The fight will take place in Inglewood (California, USA) and will be the main event of the boxing evening. It was supposed to be preceded by another Russian-Bulgarian confrontation: Kubrat Pulev, Tervel’s brother, in heavyweight could meet Andrei Fedosov, but the Russian had problems obtaining a visa, an American Jerry Forrest was called in to replace him. Evan Holyfield, the son of the eminent American boxer Evander Holyfield, will perform in another fight. He will fight Maurice Williams.
For Kovalev, the upcoming fight will be his debut in the first heavyweight, previously the Russian boxer fought in the light heavyweight division. Until 2016, he had a series of 31 fights without defeat, he was the first Russian boxer after Kostya Tszyu, who owned three championship belts at once, and the only representative of the country who was recognized by the prestigious magazine The Ring as the best boxer of the year.
In the past five years, Kovalev’s career has not been so successful: in 2016, he lost twice to the American Andre Ward, after which he had six more fights, in which he suffered two defeats. The latest is from the Mexican Saul Alvarez in November 2019.
Kovalev did not enter the ring anymore, there was information that he was close to the end of his career. At that time in the United States, he was still threatened with four years in prison for beating American model Jamie Frontz. In October 2020, the court sentenced the boxer to a three-year suspended sentence.
The return of Kovalev to the ring was supposed to take place on March 12, the Chinese Meng Fanlong would have been the opponent, but the parties failed to agree. Shortly thereafter, a fight with Pulev was agreed. Boxers are waiting for a 10-round fight. Kovalev and Pulev are the same age – both are 39 years old.