Science Class: Sergey Kovalev

By Jesse “New School” Wright

The politics of boxing are getting old. I’ve been at this less than a month and I’ve aged a few years just talking about it. I went from “New School” to “Old School” quicker than Deniro played Jake Lamotta in Raging Bull. So I decided to flip the script with the new weekly series “Science Class.” The sole focus of these articles is on the sweet in ring science. We will NOT discuss the politics, business or drama of boxing. If you want to know what new car Floyd Mayweather, JR. is driving or what asinine statement spilled out of Tyson Fury’s mouth, this will not be the place to find it. In the inaugural edition of “Science Class,” we take a look at a pretty darn good Light Heavyweight by the name of Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev, 28-0-1, 25 KO’s.

Kovalev’s reputation was built on his ability to not only knock opponents out, but to do it in a devastating fashion. For quite some time, it seemed that he was a puncher who got by on power alone. In his last seven fights however, there has been mounting evidence that Kovalev is actually a pretty well rounded boxer as well. The most obvious display of his boxing ability came against Bernard Hopkins. Granted Hopkins was almost 50 by that time, He still was an extremely well calculated, brilliant technician. Kovalev did not go in to bludgeon Hopkins in to retirement, but rather boxed him in an elaborate chess match. Kovalev patiently picked his opportunities and beat Hopkins to the punch every time. It was an elaborate chess match where Hopkins laid traps repeatedly, but Kovalev never took the bait.

The patience Kovalev showed against Hopkins is really the foundation of his success. It is easy for a guy who has knockout power in both hands to get overly confident in his ability to close the fight early. Kovalev takes his time to feel out the opponent. It starts with a disciplined Eastern European up right stance that keeps him honest. His shoulders are always parallel to the ground and he never over commits leaning too far back or forward. In the early rounds, He’ll typically use the jab to measure distance as well as feel out how the opponent will react. After getting comfortable with the jab, he then works down his repertoire adding another punch on the next combination and another after he feels good with that. As the fight progresses, he is often the aggressor setting the pace. Regardless of how much trouble his opponent seems to be in, Kovalev always maintains proper distance and never gets too excited. If the time for a knockout is right, it’s as if he can smell it. That’s when he goes for the kill.

The intuition of Kovalev to finish a fight is a result of his deep amateur background, but his ruthless mean streak in the ring is something he could only be born with. It is a controlled anger that keeps Kovalev focused enough to not make mistakes, but animalistic in his prey drive when he has an opponent hurt. He utilizes his aggression well, and when it is time to hurt an opponent, he seems to enjoy it.

For how controlled his body movement is, Kovalev is quite athletic. He is able to move is feet quickly in a natural fluid motion that keeps him in position to either cut of his opponent’s movement or be in range for a fully extended punch. It can’t be overstated how important maintaining range is to him maximizing the power of his punches. Opponents usually have trouble finding him from the same range and he moves well enough that he’s usually never in the same place too long.

Kovalev’s defense is mostly rooted in his movement around the ring to avoid being hit and simply jabbing opponents out of range. Against Jean Pascal, Kovalev fought his most unconventional opponent who threw from awkward angles with his feet usually unset. It’s not something you can really plan for, and as a result Kovalev got hit hard flush on the chin multiple times. It never even seemed to faze him. Pascal is no joke and Kovalev’s chin stood the test. It still remains to be seen if he can take several punches like that throughout a fight, but so far, there isn’t much reason to question his ability to take a punch.

Kovalev may never have the talent or speed of a Roy Jones, JR. That being said, Roy Jones, JR. never had the fundamentals of a Sergey Kovalev. Aside from his power, Kovalev doesn’t have any skills that he can lean on to get him through a fight. Instead he must fight a complete fight, and so far he has every time. The only potential knock on him was that he never was tested over 12 rounds until he closed the show against Hopkins. A fight with an elite talent such as Andre Ward will most likely shed some light on Kovalev’s flaws. At this point, however, he’s just been too complete a fighter to point any of them out though.

[si-contact-form form=’2′]