By Ogi Georgiev
3-time light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev, who returns against Tervel Pulev on May 14 Los Angeles, gives his version of the events around his fight with Canelo Alvarez.
“The fight against Canelo, I wasn’t like myself,” said Kovalev. “I was empty of energy because all of 2018 for me was a very intensive year.
“I got the title back from Eleider Alvarez in February 2018, and then the WBO ordered a mandatory defense against Anthony Yarde. This fight was scheduled on June 27 in Russia. I arrived in Russia one month before the fight and then the fight was rescheduled for August 24. This was like a really big kick. I was surprised because I had just three Kilos left [to lose], like around seven pounds, so the fight was rescheduled for August.
“I stayed home. I visited my family and friends and got my weight back to 200 pounds. That’s like my regular weight, like 203. Then I went back to the United States and celebrated my wife’s birthday before I went back to training camp. It was like June 20.
“Then a month before the fight I went back to Russia and continued my training camp in Russia again. I fought with Anthony Yarde and the fight was very hard because I was already drained of my energy. I was flying back and forth and going up and down in weight.
“Then I got the offer the next day after my victory over Anthony Yarde to fight Canelo. I said ‘yes, I’m ready, but let me rest just two, three weeks.’ They said ‘No. November 2 or no fight. We’ll go with somebody else.’
“You know, I’m a fighter. And I’m never like ‘I want to fight this guy’ or ‘I don’t want to fight this guy.’ So I told myself if they won’t give me a rest, God was like testing me again…giving me a test and find out who is who. I never canceled any fights or an offer of any fights because I’m not boxing for a legacy like Canelo or Mayweather or some boxers who build legacies.
“I’m fighting who wants it and who will make an offer. And the fight happened like it happened. For me, it was very tough to make weight again. We got to the end of the week and someone came to the dressing and said they were running behind and we had to wait.
“We sat down in the dressing room for one hour, ONE HOUR, and I lost my energy because when you’re thinking about the fight, you know. When I came inside the ring, I couldn’t punch. I was empty of energy. And after round seven, when I sat down in the corner, I said to Buddy (McGirt), ‘I’m done, totally.’ What happened, happened, everybody saw.
“You can imagine what would have happened if I was full of energy. It would be a different fight and more interesting for the boxing fans because I could have done more. More aggressive, more active. But I didn’t do anything in the fight. Just jab, jab, and then you already know the result.
“But, everything happens for a reason. Now I’m very rested and really fresh. I decided to move up because making 175 was killing me, you know? It would break my health. I either had to move up or boxing stops. I decided to move up and finish my boxing career with a title.”
That’s why Canelo forced the fight because Canelo would never fight 6 weeks later after a fight.
How did Canelo force him to fight, there was no gun at his head, he could have easily said “NO”
Because if he didn’t accept the fight on that date he said Kovalev would never see a big payday. #cobardecanelo
oh, so you are saying he practically knew he was going to lose yet because of GREED he took the fight? GOT IT!
#kovalevdeservedlosing #kovalevgreedy, #kovalevcrying.
Not true, he gets paid to box. No boxer turns down money. Unfortunately for this dude, he wasn’t ready and Canela’s team knew it.
No it’s a huge payday. There prize fighters. I will fight anyone anytime for $500,000,000 mil. Wake up and cash my check.
Canelo did do that once. He fought mid December I think and then beginning of February. I just think it’s weird that every time kovalev loses he has a laundry list of excuses like he did with Ward.
It seems that a lots of people don’t get it about boxing.. Arturo is right if Kovalev would’ve refused you would’ve said he’s an idiot !
Don’t dream a lots of matchups in boxing aren’t fair, and in the Canelo case they’re often unfair…
I’m surprised Kovalev remembers anything that happened that night…
I rarely bet but I had my buddy who went to Vegas for this fight place a bet on Kovalev for me. Actually we split the bet. I think we put down $200(100 each). I think Kovalev was a 6 to 1 under dog and while I thought politics would find a way for Canelo to win I thought at 6 to 1 why not? I may have been biased due to my bet but like a lot of people on here I had Kovalev winning. That said…neither guy seemed to be doing much. Kovalev I thought was doing more with a pawing jab. The ending was very sudden. I heard a high rated light heavy weight contender thought it was fixed as did my friend. I do not know and cannot speculate as I have no evidence. It was just a strange fight coming from two guys who both tend to be more aggressive. One guy is the biggest star in the sport and the other is the Krusher and we get 10 rounds of soft jabs with very few hard exchanges followed by a sudden brutal ending. Canelo has accomplished many great things but this victory did not sit well with me. Maybe it is because I lost money …lol but knowing that Kovalev was having legal issues and was being sued…raises an eye brow at least.
I agree, something was weird about that fight. Kov fought like his daughter was tied up in a dirty basement. Even the KO punch it seemed like Kov exaggerated the effects and did some crazy woozy walk for Canelo to nail him clean.
Likely Daniel Kinahan got to Kov or he bet against himself.
Yes…it felt like Kov may have let Canelo hit him to make it real. Again I do not know and have no proof….but the fight seemed suspiciously weird.
I agree, when I watched this fight, Kovalev seemed to be just going through the motions as if his heart was not really into it, I even suspected that Kovalev took a dive just for the PPV money that he received for fighting Canelo. He looked nothing like the Kovalev that completely out classed Hopkins a few years before.
Pete I’ve been watching fights since 1980 and I also thought that fight was fixed. Kovalev never threw a right with any power nor any uppercuts on a shorter fighter moving in. It was like he couldn’t take the risk of doing any damage lest he ruin the script. The fact that as a champ he accepted coming into the ring first also shows he was happy just to part of the Canelo. Immediately after the fight a friend rang me and also said it was fixed and neither of us has said that about any other fight.
I would love to know what would have happened if he was in the proper shape and more rested and prepared….he was doing well until his tank ran out…..he probably would have continued to dominate….would have liked to see that….maybe KO Canelo.
maybe Canelo may have real issues with Bivol because Kovalev was indeed a very good fighter
so its a good comparison a depleted Kovalev that dominated until he ran out of puff versus a fresh big fighter in Bivol should be very interesting and maybe Canelo has bitten off more than he can chew
Absolutely correct. Not even the banned substances that everyone knows Canelo is taking in preparation for Bivol can help him. He will need help from the judges and possibly even Dimitry himself. I have said this before and I will say it again. Without a script Canelo cannot win this upcoming fight. Bivol may even knock him out.
no PED, no energy
Part of that could be true, but he does not
add that needs the money for his type of life very far away of an elite fighter who take care of him.
Always an excuse, you took the fight and the money, now shut up.
He’s not making an excuse. He’s simply telling his side of the story and all the dirty games people llle Canelo and Mayweather like to play while they claim they are the best boxers in history. I lost respect for Canelo years ago. Casual fans think he’s so great when I’m reality he’s just Floyd 2.0. Handpicking opponents, weight draining opponents, making opponents come up in weight, making guys wait in the dressing room until they cool down, caught using PED’s….. twice, stipulations and rules for their own fights as if they are above the sport, and the list goes on.
How many times were you the light-heavyweight champion of the world?
Always full of excuses. He’s not half the fighter I thought he was
I love it when boxers come up with all kinds of excuses when they lose a high profile fight to a high profile fighter. Nobody forced you to take the fight, you are an adult and understood what consequences could’ve happened when not prepared properly, especially since you were ko’d. Those that believe in the excuses are imbeciles by stating, oh what would’ve happened if he was a 100%, quit deluding yourselves! He got ko’d, end of story, would’ve, should’ve, and could’ve…..doesn’t change shit!
Funny but I thought Kovalev was slightly ahead in the fight. AS USUAL judges gave all close rounds to Alvarez so KO was just icing on the cake
I and him ahead too, as well as all 5 friends who watched the fight.
That’s why your not a judge
He must have gotten a nice check to take a dive and hand out his belt! The whole fight was a light sparring match, kavalev was clearly throwing punches with no pop in them as if he was carefull not to hurt canelo till the staged k.o. came and booom shackalaka….and, the new light heavyweight champ of the world! Save the false explanations kavalev, it was staged!
I have seen Kovalev fight quite a bit over the years. A prime Kovalev KOs Canelo. No doubt. A weight drained, tired Kovalev cannot neat Canelo. I give him the benefit of the doubt because I know what he can do. Canelo set this fight up to make it work for their advantage. At the time of his fight with Canelo, Kovalev was a champion. He had some power to tell Canelo’s team to give him enough time to rest and prepare properly.
Kovalev never thru the right hand
Crazy, made no sense
“Then I got the offer the next day after my victory over Anthony Yarde” This is a totally BS, because the fight against Canelo was almost a done deal before the Yarde fight, just Kovalev and his team thought it was going to be an easy fight. Here you have a little part of what Kovalev said in a CBS interview
“During a pre-fight press conference on Wednesday for the upcoming defense against Yarde, Kovalev (33-3-1, 38 KOs) said he had an eight-figure deal to fight Canelo Alvarez in place for Oct. 26…….
WHEREVER THE EXCUSE WAS IT IS WHAT IT IS… NO MATTER HOW YA CUT IT HE DID IT FOR THE MONEY… SO NO EXCUSES… YOU WANT TO MAKE EXCUSES THEN GIVE BACK THE MONEY OR SHUT UP!!!! PEOPLE ALWAYS HAVE A REASON TALKING ABOUT I HAVE NO EXCUSES THEN GO ON TO TELL THEM… IT’S ALL BULLSHIT!!!!
He took the fight for one reason and one reason only; PAYDAY!! It was the absolute highest payday of his career where he made somewhere in the neighborhood of $12-15 million dollars! So it’s very tough for me to feel any sympathy for the man! And guess what? Most people on this planet (99.9%) would take the fight/payday as well. So stop whining Kovalev!!
Stop whining and complaining you got your ass kicked period. if what you say its true, you as a mature fighter should have known better and not taken the fight PERIOD. stop with the excuses.
I remember when Kovalev hit Canelo with a decent punch and apologized for it. Bivol and Beterbiev are the fighters to finish off what Kovalev couldn’t
I’ll be honest, a younger more hungry version of Kovalev would have knocked canelo out. His jab and straight right would have finished it or opened up cuts for tko. But everyone knew kov want the same fighter at that point. Even with that said, i like many others could not believe that he didn’t throw that big straight right hand. He could have been weary of canelo’s left hook coming back but if Kov was still prime that straight right would land way before canelo could close the distance to land the hook. Even so, look up pictures of canelo’s face after that fight. Kovs jab was destroying his face. So i think it makes sense that weight drained Kov caved into the pressure that canelo was applying. Btw, i picked canelo to scrape out a decision because kov had issues previous to that fight.
– I always liked Kovalev.
– Reminds me of Chuck Lidell from MMA for some reason……
I believe Kovalev is a shot fighter with little or no punch resistance.
Time to retire.
Kovalev has excuse after excuse. First he was “empty” against Ward, then after getting ktfo he blamed it on low blows and now after getting ktfo AGAIN he’s saying he’s “empty”.
Just. Go. Away.
I was speaking with a buddy of mine who was going to bet on Kovalev, but I told him to hold on because there was a chance because there was a chance that Kovalev could throw the fight. Based on his performance and his financial issues, I do not doubt it one bit. Then again, that’s just my opinion.
Kovalev. Mr. Cigarettes. Kov, you got KTFO by a Super Welterweight, and punched like a strawweight, because you had too many cigarettes.
You are a FUCKING disgrace.
That explains why he folded so easily. All this time I thought he took a dive for a few extra $100,000 dls.
People keep saying Kovalev got “KTFO”
I don’t think it means what they think it means.
I seem to remember Kovalev getting gassed. Taking an accumulation of punches then buckling on the ropes to both ward and canelo. Thats not exactly “ktfo”
And ref stopping the fight without a count…
But…Kovalev lost those fights because he likes to drink and party more than he likes to train.
I don’t think theres a whole lot of fixing major fights these days. I mean how much are you gonna have to pay a champ to take a dive? A guy like Kovalev was an A side fighter. He’d make more money by keeping the title. He make 10x more money by beating those guys.
There’s stacking fights though. Waiting for guys to age, giving incentives for glove size, catch weights, weigh ins, hand picking judges etc…
Boxing is a love / hate game. For every Hagler /Hearns…you get three Whitaker /Chavez..Whitaker / DeLa Weenie etc…I still am here every day and just paid 75 bucks to watch Josisito Lopez and a 40 year old Cuban who has been knocked out by every A fighter he has faced , and will be by Cruz saturday. Spence should win but probably will be fighting his B game protecting his eye and the money fight in Crawford. Four decent fights by guys who are at least honest fighters in that they try. Arg!
shit wrong article..hehe nevermind
canelo vs triple g is still the fight most of canelos opponents were smaller than him canelo to me was always a light heavy he probably could spar with small heavyweights