By Liam Lawer: Hungarian boxing has a reputation bordering on the comedic in the United Kingdom. Long ago are the days of 3-time gold-medallist and European superstar, Lazlo Papp. Even the exploits of the talented World Title holder, Zsolt Erdei, are fast being forgotten. Replacing these men are the raft of inferior journeymen which frequent the British ring, men expected to fall down like an old tree in a storm, even if the prospect they are being fed to is not particularly adept. These journeymen, it is said, play a vital part in our sport, saving shows when stepping in at the last minute. Some are, alarmingly, the scheduled opponent from the beginning, allowing a fighter to build confidence by knocking over an adversary offering little resistance.
Virtually every show in the United Kingdom features an Eastern European journeyman, and many of them are Hungarian. Despite the requisite respect they earn from entering the ring in the first place, and the respect from the establishment for their ability to be relied upon, they are derided by boxing fans for their ineptitude and, admittedly, occasional lack of effort. Every now and then however, Hungary produces a fighter with a bit more substance, and one of them is fighting on Saturday night.
Zoltan ‘Caramel’ Kovacs initially appeared to be another of these unfortunate fighters. In his first 7 fights, he went 3-4-0, including a stoppage loss in the opening round to the highly-touted Philip Sutcliffe Jnr, who was making his professional debut. His next 8 fights were all victories, and included winning and defending the Hungarian Super-featherweight title. None of these were notable in the grand scheme of things, but his record was a little prettier when he came to British shores to take on the hot-prospect Mitchell Smith in November, 2014. In this fight, Kovacs performed surprisingly well, lasting the distance and winning a couple of rounds on the way. Perhaps it is no surprise that in the 2 and a half years since, he has not returned to the UK to fight. Compounding his dangerous reputation to wet-behind-the-ears British boxers, is his first round blowout of the decent Marco McCullough, who very recently gave Ryan Walsh all he could handle for 11 rounds of their British title fight. Kovacs has remained undefeated since his loss to Smith, adding to his victory over McCullough, wins against the reasonable African, Cosmas Cheka, and Italian Featherweight Champion, Nicola Cipoletta. While he has not set the world alight, Kovacs, at just 24, and now with a 19(6)-5(1)-1 record, is potentially Hungary’s greatest hope for the near future.
He fights an 8(3)-0-0 Georgian, Dato Nanava on Saturday, defending his WBO European Super-featherweight Championship, on home soil. Ranked No. 8 by the WBO in this division, and 40th on Boxrec.com, he is certainly worth keeping an eye on in the interest of restoring Hungary’s reputation on a higher stage.