KOVALEV & BIVOL
175lb beasts Kovalev and Bivol both win to potentially set up a unification clash
The light-heavyweight beasts both win in New York, and could face off next
THERE was always going to be at least one Russian light-heavyweight celebrating victory at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, given that the main event pitted Chelyabinsk’s WBO titlist Sergey Kovalev against Igor Mikhalkin of Irkutsk. In the event, there were two, as St Petersburg’s WBA belt-holder Dmitry Bivol joined Kovalev in the winner’s circle with a 12th-round knockout of Sullivan Barrera, a Cuban fighting out of Miami, in the co-main.
In the principal feature of the evening, Kovalev was forced to holster his “Krusher” persona and just focus on getting the job done against the awkward, herky-jerky southpaw style of Mikhalkin, his former friend and fellow team-member from Russian junior amateur days. And he gave every impression of knowing as much from the get-go; at no stage did Kovalev look to punch through Mikhalkin, preferring instead to concentrate merely on touching him, knowing that as long as he could keep hitting him, even if not at full force, he would eventually get what he wanted out of the contest. For the first couple of rounds, Mikhalkin appeared to have little except awkwardness in his armoury, as Kovalev poked at him with left hands in an attempt to open up a pathway for his power punches; but in the third Mikhalkin was able to land some clean lead lefts that elicited some “oohs” and “aahs” from the crowd, even as Kovalev walked right through them without blinking. That success emboldened Mikhalkin a little, and while he continued to rock his upper body side to side like a caffeinated metronome, he stepped forward in an effort to
land more of those lead lefts.
Alas, such boldness only made it easier for Kovalev to get his work done, and by the sixth round he was finding the target with relative ease, cracking Mikhalkin with a counter right and sending him lurching across the ring with a hook. By the end of that frame, Mikhalkin’s face was a mess, a huge cut on his right cheek causing his eye to swell shut. That handicap only worsened in the seventh, prompting referee Steve Willis to ask the opinion of the ringside physician, who immediately advised him to stop the contest, which he did at 2-25 of the round.
Kovalev chuckled at his struggles to put his awkward opponent away. “I am ready for big-money fight,” he said afterwards. “But not against southpaw.”
Bivol isn’t a southpaw. So might he be next for Kovalev? He certainly did his chances no harm with a dominant display against Barrera, whose sole previous defeat had been on points to Andre Ward in 2016. The Cuban émigré marked a major step up in opposition for the Russian, who didn’t just pass the test but aced it.
From the beginning, it was clear that Bivol was superior in every department. His hands were faster and his footwork lighter. He bounced on his toes and moved in and out, firing short, straight combinations when in range and stepping neatly back whenever Barrera set to throw punches of his own, forcing Barrera to reach with his shots and leaving him open to counters.
Barrera wasn’t fighting poorly. But Bivol had answers for every question he posed, while Barrera had no answers of his own. By the middle rounds, it was clear that there was little to nothing that Barrera could do to overturn a rapidly yawning deficit; and by the 10th and 11th, Bivol had entered cruise control, happily circling, bouncing and jabbing his way to a wide decision win.
But as the bell rang to start the 12th, Bivol conducted an internal systems check and, he said, “I knew I could stop him, so I stepped on the gas and got the knockout.” A stiff jab didn’t quite leave Barrera in the position Bivol wanted, so he fired another one, and another, and now Barrera’s head was just where he wanted it. A straight right hand exploded on the Cuban’s temple, and Barrera crashed onto the canvas along the ropes. Somehow, he hauled himself to his feet inside the count, but referee Harvey Dock rightly ruled that he was in no position to continue and waved it off at 1-41 of the final round.
Bivol’s dominance was all the more impressive given that he had to contend with a bad cut over one eye, and a swelling on his forehead, as a result of accidental headbutts. But dominant he was, as Compubox figures made clear. Bivol landed 243 of 778 punches, while Barrera landed just 75 of 606. The stats also underlined how impressive Bivol’s jab was, and how it took away Barrera’s: Bivol threw 400 and landed 95, while Barrera threw 333 and landed just 10.
Vaughn Alexander was made to work for the seventh victory of his comeback as he scored a unanimous 10-round super-middleweight decision over Queens’ Devaun Lee. Alexander, from St. Louis, Missouri, older brother of former 140 and 147lb world titlist Devon Alexander, was 5-0 when he went to jail in 2005; he was released in March 2016, and with the win over Lee has improved that record to 12-0. Scores were 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94.
THE VERDICT Mikhalkin’s awkward style was always going to be tough for Kovalev to look good against. But a win is a win, and now Bivol waits in the wings.
DOMINANT BIVOL DIDN’T JUST PASS THE BARRERA TEST, HE ACED IT