Krusher from Russia still leading man
At Edgbaston. Overnight: England 287 (Root 80, Bairstow 70, Ashwin 4-62) & 9-1 v India 274 (Kohli 149, Curran 4-74)
Cook b Ashwin ................................................ 0 Jennings c Rahul b Ashwin ........................ 8 Root c Rahul b Ashwin ............................... 14 Malan c Rahane b I Sharma .................... 20 Bairstow c Dhawan b I Sharma .............. 28 Stokes c Kohli b I Sharma ........................... 6 Buttler c Karthik b I Sharma ....................... 1 Curran c Karthik b Yadav ......................... 63 Rashid b Yadav ............................................. 16 Broad c Dhawan b I Sharma ...................... 11 Anderson not out .......................................... 0 Extras (b10, lb2, nb1) ................................... 13 Total (53 overs) ......................................... 180 Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-18, 3-39, 4-70, 5-85, 6-86, 7-87, 8-135, 9-176 Bowling: Shami 12-2-38-0; Ashwin 21-4-593; I Sharma 13-0-51-5; Yadav 7-1-20-2
Vijay lbw b Broad .......................................... 6 Dhawan c Bairstow b Broad ..................... 13 Rahul c Bairstow b Stokes ........................ 13 Kohli not out ................................................ 43 Rahane c Bairstow b Curran ...................... 2 Ashwin c Bairstow b Anderson ............... 13 Karthik not out ............................................ 18 Extras (b1, lb1) ................................................ 2 Total (5 wkts, 36 overs) ........................... 110 Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-22, 3-46, 4-63, 5-78 To Bat: Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Yadav, Sharma Bowling: Anderson 11-2-33-1; Broad 9-1-29-2; Stokes 10-1-25-1; Curran 5-0-17-1; Rashid 1-0-4-0 ANYONE can, indeed everyone has, lost to the retired Andre Ward.
The two grinding losses suffered by Sergey Kovalev, the only defeats of his career, do not diminish his standing as the light heavyweight who all are still measured against.
Tonight against Eleider Alvarez in Atlantic City, the Krusher goes again in defence of his WBO title.
Alvarez is a decent fighter and has earned his shot, but the biggest tests for Kovalev are in the fists of fellow Russians Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol, who defends his WBA strap against Isaac with a 25-kilo bar, twirling it in the air one-handed like the bloke who walks in front of a marching band.
I gave it a go with a bar half the size. Let’s just say it didn’t work.
That Bivol is sharing a bill with Kovalev (left) is significant, building up to the point they share a ring.
Unbeaten Alvarez has spent a long time waiting in the WBC line for a crack at Adonis Stevenson that never came. So here he is challenging Kovalev.
Good luck with that. Even at 35, Kovalev has too much for the Colombian to protect the zero in the loss column.