Kathy Duva, CEO of Main Events – “Oh, if these walls could talk! There are so many stories. If I got started, we’d never hear from anyone today. Main Events could not be happier to be bringing world championship boxing back to Atlantic City. We hope it’s a long, enjoyable stay.
Just four years after making his professional debut,WBA Light Heavyweight World Champion Dmitry Bivol (13-0, 11 KOs) of Russia finds himself with a problem unique to formidable champions: finding worthy opponents willing to go up against him.
By Jeff Aranow: Matchroom Boxing USA promoter Eddie Hearn has reportedly signed WBA World lightweight champion Dmitry Bivol (13-0, 11 KOs) to his stable, presumably to help increase subscriptions for his DAZN streaming service. Boxingtalk.com is reporting the news of the 27-year-old Bivol signing with Hearn.
By Allan Fox: WBA World light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol (13-0, 11 KOs) could be making his next defense against the struggling 31-year-old former world title challenger Isaac Chilemba (25-5-2, 10 KOs) on August 4 on HBO, according to Dan Rafael.
By Dan Ambrose: NABF light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk (12-0, 10 KOs) defeated former light heavyweight world title challenger Isaac Chilemba (24-5-2, 10 KOs) in an 8th round injury stoppage on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight was halted by Chilemba’s corner after the 8th round had ended due to a right arm injury from the 29-year-old fighter.
By Eric Baldwin: Light heavyweight contenders Isaac Chilemba (24-4-2, 10 KOs) and the unbeaten NABF 175lb champion Oleksandr “The Nail” Gvozdyk (11-0, 9 KOs) will be facing each other tonight in a 10 round scheduled fight on HBO pay-per-view at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Gvozdyk is a slight favorite to win the fight.
Bovada has the 29-year-old Gvozdyk as the favorite by the line -260 to +200 for Chilemba. They obviously feel that Gvozdyk’s punching power advantage will be the deciding factor in the fight. However, given that the odds are so close suggests that Gvozdyk is not a rock solid favorite to win the fight.
By Allan Fox: NABF light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk (11-0, 9 KOs) will be defending his title this Saturday night against the highly rated Isaac Chilemba (24-4-2, 10 KOs) on HBO pay-per-view at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight card begins on Saturday night at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.
We’ve heard a lot from Gvozdyk’s promoters at Top Rank about how he’s the future of the 175lb division. Now we’re going to find out if that is in fact true or not when the 29-year-old former 2012 Olympian gets inside the ring with his first live body in Chilemba.
By Allan Fox: This Saturday night light heavyweight contenders Oleksandr Gvozdyk (11-0, 9 KOs) and Isaac Chilemba (24-4-2, 10 KOs) do battle on the Sergey Kovalev vs. Andre Ward card at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The promoters for the 29-year-old Chilemba have been putting him through the gauntlet recently by matching him against Sergey Kovalev, Eleider Alvarez and Vasily Lepikhin in his last three fights.
By Eric Baldwin: #10 WBC light heavyweight contender Isaac Chilemba will be fighting unbeaten #4 WBC Oleksandr Gvozdyk (11-0, 9 KOs) on November 19 on the undercard of the Sergey Kovalev vs. Andre Ward fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight will be televised on HBO pay-per-view. Gvozdyk, 29, fought in the 2012 London Olympics, but was beaten by Kazakhstan’s Adilet Niyazimbetov.
The Top Rank promoted Gvozdyk was knocked down in the 1st round by Tommy Karpency in his last fight in July. Karpency struggled with the little bit of movement that Gvozdyk started using in the fight beginning in the 3rd, and the fight was the fight was eventually halted in the 6th. Gvozdyk’s stock kind of dropped from that fight.
Gvozdyk lacks hand speed, and it’s going to be next to impossible for him to beat WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson when he eventually gets his shot at the title. The only thing Gvozdyk has on his side is youth. When Stevenson eventually gets older, it’s possible that Gvozdyk may be able to move in and win the WBC title.
Right now, he’s going to have his hands full in dealing with the faster, more experienced 29-year-old Chilemba on November 19. Chilemba is a tough test for Gvozdyk, because he doesn’t have the experience at the pro level for this kind of opponent unless you want to call Karpency experience.
By Allan Fox: In a real surprise, unbeaten #1 IBF, #2 WBA, #2 WBO, #4 WBC Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) says he didn’t watch IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev’s fight last Monday night against Isaac Chilemba (24-4-2, 10 KOs) on HBO World Championship Boxing.
Ward says Kovalev isn’t his next opponent, but you would think that he would be at least curious about seeing the 33-year-old Russian fight because the two of them will be facing each other on November 19 on HBO pay-per-view. It’s always wise to scout out your opponent ahead of time to learn as much as you can about them.
Ward has a fight next month against 39-year-old Alexander Brand (25-1, 19 KOs) on August 6 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. While you can say that Chilemba had a very similar style to that of Ward, you cannot say the same thing about Brand. He’s nothing like Kovalev.