The coach of the Russian Abror Tursunpulatov, in an interview with a TASS correspondent, said a rather discouraging thing:

“There will be no revenge, Seryoga should quit boxing. Health is not the same. Even if he won the fight, I would suggest that he end his career.”

Such a statement from the lips of the new coach looks like a sentence. There are no additional details yet, but it is quite obvious that Tursunpulatov knows the situation much better than we do.

In general, the idea that we are watching the sunset of Crusher was the first after the end of the fight. Kovalev didn't look bad, but right now it's just not clear why he should continue.

From the point of view of boxing, after three fights under the guidance of a new coach, we still did not see a fundamental difference between Kovalev and ourselves in the conditional first fight with Ward. Sergei was studied, but, even worse, it seems that he was pierced.

Rumors about not the strongest jaw of the Russian have been around for a long time, but Crusher scored opponents faster than they could get to Sergey's chin with a good blow. The first call came in the second fight with Ward, who is rather difficult to call a punching boxer. Today, Alvarez managed to put the Russian on the floor with one clean, albeit somewhat stray blow. By the way, Eleider is also not a puncher in the literal sense of the word - in 23 fights, the Colombian stopped 11 opponents. Today's victory allowed Alvarez to improve his percentage of early wins to 50 percent.

Worse is what happened after the first knockdown - a cloud of missed punches and two subsequent falls. Sergey has missed too much and these blows will definitely not do him good service in future fights. If they will.

After the fight, Kovalev was taken to the hospital to ascertain that nothing threatened his health. What can you say about a career.

The Russian should think hard about whether he needs a second fight with Alvarez. At the same time, you can definitely forget about unification fights. Even if Kovalev decides to fight Eleider for the second time, it will not happen until the end of this year, and Sergey will turn 36 in April. Time is working against Crusher, and there is still every reason to believe that Bivol, Beterbiev and Stevenson hit harder than Alvarez.

One night, like one blow, can change everything. Yesterday, we, perhaps Sergey himself, already clearly imagined the Russian derby with Dmitry Bivol in light heavyweight. If the WBA champion did a brilliant job, the WBO champion lost his title. And that dramatically changes the picture across the division. Until tonight, we were talking about three Russian-speaking champions in this weight. Right now we need to talk about three champions, one way or another connected with Yvon Michel- promoter of Adonis Stevenson, Artur Beterbiev and newly-champion Eleider Alvarez. It's funny how at one moment Stevenson suddenly became the main contender for the title of absolute world champion - after all, it will be quite simple to organize meetings for boxers from one promotional company. Now it can intervene Alexander Gvozdyk, who will try himself in the role of Eleider Alvarez, and, to be honest, he has a good chance of repeating the success of the Colombian.

Stevenson's defeat would be symbolic. Adonis won his belt in 2013 and did so two months before he traveled to Wales and came out as a world champion. At that moment, it was these two fighters who were supposed to reveal the best light heavyweight on the planet for the next five years. But this never happened. Today one of them took a big step towards the completion of his journey.

Whatever decision is made, we must and will respect it. In an ideal world, I would like to see the Russian come back for a rematch with Alvarez, defeat him and walk away as a champion. A man with such a difficult history deserves this. But this is boxing, and very often parting with it is not very beautiful.

Future rival Fedor Emelianenko Chael Sonnen once, as usual, the best of all, described the end of a career in percussion sports.

“Apart from Lennox Lewis, I can’t think of anyone who could get away at the peak. All our careers end the same way - lying face down with a sense of discouragement. And I'm going to follow suit. I don't want to leave anything behind me."

Eleider Alvarez shocked Sergey Kovalev (and the whole boxing world). Andre Berto defeated Devon Alexander via split decision. And Dmitry Bivol did not look very convincing in a fight with a strong opponent.

But let's take a closer look at how these fights went so as not to miss the most important boxing news over the past weekend.

What I liked. Well, we've got a new potential superstar in the light heavyweight division, and the name of that star is Eleider Alvarez, alias Storm. He entered the fight not as a favorite (betting a hundred on him, you could win $ 400), but in the seventh round the Colombian dealt a powerful blow to Kovalev and then knocked him out. Alvarez spent several years waiting for a mandatory fight for the belt of Adonis Stevenson. After a while, he decided not to wait, but to focus on Kovalev's light heavyweight belt. Despite the fact that there are few knockouts on Alvarez's account, he knows how to hit, and hits hard. Ask Kovalev.

What I didn't like. Since Kovalev is 35 years old, the question should be asked if he can still compete in the light heavyweight elite and make a good impression. After two losses to Andre Ward (both controversial in their own way), there are many questions for Kovalev about whether he is still the best fighter in this division. Kovalev's last two fights, in which he scored impressive victories over inexpressive opponents, gave boxing fans a false sense of security. If at the moment Kovalev was fighting Dmitry Bivol or Alexander Gvozdyk, he would look like a whipping boy.

Context

Match Kovalev-Ward: it's not about corruption

The Guardian 11/21/2016

The future of Bernard Hopkins is in doubt

The Washington Post November 11, 2014

10 best punchers in the world of boxing

The Guardian 11/10/2013

What does it mean. Before the fights, a lot of people were talking about the fact that Kovalev and Bivol would win, and then they would meet each other in a duel for the title. Now this won't happen anymore. But even if they fought, it wouldn't cost much. But Kovalev can take revenge by repeating the fight with Alvarez (there is a clause on such a revenge in the contract). And since he looked quite confident and comfortable for most of the fight, and was ahead of Alvarez on points until the fight was stopped, it is possible that Kovalev will try to take a second chance.

Other notable fights

For the second time in a row fortune (on points) was not on the side of Devon Alexander (27-5-1) as Andre Berto (32-5, 24 KOs) came out of an early knockdown and did enough for the rest of the fight to get a split decision win. Two judges gave the victory to Berto (115-112), and one decided that Alexander should win (114-113). In the previous match, Alexander, who was on the title list in two weight categories, seemed to have won over Victor Ortiz, but the judges decided that there should be a draw. “I didn’t fight for a while, but it felt really good,” Berto told the Boxing Scene website. “He got away from a lot of my punches, so I started combining and punishing him. It’s an amazing feeling.” Welterweight is a vast category, and even with his win on Saturday, Berto is unlikely to be a favorite against any top ten boxer.

Dmitriy Bivol (14-0, 11 KOs) confidently defeated Isaac Chilemba (25-6-2) and if it wasn't for one referee's dubious tally, Chilemba wouldn't even come close to him on points. But Bivol failed to win the sympathy of the fans. He just did enough to take down a solid fighter like Chilemba, but nothing more. But you remember that Kovalev in 2016 also looked rather ordinary against the background of Chilemba, and therefore it is quite possible that Bivol was simply trying to win without thinking about the effect on the audience. This fight can hardly be called a demonstration of all the talents of Bivol and his prospects in his category.

Although young featherweight Tevin Farmer (26-4-1, 5 KOs) had only 16.7% knockout wins at the start of the bout, he knocked down Billy Deeb (43-5) and ended up winning a landslide victory, winning his first world title. One of Farmer's possible rivals could be Gervonta Davis, who is one of the best boxers in the second featherweight category.

The materials of InoSMI contain only assessments of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the editors of InoSMI.

"SE" - about the fight in Las Vegas, the undefeated WBA, WBO and IBF light heavyweight champion to this day and American Andre Ward. Three judges with a margin of one point awarded the victory Russian rival.

The fight started quite well for Kovalev. In the first two rounds, he had a chance to decide everything in his favor. And then Ward was able to turn the tide of the fight and impose his unpleasant manner. In this viscous duel, he was stronger. By decision of the judges (score - 114:113, 114:113 and 114:113).

Judges' Notes:

08.38 All 12 rounds behind. The judges decide in favor of Ward. Kovalev lost

08.34 11th round. Ward was set up in the corner not to worry or worry about anything.

08.33 The tenth round leaves not the most pleasant impression. A tough exchange of blows took place. And Kovalev can't get in the way he knows how. One hit would have been enough for Ward.

08.32 Tenth round.

08.31 The battle sways a little - the denouement is close. This makes the room active as well. Finally!

08.28 Ninth round.

08.27 As it was sung in one famous song - "little fire". Ward imposes his fighting style on Kovalev. And makes the opponent nervous. In general, Ward does not allow himself to be beaten.

08.24 Eighth round.

08.23 Kovalev manages to throw Ward off balance. But the main thing is not possible - to strike his signature blow. If they pass, they are exceptionally easy.

08.20 Seventh round.

08.19 There are many such viscous and unpleasant fights in the ring. Boxing itself is almost non-existent.

08.16 Sixth round.

08.15 Kovalev misses several extremely unpleasant blows in the fifth round. Perhaps, for the first time since the beginning of the fight, we can talk about a slight advantage of Ward.

08.12 Fifth round. And let's not forget that we are watching the fight of two undefeated boxers so far. Someone today will suffer the first defeat in their careers.

08.11 In the fourth round, Ward rebuilt a little - now he is trying to respond to every blow of Kovalev with his own. Several cross attacks happened.

08.08 Round number four!

08.07 The third round went in a very calm manner.

08.04 From the first seconds of the third round, Kovalev continues what he started, and Ward goes into the clinch and turns boxing into a fight.

08.03 In the second round, Kovalev pretty patted his opponent. And it is worth noting that, to some extent, Ward was lucky that everything was not over now.

08.02 There is the first knockdown of Ward!

08.00 A little rest - and the second round!

07.59 The first round is over. A couple of hard attacks were carried out by Kovalev, but he has not yet brought the matter to his famous crushing blows.

07.56 The fight has begun!

07.50 We recall the main victories at the moment.

07.40 Chelyabinsk nugget - the most titled Russian boxer - will meet with the most serious opponent in his career, an American Andre Ward. Both did not know defeat, both claim to be the best boxer in the world, regardless of the weight category, and at stake is the defense of three titles - WBA, WBO, IBF. Kovalev spent 31 fights without a single defeat. Ward's statistics are also impeccable - 30 wins, never lost. This is enough to understand that the felling will be serious.

07.30 Hi all! Approximately 30 minutes later in Las Vegas, the undefeated WBA, WBO and IBF light heavyweight champion of the world will meet with the most serious rival in his career - an American Andre Ward.

About how it was.

Kovalev - Ward. War

Talk about the dubiousness of the victory of the American in the first battle did not subside until the revenge. Then, in November 2016, Kovalev and Ward spent all 12 rounds in the ring. Undefeated at that time, the Crusher clearly dominated the fight, once knocked down the American. However, it was not possible to win ahead of schedule, and it came to a referee's decision.

Did the home refereeing factor work (this fight, like the rematch, took place in the USA), or did Ward really counterattack so effectively, but three judges unanimously awarded the victory to the American - 114:113. One may agree or disagree with such an outcome, but it is pointless to deny the highest class of Ward. Kovalev demanded a rematch almost immediately, and although Ward's team ruffled the Russian's nerves, they did not refuse negotiations, even despite the fact that the first fight was not a success from a business point of view.

Before the fight, Kovalev talked a lot about the opponent, recalled the previous fight, promised to knock out Ward and end his career. The American responded accordingly. The hostility between the boxers arose even before the November fight, and has only intensified since then. Still - Kovalev was dissatisfied with the unfair, in his opinion, decision of the judges, and Ward believed that the judges stole some of his well-deserved fame from him.

The revenge took place in Las Vegas in the presence of 10.5 thousand spectators. At stake are the champion belts of the World Boxing Association (WBA), the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) in the light heavyweight (up to 79.4 kilograms) weight, well known to the opponents in the first fight.

Kovalev immediately began to work as the first number, forcing Ward to defend. But it is even easier for such a master of defense to act from an opponent. In the first match, the Russian also went ahead, but did not extract big dividends from this.

In the second and third rounds, the picture did not change. In the second three-minute period, Ward hit Kovalev below the belt for the first time. The referee warned the American, and the fight continued. The Russian was advancing, his opponent was defending. It was alarming that in terms of tactics, Sergei did not learn from the first fight. He still made little use of his height advantage, and when he came close, Ward immediately tied him in the clinch.

In the clinch, both acted rather dirty, once they collided heads, but in war, as you know, all means are good. And that was the war. In the fourth round, the referee urged Kovalev and Ward to act cleaner, but they did not even think to listen to him. At the same time, the Russian was physically addicted, and for the first time the round was unconditionally won by an American.

In subsequent rounds, Ward's lead increased. Kovalev was tired, often dropped his hands and missed blows to the head and body. The famous jab of the Russian almost did not work, and attempts to get the opponent with deuces were mostly unsuccessful. Kovalev occasionally responded with successful actions. In the seventh round, Ward again scored a low blow.

The fight ended in the eighth round. Kovalev missed Ward's strongest right and staggered, but kept his feet. The American rushed to finish off the opponent with blows to the body, most of which hit the belt area. The Russian bent over, and after another series of Americans, the fight was stopped. The referee considered that Ward acted within the rules. However, when viewing the replay, it is clear that he struck below the belt.

Was it low? #wardkovalev2 @andresogward @sergeykrusherkovalev

Kovalev suffered the second defeat in his career, losing ahead of schedule for the first time. The 34-year-old Russian has 30 wins and one draw. 33-year-old Ward won 32 wins (16 by knockout) in 32 fights.

"It's a shame"

Kovalev's team has already stated that it intends to protest the results of the fight. “We will ask the commission to review repetitions with blows to the Russian below the belt. It's a shame. Kovalev will fight next in the fall. He is alright. The referee didn't do his job. Ward deliberately landed several low blows and he was not penalized for it. The referee forced Sergey to continue the fight after a few dirty punches," said Kovalev's promoter Katie Duva.

The future of Kovalev is now in question. The promoter promises that he will hold the next fight in the fall, but his opponent will clearly not be Andre Ward. After the second defeat in a row, there is practically no chance of this. By the way, and from a commercial point of view, the second fight is unlikely to be much more successful than the first. Ward earned $6.5 million, Kovalev even less. His fee depends on the sale of rights to view the battle on the Internet (PPV). Ridiculous sums against the background of the upcoming fight between McGregor and Mayweather.

Let's hope that in spite of everything, the Russian athlete will draw the right conclusions from the defeat and return to the world boxing Olympus in the very near future.