Eleider Alvarez is the new WBO light heavyweight champion (24-0, 12 KO). The 34-year-old Colombian scored a stunning, come-from-behind, seventh-round TKO win over Sergey Kovalev (32-3-1) on Saturday night in Atlantic City.
After getting battered through the most of the first 6.5 rounds, Alvarez landed a hard overhand right that dropped Kovalev. Alvarez would floor Kovalev two more times in the round before the referee mercifully called a halt to the bout. Alvarez wasn't throwing enough punches early in the fight, but Kovalev seemed to start to tire in the sixth frame.
As he slowed, Alvarez took advantage by displaying power that wasn't previously synonymous with his career.
REPLAY: @stormalvarez with a trio of knocks downs on @KrusherKovalev to earn a tremendous KO victory in Round 7. #KovalevAlvarez pic.twitter.com/GdNw0ScKrd — HBOboxing (@HBOboxing) August 5, 2018
The stoppage win was just the 12th KO of his career. Here's how the boxing world reacted to the finish:
Sergey Kovalev has been knocked out. — Brian Campbell (@BCampbellCBS) August 5, 2018
Unreal. Sergey Kovalev was out boxing Alvarez and all it took was one over hand right and that’s how it all ended. What a turnaround! #KovalevAlvarez #Boxing — Mike Matias (@Mike__Dhcf) August 5, 2018
WOW! Eleider Alvarez now is the man to beat at light heavyweight as he finishes Sergey Kovalev. New world champion. — LukieBoxing (@LukieBoxing) August 5, 2018
Eleider Alvarez knocking out Sergey Kovalev is a perfect example of why I am in love with boxing. #KovalevAlvarez #AndTheNew — Boxing Unscripted (@BoxUnscripted) August 5, 2018
Alvarez didn't come into this fight with a high knockout percentage. But he ended Lucian Bute's career two fights earlier, and just mowed Kovalev down in this one. — Chris Mannix (@ChrisMannixYS) August 5, 2018
Kathy Duva told us at ringside that there's a rematch clause in the contracts for Kovalev-Alvarez. She said it could be an immediate rematch, but it's obviously too early to say whether Kovalev would fight Alvarez next. — Keith Idec (@Idecboxing) August 5, 2018
Tony Weeks robbed us of a conclusive KO in the second Ward-Kovalev fight. David Fields could have stopped it after the second knockdown tonight, but let it continue and Alvarez leaves no doubt. What a come-from-behind victory #kovalevalvarez — Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) August 5, 2018
Man I'm so happy Alvarez beat Kovalev I can see why Adonis Stevenson didn't fight the Champ tonight — Cornelius Bundrage (@K9boxing) August 5, 2018
A shout out to @MarkEOrtega , who five years ago told everyone that Alvarez beats Kovalev. This is when Alvarez was a nothing. Mark got a lot of strange looks with that call, but he was dead right. — adam abramowitz (@snboxing) August 5, 2018
Kovalev was a massive minus-550 favorite. Alvarez came in as a plus-375 underdog. His win may have upset a potential unification bout between Kovalev and Dmitry Bivol. the latter did his part on the undercard with a dominant unanimous-decision win over Isaac Chilemba. As the tweet above confirms, Kovalev has a rematch clause, but we'll have to wait and see if that comes to fruition. Kovalev has now lost three of his last five fights after beginning his career 30-0-1.
Light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev has been stunned. Undefeated challenger Eleider Alvarez remained undefeated by shocking Kovalev with a seventh-round knockout to earn his first ever world championship.
Respect box? Subscribe to our podcast -- In This Corner with Brian Campbell -- where we take an in-depth look at the world of boxing each week.
The Colombian got his first title fight underway in impressive fashion. With his jab leading the way, Alvarez kept the champion Kovalev off balance, and arguably took two of the first three rounds with his superior technical boxing ability. But as the fight wore on, Kovalev started to take control, starting with a blistering fourth round where he really showcased his power.
.@KrusherKovalev finds his target on a pair of combinations in the fourth. #KovalevAlvarez pic.twitter.com/6D6XnPNrrL — HBOboxing (@HBOboxing) August 5, 2018
Then in the sixth round, Alvarez was cut, though it appeared to be from a clash of heads. Regardless, Kovalev continued to show off his power and remained in control. As things continued into the seventh round, it seemed more of the same was coming, with Alvarez putting his boxing skills on display, but Kovalev landing the harder shots.
That all changed a little past the midway point of the round. Alvarez rocked Kovalev with a huge right hand that sent the champ staggering backwards and down to the mat. Unsurprisingly, Kovalev got back up on his feet, but he was never the same. With blood streaming down his face, Alvarez continued to land power shot after power shot, eventually sending Kovalev to the floor for a second time. Once again, Kovalev got back up to continue the fight, but he probably would have been better off staying down.
REPLAY: @stormalvarez with a trio of knocks downs on @KrusherKovalev to earn a tremendous KO victory in Round 7. #KovalevAlvarez pic.twitter.com/GdNw0ScKrd — HBOboxing (@HBOboxing) August 5, 2018
The second the fight was allowed to continue, Alvarez rocked Kovalev with a right hand that ended everything once and for all. That Alvarez emerged from the bout with the belt is surprising, but that he did so by knocking out the former champion is still almost hard to believe. For a fighter not known for his power -- only three knockouts in the past five years prior to Saturday night's fight -- Alvarez certainly showed plenty of pop in his right hand in the seventh round.
Already 34 years old, Alvarez had a long and and winding road to his first title. He was the mandatory challenger to Adonis Stevenson for over two years, and twice was forced to accept step-aside fees instead of title bouts. Now that he finally has his belt, what's next for the man they call Alvarez?
According to Kovalev's promoter, Kathy Duva, the Russian has a rematch clause. Whether he wants it, however, remains to be seen. If he does, that would be one option for Alvarez's next fight. The more interesting fight though, may be against the man who defended his belt earlier on this card.
Dmitry Bivol, 27-year-old rising Russian star retained his WBA light heavyweight belt on the undercard with a bit of a boring victory over veteran Isaac Chilemba. The athletic and powerful Bivol put all his skills on display in the first three rounds, which he dominated without too much trouble. But he was never able to put Chilemba away, and the rest of the fight was a slog, ending with Bivol earning a unanimous decision.
A unification bout between Alvarez and Bivol makes plenty of sense, and judging by their performances in Atlantic City, could be an exciting clash. Regardless of who he fights next, Alvarez certainly made a name for himself on Saturday night.
The current and next generations of Light Heavyweight destroyers show their stuff in Atlantic City, N.J., later this evening (Sat., Aug. 4, 2018) when Sergey Kovalev and Dmitry Bivol defend their respective titles against Eleider Alvarez and Isaac Chilemba.
MMAmania will deliver LIVE coverage of ‘Kovalev vs. Alvarez,’ starting with the HBO Boxing broadcast at 10 p.m. ET later this evening.
The HBO Boxing main event, pitting the venerable “Krusher” against the undefeated Alvarez, is by far the more competitive match up of the two, so let’s open this thing up and take a look at the nuts and bolts.
Name: Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev
Age: 35
Record: 32-2-1, 28 KO
Last Five Fights: Igor Mikhalkin (TKO-7), Vyacheslav Shabranskyy (TKO-2), Andre Ward (TKO-8 Loss), Andre Ward (SD Loss), Isaac Chilemba (UD)
Significant Victories (other than those mentioned above): Jean Pascal x2, Bernard Hopkins, Nathan Cleverly, Gabriel Campillo
VS.
Name: Eleider “Storm” Alvarez
Age: 34
Record: 23-0, 11 KO
Last Five Fights: Jean Pascal (MD), Lucian Bute (KO-5), Norbert Dabrowski (UD), Robert Berridge (UD), Isaac Chilemba (MD)
Significant Victories (other than those mentioned above): Edison Miranda, Isidro Ranoni Prieto
THE FIGHT
Alvarez has been due for a title shot since 2015, when he beat Chilemba to become the mandatory challenger for Adonis Stevenson’s WBC belt. “Superman” instead elected to give Alvarez step-side money multiple times and fight whoever he wanted, and after the WBC allowed Badou Jack to jump the line and ordered Alvarez to face surging Oleksandr Gvozdyk, “Storm” decided he’d had enough of the sunk cost fallacy and went after Kovalev.
As good as Alvarez is, he’s generally slightly less entertaining than the summary of how he got here. He’s got a good jab, good combinations, and can work the body when he needs to, but none of his recent fights have been memorable aside from when he decided to let loose against Bute.
That’s more than a little problematic against Kovalev, who despite the gaudy knockout rate is a rock-solid technician. Alvarez can’t go jab-for-jab with him because the Russian’s jab is as hard as the average fighter’s power punch and Kovalev’s volume generally ensures that enough of those shots will land to put anyone away.
The only clear avenue to victory against Kovalev, which Andre Ward demonstrated, is to stay in his face and punish the body. Alvarez, unfortunately, has not shown that level of infighting craft or aggression against anyone but the fading Bute. He’s not going to outbox Kovalev and if he can’t bully him, then it’s just a matter of time until “Krusher” lands clean. I figure we’ll get to around the halfway point of the fight before Alvarez finally succumbs to the power.
Prediction: Kovalev via seventh-round technical knockout
Eleider Alvarez (24-0, 12 KOs) spent quite a long time effectively being avoided by WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson, accepting step-aside fees while Stevenson took on other opponents instead of his mandatory challenger. The 34-year-old Colombian-Canadian finally got his title shot, instead against WBO champion Sergey Kovalev (32-2-1, 28 KOs), and pulled off the upset.
Consensus opinion heading into round 7 was that Alvarez was more than competitive but behind on the scorecards, with Kovalev steadily piling up rounds after a slow start. In a dramatic turn of events, Alvarez whacked Kovalev with a picture-perfect right hand that sent the Russian to the canvas. Kovalev beat the count, but Alvarez went on the attack and put him down again with a huge left hook. Badly hurt and on wobbly legs, Kovalev was dropped a third time just seconds later, and referee David Fields ended the fight. Alvarez has persevered, waited longer than he should’ve to get a world title shot, and he took full advantage in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Watch the highlights below:
.@stormalvarez continues to deal heavy damage to @KrusherKovalev, knocking him down for the second time in the round. #KovalevAlvarez pic.twitter.com/94r5eRJ4wa — HBOboxing (@HBOboxing) August 5, 2018
REPLAY: @stormalvarez with a trio of knocks downs on @KrusherKovalev to earn a tremendous KO victory in Round 7. #KovalevAlvarez pic.twitter.com/GdNw0ScKrd — HBOboxing (@HBOboxing) August 5, 2018
Alvarez was certainly considered a very formidable foe, but betting odds had him as a 5-to-1 underdog, with Kovalev as an 8-to-1 favorite, so this is one of the biggest high-level boxing upsets of 2018.
