Despite the crybaby accusations from fanboys whenever I dare to criticize ?their? fighter, there have only been a small handful of fighters over the years who I genuinely dislike. At the top of that small list is a POS like Tony Ayala Jr., who did some unspeakable things (look them up) that made even the baddest of boxing bad boys look downright saintly by comparison.
Sergey Kovalev is no Tony Ayala Jr., but he?s worked his way on to my shit list for being an unapologetic racist scumbag who eternally skates on his sleaziness because the boxing media is equal parts stupid and ball-less.
As I wrote in my FightHype.com ?Notes from the Boxing Underground? column on Monday:
?Triple K? Kovalev has a long history of vile racist behavior and the boxing world has an equally long history of trying to sweep it under the carpet. From calling Grover Young a ?thoroughbred nigga? to the now-infamous Adonis Stevenson/Monkey t-shirt pic, Kovalev has established himself as an unrepentant racist POS?and the boxing media, for any number of possible reasons, has aided him in escaping any sort of real comeuppance.
And even when a story emerges of alleged violence and sexual assault against a model in California, Kovalev skates. The boxing media drops it almost as soon as it posts it?and one gets the feeling that if the story had not hit the mainstream press, editors at boxing sites would?ve passed on the story completely.
So, yeah, Sergey Kovalev?s charmed life in terms of accountability makes him a disagreeable character in my eyes. I will not hide the fact that seeing him humbled is a pleasurable experience for me. After Andre Ward stripped away his feeling of invulnerability and Alvarez battered him into submission, I assumed that Kovalev was finished as a dominant, main stage presence.?
And, yep, I was eagerly waiting to tap dance on the career of this lump of half-humanity after being beaten down for a second time by Alvarez this past Saturday.
But, of course, as we all know by now, that didn?t happen.
Kovalev IS a bully at heart and WILL crumble under the pressure of someone who pushes at him hard enough. I?m confident of that and would bet a night of Coronas on this assessment.
But, flying in the face of my desire to see another Triple K comeuppance and humbling, is the fact that Kovalev has always been a different breed when stacked up against similarly fearsome ?beasts.?
The Russian can box very well and, at his best, displayed a long, relaxed fluidity that set him apart from other power punchers. Kovalev could outbox most everyone he faced, touching them with his legitimately heavy hands, breaking them down before blowing them away. When he started fully buying into the ?Krusher? persona, putting self-image ahead of skill, he became vulnerable.
But new trainer Buddy McGirt got Kovalev to re-embrace the boxer in him and just focus on everything but being ?Krusher.?
Eleider Alvarez, who may have also been suffering through an identity crisis as a puncher-turned-boxer-turned-puncher looking to bask in the KO love like he did back in August when flattening Kovalev in their first bout, could never get things going. All inner identity turmoil aside, he was simply outboxed by Kovalev and as points stacked up against him and time for one-punch salvation began to run out, Kovalev outboxed him even more decisively.
There WERE moments, early on, where Kovalev did look shaky and unsure of himself, but his skill carried him through. Alvarez?s inability to get through Kovalev?s boxing allowed the Russian to skate through any possible danger like he skates through boxing media scrutiny.
That?s the thing about boxing, though. This ain?t a morality play.
The sport lends itself to a lot of fairytale nonsense, but at the end of the day, it?s all about skill and will. The biggest louts, woman-beaters, racist pricks, thieves, and thugs have been highly-skilled professional fighters. The only morality play in boxing should be the one between hard-workers and lazy slobs because, ultimately, that?s what determines how high a fighter rises and how long he stays on top.
I?m fine with acknowledging the potential rebirth of Sergey Kovalev. I can root against him as a human being and still appreciate him as a fighter.
