Sergey Kovalev vs. Blake Caparello on 8/2 on HBO from Atlantic City, NJ

By Boxing News - 06/14/2014 - Comments

caparello8888(Photo Courtesy of DiBella Entertainment) By Dan Ambrose: WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (24-0-1, 22 KO’s) will be defending his title on August 2nd against little known prospect Blake Caparello (19-0-1, 6 KO’s) in a fight that will televised on HBO Boxing After Dark at the Revel Resort, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA.

The 27-year-old has wins over Elvir Muriqi, Allan Green, Daniel MacKinnon and Aaron Pryor Jr, but no one that you can call a good fighter. Caparello doesn’t have much in the way if power, and that’s going to be a big problem for him against Kovalev on August 2nd, because it means that Caparello will need to be able to take Kovalev’s big power shots for 12 full rounds in order to try and beat him by a decision. It’s not a healthy thing for someone to get hit by Kovalev for 12 rounds, and it’s impossible to see Caparello lasting more than 2-6 rounds in this fight.

“I am happy to be back in the ring on August 2nd and thanks to HBO for offering us the date. Looking forward to face an unbeaten fighter, I know he will be coming to fight and to take my title away, but it belongs to me and I won’t let that happen,” said Kovalev. “I already started my preparation for this bout and will be ready in good condition when time comes to step into ring.”

This is not a great fight, to say the least. For boxing fans hoping to see Kovalev fight Adonis Stevenson, it’s got to be seen as a huge disappointment for Kovalev to be facing an non top 15 ranked Caparello instead of someone that could make it more interesting like Jean Pascal or Lucian Bute, it not Stevenson or Bernard Hopkins. Stevenson signed with adviser Al Haymon recently and moved over to Showtime, so it’s unlikely that Showtime will ever have to fight Kovalev in the future. It’s a good move for Stevenson, because it could prolong his time as a champion a lot longer, but it’s a bad one for fans because most of Stevenson’s fights are mismatches.

With the light heavyweight division having very few high quality fighters in this weight class, we can expect more and more one-sided fights for Kovalev in the future. This fight will likely be a poor mismatch with Kovalev turning Caparello into a punching bag.



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