By Matt Lieberman: Sergey Kovalev must look good in his next fight against challenger Anthony Yarde on August 31 to increase his chances for a big match with Saul Canelo Alvarez, says the WBO light heavyweight champion’s promoter Kathy Duva. Kovalev (33-3-1, 28 KOs) cannot afford any slip ups against the unbeaten Yarde (18-0, 17 KOs) this month.
Kovalev, 36, defends against Yarde at the end of the month at the Traktor Sport Palace, in Chelyabinsk, Russia. Sergey is the favorite to win, but you can’t count out the 27-year-old Yarde. He has youth on his side, and he’s hungry.
Kovalev’s promoter worried he may take needless risks against Yarde
“He will be at home in front of his own fans for the very first time in his professional career, [and] I fear that Sergey may be determined to put on a show,” said Duva to skysports.com. “Yarde is a dangerous puncher. I hope that Sergey boxes and frustrates his relatively inexperienced opponent. Yes, definitely,” said Duva when asked if an impressive win for Kovalev will increase his chances of getting Canelo fight.
Kovalev is in a tough position right now with his decision to fight Yarde in Russia, because the crowd is going to be motivating him to slug. In Kovalev’s losses to Andre Ward and Eleider Alvarez, he took needless risks, and wound up losing to both fighters. Kovalev lacks the gas tank and the chin to slug like he used to. The best thing for Kovalev to do is to fight in a conservative manner like he did in his rematch with Eleider.
Canelo has several options for next fight
“There’s a lot of misinformation,” said Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez about the rumors of Caenlo Alvarez being unhappy with Golden Boy after being stripped of his IBF title. “The important thing is Canelo wants to fight at the end of the year. We’re working on that right now. We’ll be making some sort of announcement soon. There are a lot of rumors out there, and that’s just what they are, rumors. Canelo has fought anybody and everybody. So we’re looking at multiple guys,” said Gomez about Canelo’s next fight.
Gomez isn’t saying who the three options are for Canelo Alvarez’s next fight, but it’s believed that it’s these three:
- Sergey Kovalev
- Demetrius Andrade
- Jaime Munguia
Andrade is the least likely fighter of that bunch to get the Canelo fight, because his fighting style is too slick and defensive. Canelo has had problems in the past against slick fighters in his bouts with Floyd Mayweather Jr., Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara. The Mexican star Alvarez won’t want to chase Andrade around the ring. Andrade’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing is hoping that Canelo will fight him next, but there’s no indication that he’ll do that. Munguia is will be fighting Patrick Allotey next, and that takes him out of the equation. Former IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux is rumored to be a potential option for Canelo’s next fight.