Kovalev to Defend Title on August 2

Sergey Kovalev will return to the ring for the second time this year to defend his WBO Light Heavyweight titles against unbeaten Blake Caparello on August 2nd at the Revel Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Kovalev said that he was “happy to be back in the ring” and that he is looking forward to facing an unbeaten opponent in Caparello.  Although Caparello is an unknown in the international boxing scene, Kovalev said that Caparello “will be in the fight looking to take his title away.” But he added that he has already started preparing for the bout that he will be “ready (and) in good condition” come fight night.

Kovalev is coming off a 7^th round knockout of American Cedric Agnew last March 29 in his second title defense. He was slated to face WBC and Ring Light Heavyweight title holder Adonis “Superman” Stevenson for a unification match, but the bout did not push through even though both camps had agreed on a “deal to fight under HBO in the fall”. Instead, the Stevenson camp took their act to Showtime and he ended up fighting Polish Andzej Fonfara last month in Canada.

Kovalev’s promoter, Main Events, has already sued Stevenson, Canadian promoter Yvon Michel, boxing power broker Al Haymon among others for the supposed breach in their agreement.

Knockout Artist

Kovalev is one of the sport’s rising stars and most prolific punchers. He has a record of 24-0-1 and 22 KO’s. Kovalev has knocked out his last eight opponents and none of those bouts lasted for more than seven rounds.

He won the WBO title by challenging Nathan Cleverly in his hometown of Wales last August and demolished him in four one-sided rounds. He returned three months later to defend the title against Ukrainian Ismael SIllakh in Canada. He made quick work of SIllakh and put him away in two rounds.

Before winning the WBO crown, the Russian born Kovalev held the NABA USA Light Heavyweight title and the WBC Asian Boxing Council Light Heavyweight title. His most notable victories were against Cleverly and Gabriel Campillo.

One of Kovalev’s bouts ended in tragedy when his opponent Roman SImakov died three days after lapsing into a coma. Simakov was knocked out by Kovalev in the 7^th round of their bout in 2011. Although it was not his fault, Kovalev apologized to Simakov’s parents and gave them his prize money for his next bout.

Feared Opponent

Kathy Duva, the CEO of Main Events said that they would have preferred Kovalev to be fighting marquee names like Stevenson. But she said that it was “obvious” that these guys were “avoiding” Kovalev because they are “afraid” of facing the heavy hitting Kovalev.  Kovalev’s trainer John David Jackson agreed and said that it is “difficult to find an opponent who wants to step in the ring with Sergey.” He is hoping that Caparella will “step up to the plate” against Kovalev.

But Lou DiBella is confident about his fighter Caparella. He claims that Caparella is one of the best pure boxers in the division and that his guy has the skills to “give Kovalev fits.” He added that this bout will be the classic match-up between slugger and boxer.

Caparella said that he’s “ready for the fight” and that “he won’t disappoint”. He will be the third unbeaten fighter in Kovalev’s last four bouts. But Kovalev has knocked out all previous three spotless opponents.