Sergey Kovalev in easy fight against Agnew on March 29th

By Boxing News - 02/11/2014 - Comments

agnew565(Photo credit: Main Events) By Dan Ambrose: WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (23-0-1, 21 KO’s) will be defending his title in what amounts to be a stay busy fight for him next month on March 29th against little known fringe contender Cedric Agnew (26-0, 13 KO’s) at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA. Agnew, #15 WBO, doesn’t have much power and he’s got slow hands, and he’s faced pretty much weak opposition his entire 7-year pro career.

In his last fight, Agnew had to struggle hard to defeat Yusaf Mack by a 12 round decision. One judge had it 115-113 in favor or Agnew, and that showed how tough of a fight it was for him. Agnew didn’t have the power to take Mack out, so he was forced to trade shots with him for 12 rounds, and he took a lot of hard shots from the bigger punching Mack.

Besides his win over Mack, Agnew also has victories over Otis Griffin, Daniel Judah and Zack Page, but no one that you could call a good opponent.

Kovalev is taking it easy in this fight after having destroyed WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly in 4 rounds last year in August to capture his WBO title. Kovalev put Cleverly on the canvas twice in the fight, and it should have been stopped at the end of the 3rd round after Kovalev knocked Cleverly to the canvas. The referee Terry O’Connor had to half-carry Cleverly back to his corner. In hindsight, O’Connor should have halted the fight when it was apparent that Cleverly was too hurt to properly walk back to his corner, but he let the fight continue for another round and did Cleverly no favors with that move. In Kovalev’s last fight, he destroyed Ismayl Sillah in two rounds last November. Kovalev was just way too strong for Sillakh, and it was over as soon as he caught up with him in the 2nd round to lay him out.

Kovalev doesn’t want to waste time fighting guys like Agnew. He’s rather get in the ring with IBF light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins or WBC champion Adonis Stevenson, but getting those two to agree to face him hasn’t been an easy task. Hopkins talks about wanting to fight him and Stevenson, but it’s not likely to happen.



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