By Dan Ambrose: Sergey ‘Krusher’ Kovalev’s promoter Kathy Duva states that he had a rematch clause in his contract for his fight last night against voluntary challenger Eleider Alvarez, who stopped him in the 7th round at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Duva says it’s too early to tell whether the 35-year-old Kovalev will choose to exercise his rematch clause for a second fight against the 34-year-old Alvarez. Kovalev’s trainer Abror Tursunpulatov reportedly would like to see him retire after this defeat to Alvarez, which was his third loss in his last five fights. Kovalev’s record since 2016 is a mediocre 2-3. His only two wins were against weak opposition in Igor Mikhalkin and Vyacheslav Shabranskyy.
While some boxing fans believe that Kovalev is old and shot at 35, it’s quite possible that he was never that good in the first place. During the best years of Kovalev’s career, he was beating older fighters like Jean Pascal and Bernard Hopkins. When Kovalev finally did step it up against Andre Ward, he lost twice. Ward and Eleider Alvarez likely would have beaten Kovalev even earlier in his career. We’ll never know for sure unfortunately. All we know is Kovalev has last each time he’s faced a good opponent in the last two years of his career, and things are looking bleak for the Russian fighter.
Kovalev was ahead on the scorecards going into round seven. Unfortunately for Kovalev, Alvarez caught him with a big shot that shook him to his boots, sending him down hard on the canvas. Two more knockdowns were quick to follow. The fight was then stopped by referee David Fields at 2:45 of round 7.
“This is boxing so anything can happen. I will not make hasty decisions, time will pass, and I’ll decide what to do next,’ Kovalev said via Fight News.
Given that Kovalev was ahead of Alvarez at the time of the stoppage last Saturday night, it’s quite possible that he’ll execute his rematch clause to get a second fight against him to try and avenge his loss. If Kovalev fights the perfect fight by staying on the outside, using his jab more and throwing single shots, he can possibly beat Alvarez. Kovalev was looking good last night when he was boxing smart and staying on the outside. Things fell apart for Kovalev in round seven when he got greedy in the 7th and tried to mix it up a little too much with Eleider. After Kovalev was knocked down for the first time, he lost his head in choosing to stand and trade with Alvarez. That was exactly the wrong thing for him to do in the circumstance. Fighters are taught to hold after they’re hurt. Kovalev didn’t do that. He chose to slug with Alvarez, and the results were utterly predictable.
Kovalev chose not to attend the post-fight press conference. Instead, he went to a nearby hospital to be examined.
“I am on my way to the hospital to check my head, check my body … I feel OK. Thank you everyone, thank you very much to all the fans around the world for your support. I love you, and I’m fine,” Kovalev said on his Instagram.