Egidijus Kavaliauskas vs. Mikael Zewski on September 12 on ESPN

By Boxing News - 08/05/2020 - Comments

By Sean Jones: Egidijus “Mean Machine” Kavaliauskas is fighting next month on September 12th against Mikaël Zewski on ESPN at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mike Coppinger is reporting the news of the fight.

Kavaliauskas will likely be the favorite against Zewski, but you never know with these two. They’re both sluggers that can bring it, and it should be an exciting fight.

In the chief support, the always exciting featherweight Miguel Marriaga (29-3, 25 KOs) is taking on Joet Gonzalez (23-1, 14 KOs).

Kavaliauskas coming off a loss to Crawford

There was recently talk of the former welterweight title challenger Kavaliauskas (21-1-1, 17 KOs) taking on Amir Imam, but those plans have changed. #7 WBO, #8 IBF Zewski (34-1, 23 KOs) is the opponent for ‘Mean Machine’ Kavaliauskas.

Last December, Kavaliauskas lost to WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford by a ninth-round at Madison Square Garden in New York. The two-time Olympian Kavaliauskas dropped Crawford in the fifth round by a hard shot, but referee Ricky Gonzalez blew the call and ruled it a slip.

In the seventh, Crawford came back strong to knock down the fading Kavaliauskas, and in the 9th, he dropped him two more times to get the knockout.  It turned out to be a much harder fight for the 32-year-old Crawford than many expected it to be going into it.

Although Crawford denied being knocked down, in slow motion, one could see him being stunned by a massive blow from Kavaliauskas that sent him down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPGcQbyuQeo&t=69s

It was interesting that Crawford wasn’t willing to admit afterward the boxing world had witnessed. Hopefully, this isn’t a sign of things to come from Crawford if he loses to someone.

Kavaliauskas was arguably beaten in his fight before challenging Crawford in a match against Ray Robinson in March of last year. The judges scored it a 10 round draw, but the boxing world saw it as a win for Robinson.

Egidijus struggles when put under pressure

Kavaliauskas has excellent power, but he mentally loses his composure when his opponents come straight at him with pressure. That’s what both Robinson and Crawford did to get the better of him.

“Egidijus “Mean Machine” Kavaliauskas will meet Mikaël Zewski in an ESPN platform headline bout Sept. 12 at the MGM bubble in Las Vegas, sources tell The Athletic. Miguel Marriaga vs. Joet Gonzalez in the co-main as
@pugboxing,” said @MikeCoppinger.

Image: Egidijus Kavaliauskas vs. Mikael Zewski on September 12 on ESPN

The Canadian Zewski, 31, has been a pro for ten years, and he’s brought along at glacial pace by Top Rank. When they stepped him up against Russian Konstantin Ponomarev five years ago, he lost a one-sided 10 round unanimous decision in 2015.

In a side note, Ponomarev, a fighter that some fans were high on a few years ago, has lost his last two fights against little known Sergey Vorobiev and Oleksandr Ivanov. It would appear that Ponomarev’s career is over. He hasn’t fought since his loss to Ivanov in February of 2019. What a shocker.

Andrew Cancio vs. Saul Rodriguez

Since losing to Ponomarev in 2015, Zewski has won his last eight fights against lesser opposition. The defeat to Ponomarev puts things in perspective in letting one know the type of talent that Zewski is as a pro.

In what could be another fight on the card, former WBA super featherweight champion Andrew’ El Chango’ Cancio (21-5-2, 16 KOs) is facing Saul Rodriguez (24-1-1, 18 KOs) in a 10 round fight at catchweight of 131 pounds.

Image: Egidijus Kavaliauskas vs. Mikael Zewski on September 12 on ESPN

Cancio, 31, lost his WBA 130-lb title to Rene Alvarez by a seventh-round stoppage last November. He was dealing with a bad cut from the third round that obscured his vision, making it tough to track the punches from the all-action Alvarado. By the seventh, the wound had worsened, and the referee halted the fight.