Eleider Alvarez DESTROYS Sergey Kovalev to Win the WBO Light Heavyweight Title – Breaking Boxing News
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By Joshua “City” Brewer (At Ringside)
Saturday, August 4, could have been a sadder day, but it wasn’t. The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, was as live as ever. The night was young and highlighted by the return of elite level boxing.
The main event featured Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev, 32-3-1, 28 KO’s pitting his WBO world lightweight title on the line against Eleider Alvarez, 24-0, 12 KO’s. Kovalev was the busier fighter through the first couple of rounds as he used his jab and hard right to set the tone, though Alvarez landed a few solid rights of his own. Alvarez nearly tossed Kovalev out of the ring at the end of the second while they were tied up on the ropes.
Alvarez was a bit successful countering in the third though Kovalev remained the aggressor. Kovalev has a dominant fourth as he repeatedly landed a number of hard combinations that seemed to rock Alvarez, though he never seemed to be in extreme trouble. Kovalev maintained his lead in the fifth by virtue of being the busier fighter. Alvarez was able to land some counter shots but definitely needed a pace increase in order to pull out rounds. Kovalev maintained a busier pace in the six as it played out similar to the fifth.
Alvarez caught Kovalev with a blistering right hand in the seventh that dropped him. Kovalev was able to to recover but was visibly hurt. Alvarez followed up with another combination capped by a thunderous right hook that dropped Kovalev once again. He was on even shakier ground and barely was able to answer the count. Upon the action resuming, he was again dropped with a combination forcing the referee to step in to call the fight. Officially, Alvarez secured the win in dominant fashion at 2:45 of round seven, via knockout. He moves on to a potential fight with Dmitry Bivol in what will be one of the better fights in boxing. Alvarez noted that he’s ready for the best in the division moving forward. 2018 shall only get better for boxing.
The co-feature saw WBA world light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol, 14-0, 11 KO’s, faced off against veteran Isaac Chilemba, 25-6-2, 10 KO’s. Bivol started early on the front foot seeking a place for his sharp straight right. Chilemba was able to to maintain his defensive posture to last the round. Bivol landed a left hook that bothered Chilemba early in the second and commenced with additional combinations. Chilemba landed his right to push Bivol back. Bivol a hard combination in the third that seemed to momentarily stun Chilemba, though he fought his way back. The middle rounds were fully controlled by Bivol as Chilemba had not nearly enough in his arsenal to bother Bivol on the offensive side.
Chilemba ties to increase his offensive output but later rounds belonged to Bivol. The 12th was one of the more active rounds of the fight but Bivol did enough in my eyes to win it. By my count, I had Bivol winning all 12 rounds. Officially, the judges saw it as a unanimous decision victory for Bivol with scores of 120-108, twice, and 116-112. Dominant performance by Bivol in with a naturally defensive dither in Chilemba.
In other notable fights on the card, Denis “Momma’s Boy” Doughlin, 21-6, 13 KO’s pulled out a unanimous decision victory over Vaughn “The Animal” Alexander, 12-1, 8 KO’s, with scores of 100-90, and 99-91 twice. Alexander was on a win streak since his 2016, his return after serving an 11 year sentence for robbery. Doughlin, notably trained by his mother, has been in with a number of top prospects over the years and that experience showed throughout the fight.
Frank Galarza, 20-2-2, 12 KO’s, ended the night early for Alex Duarte,13-6-1, 10 KO’s, with a set of body shot knockdowns, the latter resulting in a knockout victory 1:57 of the second round.
Madiyar Ashkeyev, 10-0, 6 KO’s, of Kazakhstan, defeated Eduardo Flores, 26-30-4, 15 KO’s. Meiirim Nursultanov, 8-0, 7 KO’s remained victorious as well.
Great night in the city. It has been said that boxing is back in Atlantic City. I don’t know if that’s 100% the case, but a number of new and old fight fans were in attendance. This is just the beginning for the Hard Rock, and this is just the beginning for additional big time fights. We intend to be there to call all of the action along the way. Until then, it’s been real fight fans.
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