By Gav Duthie: Some weekends I wait in anticipation for the next big fight, scrolling the news for fights that took place between over the hill Mexicans, regional titles, small hall shows, and some weekends have too much action to watch all in one night. Last weekend was one of those. The UK had boxing shows on Sky and Channel 5 whilst later in the evening across the pond the Stats had shows on Showtime and HBO. All events were significant, even the undercards so rather than write about them individually we will look at 6 things that we learned from the boxing last Saturday.
Kovalev vs. Mikhalkin
Kovalev-Mikhalkin averaged 599,000 viewers on HBO
By Jim Dower: WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey ‘Krusher’ Kovalev (32-2-1, 28 KOs) brought in underwhelming ratings for his first title defense of his WBO belt against #5 WBO Igor Mikhalkin (21-2, 9 KOs) last Saturday night.
Sergey Kovalev vs. Igor Mikhalkin – Results
By Jim Dower: WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey ‘Krusher’ Kovalev (32-2-1, 28 KOs) did what many boxing fans expected him to in defeating voluntary challenger Igor Mikhalkin (21-2, 9 KOs) by a 7th round TKO on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York. Boxing News 24 had Kovalev by 5 of 6 rounds at the time of the stoppage in the 7th.
Kovalev vs. Mikhalkin & Bivol vs. Barrera – Official weights
By Jim Dower: Sergey Kovalev, Igor Mikhalkin, Dmitry Bivol and Sullivan Barrera all successfully made weight for their light heavyweight title fights this Saturday on March 3 on HBO Boxing at Madison Square Garden in New York. WBO 175 lb. champion ‘Krusher’ Kovalev (31-2-1, 27 KOs) weighed in at 174.6 pounds.
Bivol vs Barrera, Sergey Kovalev Live Stream – Weigh-In
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING spotlights the competitive light heavyweight division with two world title bouts when SERGEY KOVALEV VS. IGOR MIKHALKIN AND DMITRY BIVOL VS. SULLIVAN BARRERA is seen SATURDAY, MARCH 3 at 10:05 p.m. (ET/PT) from The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The HBO Sports team will call all the action, which will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.
Kovalev says about Mikhalkin: “We’ll beat each other very hard”
By Allan Fox: WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey ‘Krusher’ Kovalev (31-2-1, 27 KOs) and Igor Mikhalkin (21-1, 9 KOs) were friends many years ago when they were both amateur fighters in Russia. Kovalev, 34, says the two of them will beat each other this Saturday night and still be friends afterwards.
Kovalev not overlooking Mikhalkin
By Jim Dower: WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey ‘Krusher’ Kovalev (31-2-1, 27 KOs) says he’s not looking past his fight this Saturday night against Igor Mikhalkin (21-1, 9 KOs) at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Bakhram Murtazaliev vs. Kenneth McNeil this Saturday in New York
Before fans at the Theater at Madison Square Garden enjoy two light heavyweight championship bouts Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev and Igor Mikhalkin, and Dmitry Bivol vs. Sullivan Barrera” on Saturday, March 3, Main Events and Krusher Promotions presents the first title fight on the night’s undercard in the super welterweight division.
Vaughn Alexander fights this Sat. on Kovalev vs. Mikhalkin card
Fourteen years ago, in 2004, an 18-year-old rising star in boxing from St. Louis, Missouri got the thrill of his life, winning his fifth professional bout by unanimous decision at the Mecca of Boxing, Madison Square Garden. Vaughn “The Animal” Alexander (11-0, 8 KOs) was on his way to the top, and nothing would stop him.
Kovalev vs. Mikhalkin & Bivol vs. Barrera preview
By Allan Fox: Harold Lederman of HBO is excited about this Saturday’s doubleheader between WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey ‘Krusher’ Kovalev (31-2-1, 27 KOs) and Igor Mihalkin (21-1, 9 KOs) in the main event, and WBA World 175 lb. champion Dmitry Bivol (12-0, 10 KOs) and #1 WBA challenger Sullivan Barrera (21-1, 14 KOs) in the co-feature bout at Madison Square Garden in New York.