By Jeff Aronow: Sergey Kovalev is headlining against Tervel Pulev on May 14th in a 10 round bout at cruiserweight on Triller PPV at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
It’s a questionable move on the part of Triller Fight Club to place Kovalev-Pulev on pay-per-view because these are two old guys, neither of which is relevant, and it’s not a match-up that boxing fans have been demanding.
Trying to sell any of Kovalev’s fights on PPV at this point in his career seems like a poorly thought-out idea.
To be sure, Kovalev was a popular fighter during the prime of his career from 2013 to 2017, but his defeats at the hands of Andre Ward x 2, Eleider Alvarez, and Canelo Alvarez eroded the popularity that he once had.
You can argue the straw that broke the camel’s back in terms of Kovalev’s popularity was his decision to stay inactive after losing to Canelo rather than returning to the ring and trying to come back from that crushing defeat.
Kovalev didn’t perform that badly against Canelo, and he could have easily have come back from that defeat if he’s returned to the ring in 2020.
It’s probably not the brightest idea Kovalev could have in moving up to cruiserweight at this late stage of his stalled-out career.
The ‘Krusher’ Kovalev (34-4-1, 29 KOs). has shown punch resistance problems in his knockout losses to Andre Ward, Canelo Alvarez, and Eleider Alvarez.
Moving up to cruiserweight probably won’t help Kovalev take shots any better unless the reason for his inability to handle hard shots was due to him being drained in making the 175-lb division.
The 2012 Olympic silver medalist Pulev (16-0, 12 KOs) is the younger brother of heavyweight contender Kubrat Pulev.
Unfortunately, Tervel, 38, hasn’t enjoyed the same kind of success in the professional ranks as his famous brother Kubrat. A big reason for that is the glacially slow progress Tervel has made during his six-year professional career.
Former IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Kovalev (34-4-1, 29 KOs) hasn’t fought since losing his WBO 175-lb title against Canelo Alvarez by an eleventh round knockout in November 2019. Kovalev made a lot of money for the Canelo.
The magic question is did Kovalev spend it all? According to Celebrity Net Worth, Kovalev’s net worth is estimated at $4 million, which is good money and should last a lifetime if he’s careful.
That’s 2 1/2 years ago, and it’s unclear why Kovalev is coming back now. Although Kovalev asked for a rematch with Canelo, he’s been ignored, which makes sense. Canelo doesn’t generally give rematches unless his opponent is named Gennady Golovkin.
In the co-feature bout, former two-time heavyweight world title challenger Kubrat Pulev will be facing Andrey Fedosov Jr. in a 10 round fight.
Pulev (28-2, 14 KOs) last fought in December 2020, losing to former IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua by a ninth round knockout.
“Official: May 14 Triller PPV at The Forum in SoCal: cruiserweight Sergey Kovalev-Tervel Pulev, heavyweight Kubrat Pulev-Andrey Fedosov, jr. middleweight Evan Holyfield-TBA, three sons of Fernando Vargas: Fernando Vargas Jr., Amado Vargas and the pro debut of Emiliano Vargas. #boxing,” said Dan Rafael.
