Review by AllTheBestFights.com: 2018-03-03, good pace with some nice exchanges: Sergey Kovalev vs Igor Mikhalkin gets three stars.The current Wbo and Iba light-Hw champion Sergey Kovalev entered this fight with a professional boxing record of 31-2-1 (27 KOs=87%) and he is ranked as the No.2 light heavyweight in the world (currently the #1 in this division is Adonis Stevenson). “Krusher” Kovalev lost two consecutive bouts between 2016 and 2017, both with Andre Ward (Kovalev vs Ward I and Ward vs Kovalev II) but then he has beat Vyacheslav Shabranskyy (Sergey Kovalev vs Vyacheslav Shabranskyy).
His opponent, the Ibo light-Hw champion Igor Mikhalkin, has an official record of 21-1-0 (9 knockouts) and he entered as the No.11 in the same weight class. He suffered his only loss when he faced Aleksy Kuziemski in 2010, since then he has won ten consecutive bouts beating Yevgeni Makhteienko, Thomas Oosthuizen (Oosthuizen vs Mikhalkin) and Doudou Ngumbu in 2017 (Igor Mikhalkin vs Doudou Ngumbu 3). Kovalev vs Mikhalkin is valid for the WBO World light heavyweight title (Kovalev’s first defense). Watch the video and rate this fight!
Date: 2018-03-03
Where: Madison Square Garden Theater, New York, USA
Division: light heavyweight (175 lbs, 79.4 kg)
Title: WBO World light heavyweight title
Kovalev’s previous fight: Sergey Kovalev vs Vyacheslav Shabranskyy
Mikhalkin’s previous fight: Igor Mikhalkin vs Doudou Ngumbu 3
Kovalev’s next fight: Sergey Kovalev vs Eleider Alvarez
Kovalev vs Mikhalkin full fight video:
(Free embeddable video hosted on Youtube and not uploaded by AllTheBestFights)
Official highlights
A very one sided beatdown.
Brutal job on Mikhalkin!
At 35, how long does the Krusher have left? Even though he looks revitalized, Bivol, Beterbiev and Yarde are fast approaching. Bivol looked a terror tonight.
The only significant improvement Kovalev seems to have made is regarding his post-fight interview skills. Not that he has become a fluent orator, but at least (and for the first time I think) he thanked his fans! And also, he seemed humble saying he still has work to do against southpaws. Funny, since he’s been calling out Stevenson, a southpaw, for years… He should fight the winner of Stevenson-Jack, biggest paycheck for him.
Haha, enjoyed the quip about Kov’s “improvement.”
Yes, how much fun would it be to watch the Krusher and Superman! I wonder if it’ll happen before Stevenson goes into that good night of retirement. Not sure who I’d pick in that one, as Kov has the skills and footwork but Supes has that “equalizer.”
Catch Bivol-Barrera? I wonder who’s going to stop the extraordinary Bivol. He fights like a top-secret government experiment to clone a LH from the genes of GGG and Manny. Maybe Ward will return to do so in a final hurrah…
Son of Golota will not return to fight that monster. That interview was to give him more exposure but if a past his prime Krusher beat him in the 1st fight then how u would expect a better technical fighter in Bivol to be beate by a non active Son of Golota? Not happening. Believe me.
Against Stevenson, I would give the edge to Kovalev, for the skills yes. But we’ve seen Kovalev getting hurt, in his first fight against Pascal (who’s not as powerful as Stevenson), he seemed to wobble once or twice. Just like what we saw last weekend with Wilder, Stevenson can be lucky too, even at nearly 40. Stevenson is the hardest slugger in the LHW division.
Who’s gonna stop Bivol? Beterbiev!
Brutal cut, the fight should have been stopped immediately after it occurred in order to prevent further damages mainly, by considering that Igor wasn’t a match for Sergey. However, he was very brave and determined but unfortunately a very soft puncher.
I Think badou Jack wins. So probably kovalev against badou jack