Eleider Alvarez vs. Sergey Kovalev II – weigh-in results

By Boxing News - 02/01/2019 - Comments

Image: Eleider Alvarez vs. Sergey Kovalev II - weigh-in results

By Allan Fox: Former IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey ‘Krusher’ Kovalev (32-3-1, 28 KOs) looked in great shape on Friday in weighing in at 174 pounds for his rematch against WBO 175 lb champion Eleider ‘Storm’ Alvarez (24-0, 12 KOs) on Saturday evening on ESPN+ at The Ford Center at The Star, in Frisco, Texas. Kovalev vs. Alvarez II will be televised on ESPN+ at 12:00 a.m. ET.

Alvarez, 34, weighed in at 174.8 lbs. During the face off, Alvarez gave Kovalev a mean looking stare, which is typical for what has been going on during their face offs during the build up to Saturday’s fight. Kovalev looked incredibly relaxed during the face off. He wasn’t agitated like he’d been for the first fight or for his two fights with Andre Ward. Kovalev looks like someone that was enjoying himself while standing next to Alvarez.

Kovalev smiled as Alvarez today, as if he doesn’t take the stare downs too seriously. It’s something that he and all fighters have to put up with, but it’s meaningless when you get to this level of boxing. Alvarez winning the stare down doesn’t mean he’s going to win or lose the fight. The winner will be decided inside the ring on Saturday, not on stage. Never the less, Kovalev looked in the best shape today that he had in years. Unlike in his past fights, he’s not weight drained looking, and he seems in great condition. Whether that means he won’t fade in the second half of the fight is unclear. Kovalev gassed out in the seventh round the lat time he fought Alvarez in their previous fight in August of last year, and he ended up getting knocked out after being dropped three times. Alvarez has the edge in this fight based on his past win over Kovalev, but we still could see a minor upset with ‘The Krusher’ scoring a stoppage if he doesn’t gas out.

Kovalev has an advantage of being viewed as the underdog in this fight. It’s rare in his career that he’s been the underdog. There’s less pressure obviously on Kovalev to perform, since so many boxing fans are predicting that he’s going to lose the fight. The element of surprise is gone for Alvarez. If he waits until halfway through the fight to go after Kovalev like he did last time, it’s likely that he’ll be ready for him this time.

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WBO featherweight champion Oscar Valdez (24-0, 19 KOs) weighed in at 125.8 lbs for his title defense against voluntary challenger Carmine Tommasone (19-0, 5 KOs). Valdez vs. Tommasone will be shown on ESPN/ESPN Deportes at 10:00 p.m. ET.

This will be the first fight for Valdez for almost a year since his victory over Scott Quigg last year on March 10 at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. Quigg suffered a broken jaw in victory in winning a 12 round unanimous decision. Valdez has needed all this time for him to recover from the broken jaw.

Valdez is supposed to have been working on his defense to keep from getting hit a lot. Valdez has always had excellent defensive skills, but he’s forgotten about them while attempting to knock everyone out. Valdez’s habit of going for knockouts has put him in position to get hit. That’s the reason why Valdez was hurt in his last three fights by Miguel Marriaga, Genesis Servania and Quigg. It might also be the major reason why Valdez is being matched against a weak puncher in Tommasone instead of an opponent with some pop in their punches like Jessie Magdaleno. If Valdez was facing Magdaleno on Saturday, he’d have to be prepared to keep from getting hit as much as possible. Magdaleno is a puncher, and he’d have a chance to score a knockout with Valdez having been hurt in his last three fights. For Top Rank’s sake, they’ve got to hope that Valdez doesn’t continue to get hurt in his fights because he’s not going to stay a champion for too much longer if he continues to be staggered and knocked down by his opponents or his jaw continues to be a problem for him.

Tommasone, 34, weighed in at 125.4 lbs. He’s a 2016 Olympian from Italy, although he turned pro in 2010. He’s been facing obscure opposition throughout his nine-year pro career until now. Tommasone is ranked #14 with the WBO. He’s not expected to be competitive with the much harder hitting Valdez. To have a chance to win on Saturday, Tommasone needs punching power, and he’s in short supply of that. Valdez is someone that you have to keep an eye on. He took so much punishment against Quigg that he might not be the same fighter. It doesn’t matter that Tommasone isn’t a huge puncher. Valdez is still vulnerable having taken the kind of punishment that he’s absorbed recently. Being out of the ring for almost a year might help Valdez recover from the pounding he’s taken in his last three fights, but there’s still cause for concern that he keeps getting hurt ever since his fight against the hard hitting Marriaga.

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Richard Commey (27-2, 24 KOs) weighed in at 134.3 lbs for his fight against Isa Chaniev (13-1, 6 KOs) for the vacant International Boxing Federation lightweight title. Chaniev, 26, weighed in at 134.6 lbs. The winner of the Commey vs. Chaniev fight will likely face WBA/WBO lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko (12-1, 9 KOs) in a unification fight. Commey was supposed to challenger Mikey Garcia for the IBF title, but he chose to vacate the title and move up to 147 to challenge IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. on March 16. It’s a good deal for Commey, 31, because he stands a much better chance of beating Chaniev than he would if he had to fight the big punching Mikey.

Unbeaten lightweight contender Teofimo Lopez (11-0, 9 KOs) weighed in at 134.8 lbs. for his 10 round fight against former lightweight world title challenger Diego Magdaleno (31-2, 13 KOs). The 32-year-old Magdaleno weighed in at 134.7 lbs.

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Other weigh-in results on Saturday’s card:

Enriko Gogokjia 142.5 vs. Vitor Freitas 141

Elvin Ayala 154 vs. Bakhram Murtazaliev 153.6

Pat Day 153.7 vs. Ismail Iliev 154

Jason Sanchez 125.4 vs. Daniel Olea 125.

Steven Martinez 160.4 vs. Janibek Alimkhanuly 162