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Vinny’s Views: Sergey Kovalev Wins the Vacated WBO Light Heavyweight Title in Destructive Fashion Over Vyacheslav Shabransky!

By Vinny “Glory Days” Lucci

Saturday night Madison Square Garden ushered in phase two of the storied career of Russian Sergey Kovalev who made short work in winning the vacated WBO light heavyweight belt against Vyacheslav Shabransky.

The co-promotion of Main Events working with Golden Boy Promotions was aired on HBO setting up a new gauntlet of contenders for Kovalev to mark his turf against now that his two time victor Andre Ward has retired.

The scheduled 12 round main event didn’t quite make two full rounds as respected referee Harvey Dock stopped the action with 24 seconds remaining in the round. At that moment Shabransky who is known as “Lionheart” was being pummeled senseless and about to be knocked out stumbling backwards to the ropes. Dock’s human gesture halted the fight at 2:36 making it an official TKO.

The first round was just as eventful with telltale signs of what was lurking after the first the bell ended. Kovalev was faced with Russian counterpart who employed same stand up European Style with wide stance supporting jabs of rhythm as both soldiers of fortune head hunted with right hand bombs. The big difference was “Krusher” made better use of body shots and followed all his one/two’s with short crisp punches inside the pocket remembering to switch up from body to head.

A crisp right hand dropped Vyacheslav for a flash knock down at 1:14 mark. Rising quickly on slightly shaky legs he quickly tried to land a power shot like one that had previously left a pink welt on his opponent’s cheek. At the 2:40 mark a determined Kovalev landed a five punch combination that started with another right hand getting his foes attention and then disarming him inside the gates. After taking the eight count the fight resumed with nary a few seconds on clock bringing on the bell.

Lionheart was checked by the ring doctor between rounds and then again just five seconds after second round started. Point was mute. Sergey was firing pistons on another level and had his adversary clearly in his cross hairs. The question of “when” was problematic. Could Shabransky be able to weather the early storm and mount a foreboding counter attack or fall prey to a “hungry for redemption” Kovalev?

With the echoes of back to back losses to Ward fading on yellowing pages of this year’s boxing calendar Kovalev once again takes center stage as the top gun to beat. He raised his record to 31-2-1, 27 KO’s. Shambrasky’s record dips to 19-2, 16 KO’s. The new champion landed 50 of 113 punches in two rounds, 36 of which were power shots. His counterpart landed a mere 16 of 27 unable to out deal his tormentor at close range.

This was Kovalev’s first fight without former trainer John David Jackson. In prefight interviews for cable cameras Sergey suggested he once again has found religion as a soul searching way to anchor his life and focus on training. His has given up the occasional cigarette and drink. His new trainer Arbor Tursunpulatov has established “pad work” and specific combinations that were missing in past training camps. Jackson, a former world middleweight champion has been very vocal of the split and denounced Kovalevs heart in his last fight losing a highly controversial stoppage by TKO in round eight by referee Tony Weeks. In that bout Ward who was defending the titles he had won last year by unpopular decision victory. Ringside Report awarded Kovalev 8 of 12 rounds, including a 10/8 due to a knockdown. Weeks failed to warn Ward of low blows let alone punish him by taking a point away.

Last year Ringside Report did an exclusive interview with the champion Kovalev just weeks before the first Andre Ward fight. When asked about his rapport with Jackson and what strategies they would employ against the man generally thought to be best boxer extent with the retirement of Floyd Mayweather, Sergey insisted he trained himself and set his own formula for battle and that Jackson was merely in camp to get him in shape. With that mentality as likable as he is, it isn’t surprising he lost to Ward or allowed himself to be out bullied by him.

The good news for now is the Krusher is back with several tantalizing names to fill his dance card while he aims to recollect all the belts. First up would be a long overdue match up with WBC champion Adonis Stevenson, who at 40 years old has held the belt for five years making eight successful defenses. The fighter known as “Superman” has also been known to fans as “chicken shit” for refusal to meet Kovalev in ring playing it safe against lesser foes.

Stay tuned…

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