Kovalev looking to score a knockout against Agnew tonight

By Boxing News - 03/29/2014 - Comments

kovalev45By Allan Fox: WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (23-0-1, 21 KO’s) will be looking to knockout his opponent Cedric Agnew (26-0, 13 KO’s) in their fight on HBO at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT from the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Agnew, 27, has a better record than Kovalev, but he’s earned his wins over much lesser opposition for the most part. Agnew does have impressive wins over Daniel Judah, Yusaf Mack and Otis Griffin.

The main difference between Agnew’s wins and the way that Kovalev has been winning is the end results. While Agnew has had to pound out hard-earned decisions during his career in half of his fights, Kovalev has been knocking out almost every opponent he’s faced.

“I don’t make any predictions for this fight,” the modest Kovalev said. “He is an undefeated guy and so am I. Short fights are the result of my job and my work in the gym. I am only boxing. I go into the ring to show good boxing. I want to show the people what they want to see in the ring from me.”

Fans want to see Kovalev knock Agnew out quickly and show the kind of power that he’s displayed in recent wins over Ismayl Sillah. Nathan Cleverly, Cornelius White, Gabriel Campillo, Lionell Thompson and Darnell Boone.

Kovalev may hit a roadblock after this fight in terms of appealing opposition. The fight that he and his promoters at Main Events wanted against WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson is no longer there for him now that Stevenson has moved over to HBO. Stevenson’s new manager Al Haymon made the move to Showtime this week after getting a better deal for Stevenson with that network. The move will lead to an eventual fight against 49-year-old Bernard Hopkins or Beibut Shumenov for Stevenson.

It’s the safer way to go for Stevenson and Haymon, because a fight against Kovalev would have had a high chance that Stevenson would have been knocked out. Both fighters recently fought Darnelle Boone with Stevenson halting him in the 6th round, while Kovalev blasted him out in just 2. Stevenson is more of a speed puncher rather than power puncher like Kovalev.

Agnew has good skills, and a nice jab. He’s said that he wants to box Kovalev to get him into the deeper rounds of the fight before he makes his move. We’ll see tonight if Agnew can take him that far or not.



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