Canelo Alvarez (52-1-2, 35 KOs) and Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (34-3-1, 29 KOs) made their grand arrivals at the MGM Grand Resort and Casino in Las Vegas ahead of their 12-round fight for Kovalev’s WBO Light Heavyweight World Title.
Kovalev (34-3-1, 29 KO) will be fighting for the third time this year when he faces Alvarez on Saturday, something he hasn’t done since 2016.
This year, Kovalev got things going with a rematch victory over Eleider Alvarez — though this time he was avenging a defeat instead of delivering a second thrashing — and then went home to Russia for a victory over Anthony Yarde. Now here we are with Kovalev facing Canelo, who is coming up in weight and considered one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the sport.
Kovalev has had an up-and-down go of it since his two defeats to Ward in 2016-17, but says he feels reinvigorated with his new team, and confident ahead of Saturday’s fight, which commercially will be by far the biggest of his career.
“I feel great. I’m here for my glory. For my story. For my history,” Kovalev said on Tuesday. “A couple fights ago, when I started to work with my new team Buddy McGirt and Teddy Cruz, they gave me back my belief in myself. With this team I can do more. You can see, with my last fights, a little bit of change to my technique and style. I’m ready to fight 12 rounds.”
Kovalev says that despite being the naturally bigger man, he’s not hunting for a knockout win.
“It’s not the goal to knock someone out, I just need to follow my instructions from the corner, from my coach, and everything will be fine,” he said.
Alvarez (52-1-2, 35 KO) has dabbled a bit over 160 pounds on two occasions, defeating Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in a 164-pound catchweight bout, and winning a paper title at 168 in late 2018, decimating an overmatched Rocky Fielding.
175, though, is another big step, and this time he’s facing a very credible adversary. Kovalev said he respects Alvarez’s approach to his boxing career, but that he plans to defend the light heavyweight turf.
