1. Sergey Alexandrovich Kovalev is a Russian former professional boxer who competed from 2009 to 2025.
61 Facts About Sergey Kovalev
1. 2.
Sergey Kovalev held multiple light-heavyweight world championships, including the WBA and IBF titles from 2014 to 2016, and the WBO title three times between 2013 and 2019.
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In November 2019, Sergey Kovalev was ranked as the world's second-best light-heavyweight by The Ring magazine, third by BoxRec, and fourth by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.
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Sergey Kovalev was initially interested in ice hockey, but stopped playing after his equipment was stolen from a dressing room.
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Sergey Kovalev started boxing in 1994 at the age of 11 and made his amateur debut in the 1997 Russian Boxing Junior Championship, where he won a gold medal in the middleweight juniors division.
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Sergey Kovalev competed in the European Championships for the Russian team.
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In 2004, Sergey Kovalev participated in the Russian Senior Championship for the first time, reached the finals, and won the gold medal in the team event.
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Sergey Kovalev won the silver medal in the championship for servicemen in 2006.
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In 2008, Sergey Kovalev participated in his final amateur competition and reached the finals, after which he decided to turn professional.
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Sergey Kovalev admitted that he felt forced to leave the national team because of the intense competition between him and others boxers such as Artur Beterbiev.
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Sergey Kovalev started his career with a first-round KO of Daniel Chavez at Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina.
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In July 2011, Sergey Kovalev won his first North American Boxing Association belt in a 10-round fight with Douglas Otieno from Kenya.
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Sergey Kovalev met Darnell Boone in the ring for the second time and knocked him out in the second round; the win led him to be signed on to Main Events boxing.
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On 19 January 2013, Sergey Kovalev faced the former World Boxing Association light-heavyweight champion Gabriel Campillo.
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Sergey Kovalev took advantage of Campillo's faltering defense and knocked him down with a left hook, one of three knockdowns in the round.
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On 17 August 2013, Sergey Kovalev fought Nathan Cleverly for the World Boxing Organization light-heavyweight title.
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Sergey Kovalev, who knocked most of his opponents out within three rounds, threw heavy shots in the first round, and hurt Cleverly badly in the third round, dropping him twice.
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Sergey Kovalev knocked Cleverly down a third time in the fourth round until the referee intervened; it was the first time Cleverly had been knocked down as a professional.
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In round two, Sergey Kovalev dropped Sillakh, and when Sillakh could not regain his footing, Sergey Kovalev floored him a second time and ended the fight.
20.
On 29 March 2014, Sergey Kovalev defended his title against undefeated Cedric Agnew at the Adrian Phillips Ballroom at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
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On 2 August 2014, Sergey Kovalev defended his WBO title against undefeated Australian contender Blake Caparello at the Revel Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and it was televised on Boxing After Dark.
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Sergey Kovalev hoped for a unification fight against WBC champion Adonis Stevenson, but Stevenson stated he would only fight on Showtime; as Sergey Kovalev was contracted to HBO, he had to fight Caparello instead.
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Sergey Kovalev was unhurt and even appeared enraged, and beat Caparello in a second-round technical knockout.
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Sergey Kovalev's victory allowed him to fight Bernard Hopkins in the fall of 2014.
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Main Events spokesperson Kathy Duva believed there was a loss of focus due to building pressure, which was why Sergey Kovalev was dropped by Caparello.
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Sergey Kovalev defeated Hopkins by unanimous decision to retain the WBO light-heavyweight title, and win the WBA and IBF titles.
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In round 12, Sergey Kovalev landed 38 punches on Hopkins, the most any boxer had ever landed on him in a single round in his 41 fights recorded by CompuBox.
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On 14 March 2015, Sergey Kovalev defended his world titles and fought Jean Pascal for the WBC Diamond light-heavyweight title at the Bell Centre in Montreal live on HBO.
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Sergey Kovalev had just been named Sports Illustrated's 2014 Fighter of the Year.
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Sergey Kovalev knocked Mohammedi down once in the second round and again in the third round.
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Sergey Kovalev had a rematch with Pascal on 30 January 2016 at the Bell Centre in Montreal on HBO.
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Sergey Kovalev dominated the fight, both outpunching and outlanding Pascal by wide margins.
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Sergey Kovalev won when Roach refused to let Pascal continue after the seventh round.
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Sergey Kovalev tipped the scales at 174.6lbs, while Chilemba weighed in at 174.8lbs.
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Sergey Kovalev earned a unanimous points decision after a hard-earned battle.
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CompuBox stats showed that Sergey Kovalev landed 126 of 474 punches, and Ward landed 116 out of 337 thrown.
37.
On 24 March 2017, Sergey Kovalev revealed on social media that he had signed his end of the deal.
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CompuBox stats showed that Ward landed 80 of 238 punches whilst Sergey Kovalev landed 95 of his 407 thrown.
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Sergey Kovalev is a great fighter, and when you fight great fighters, you have to raise your game.
40.
Sergey Kovalev spoke to reporters in Russia on 27 June 2017, and confirmed that he would be making changes to his team, which included a new head trainer, meaning he would part ways with John David Jackson, and a new specialist.
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Sergey Kovalev regained the WBO title after stopping Shabranskyy in round two.
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Sergey Kovalev knocked Shabranskyy down three times during the fight before it was stopped.
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CompuBox showed that Sergey Kovalev landed 50 of 113 punches, this included 25 of 36 power shots in round two and Shabranskyy landed 16 of 71 thrown.
44.
Immediately after defeating Shabranskyy, Sergey Kovalev stated that he would return to The Theater on 3 March 2018 in the hopes of joining a unification fight with belt holders Artur Beterbiev, Dmitry Bivol, and Stevenson.
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Sergey Kovalev retained his world title and defeated Mikhalkin via TKO in round 7.
46.
On 6 April, Browne was arrested for domestic violence, and on 18 April, Sergey Kovalev announced he would instead fight longtime WBC mandatory Eleider Alvarez in the summer of 2018 instead.
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Sergey Kovalev thanked his fans for their support, and hinted at retirement.
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On 25 August, Sergey Kovalev said he would exercise the rematch clause; according to the contract, the fight needed to occur by February 2019.
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Sergey Kovalev worked with his new trainer Buddy McGirt for the bout, ending his three-fight run with Tursunpulatov.
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Sergey Kovalev regained the WBO title after defeating Alvarez by a 12-round unanimous decision and became a three-time light-heavyweight titleholder.
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Sergey Kovalev went out and proved he wanted to win the fight.
52.
On 24 August 2019, Sergey Kovalev faced off against British challenger Anthony Yarde, who previously stopped 17 of his 18 opponents, at Traktor Arena in Sergey Kovalev's hometown of Chelyabinsk, Russia.
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Less than three months after beating Yarde, Sergey Kovalev faced unified middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez on 2 November 2019, who made his debut in the light-heavyweight division.
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Sergey Kovalev was next scheduled to fight Bektemir Melikuziev on 30 January 2021,[123] but the fight was canceled after Sergey Kovalev tested positive for a banned substance.
55.
On May 14,2022, Sergey Kovalev finally made his return 2 years after his KO loss to Canelo Alvarez.
56.
Sergey Kovalev fought undefeated Tervel Pulev at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California.
57.
On June 9,2018, Sergey Kovalev was arrested in California for punching a woman in the face; the woman suffered a broken nose, a concussion, and a displaced disc in her neck.
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Sergey Kovalev was charged with assault likely to cause great bodily injury, which is a felony; he pleaded not guilty on 27 August 2018, and he was released on $50,000 bail.
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On 4 April 2019, Sergey Kovalev was held to answer for felony assault causing great bodily injury; the Court found that there was enough evidence to proceed to trial on the felony charge.
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Sergey Kovalev was arraigned on 19 April 2019, and was sued by the victim in San Bernardino County Superior Court.
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Sergey Kovalev was required to complete an anger management course and pay court costs.