Isaac “Golden Boy” Chilemba

By Jim Dower: IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-0-1, 26 KOs) got the victory last Monday night over his opponent Isaac Chilemba (24-4-2, 10 KOs) in beating him by a 12 round unanimous decision. However, it wasn’t as convincing as many boxing fans had hoped it to be.

This was supposed to have been a tune-up fight to get Kovalev ready for a much more difficult task of facing unbeaten Andre Ward on November 19. Perhaps one reason why Kovalev wasn’t as effective as many had hoped him to be was because he was ill during training camp for the Chilemba fight. Kovalev said he had a cold. Just how much this could have affected him for the fight against Chilemba last night is unknown.

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By Patrick McHugh: IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (29-0-1, 26 KOs) is a big favorite to defeat challenger Isaac Chilemba (24-3-2, 10 KOs) in their fight tonight at the DIVS Ekaterinburg, Russia. Bovada has Kovalev at -10000, and Chilemba at +1600.

It’s going to take a miracle effort by Chilemba for him to pull off the upset against the bigger punching Kovalev. There’s a lot at stake for this fight tonight for both guys, especially Kovalev He’s got a fight scheduled against unbeaten Andre Ward on November 19 on HBO pay-per-view.

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By Allan Fox: Main Events needs to start finding some opposition for their fighter IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (29-0-1, 26 KOs), who will be fighting this Monday on July 11 against Isaac Chilemba (24-3-2, 10 KOs) at the DIVS in Ekaterinburg, Russia. It’s hard to see this fight as anything other than a mismatch for Kovalev.

This is Kovalev’s last fight before he defends his titles against former 168lb champion Andre Ward on November 19. That match will at least give Kovalev a good opponent for a change, but we’re still only talking about one fight. It’s not as if Kovalev will go from fighting Ward to facing Artur Beterbiev, Eleider Alvarez, Adonis Stevenson, Juergen Braehmer, Joseph Smith Jr., Oleksandr Gvozyk and Vyachaslav Shabranskyy.

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By Allan Fox: #11 WBO, #12 WBA contender Isaac Chilemba (24-3-2, 10 KOs) isn’t too pleased with him being overlooked and seen as the sacrificial lamb to be beaten by IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (29-0-1, 26 KOs) in their fight next Monday on July 11 at the DIVS in Ekaterinburg, Russia.

Kovalev, 33, is using Chilemba as a tune-up opponent only in order to get ready for his fight against unbeaten former super middleweight champion Andre Ward on November 19. Chilemba isn’t accustomed to being over-looked in his fights, and that’s why it doesn’t sit right with him that he’s already being counted out by many boxing fans as another knockout victim for Kovalev.

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