ON SUNDAY, one of the most eagerly anticipated rematches in the light heavyweight division will take place.
In August of last year, Sergey Kovalev was leading on the scorecards and had the upperhand against Eledier Alvarez through six rounds.
He was landing more punches and taking full advantage of his reach advantage. Despite it all, Alvarez soldiered through, sporting a bloody news. Then in the seventh, it happened.
At around the 1:16 mark, Alvarez caught Kovalev flush on the chin with a brutal right hand that knocked him down.
Kovalev immediately got back up, seemingly unhurt. Perhaps his avidity did him more harm than good as he clearly was still on wobbly legs as Alvarez went after him.
He landed a couple of stiff jabs then connected with a big left hook that knocked Kovalev down again.
This time when he got up, he was clearly hurt. The ref allowed him to continue but two punches later, he was down and keeled over in the center of the ring, and the ref mercifully waives the fight off.
REMATCH. At the time of that fight, Kovalev was in the midst of a successful comeback after losing to Andre Ward twice and had won two fights via the short route, in the process regaining the WBO light heavyweight crown.
Alvarez had defeated former world champions Lucian Bute and Jean Pascal but was still thought of as an enigma, and certainly an underdog coming into that fight.
He was not even the harder puncher between the two of them, and yet he was able to stop ?The Krusher?
This time around, will it be revenge or a repeat?
MY TAKE. This rematch is a tossup and should be a close one. Alvarez (24-0, 12 KOs) has been installed by the oddsmakers as a slight favorite over Kovalev (32-3, 28Kos) and rightfully so.
I believe this will boil down to what Kovalev has left in the tank. Those two brutal losses to Ward took a lot out of him both mentally and physically. I think Ward broke him in places that could not be seen by the naked eye.
Kovalev was a mean, punching machine knocking out his opponents and had that bully mystique surrounding him. Everything changed after the Ward losses.
Kovalev will still be dangerous with those heavy hands, but I think Alvarez repeats with another knockout.
LAST ROUND. Are on my companera Atty Cheryl ?Pam? Condat and my UP Diliman barkada Emily Borces who celebrate their birthdays on Feb. 4.
