Saturday, July 25, 2015, Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (27-0-1, 24 KOs)–who holds the WBO, WBA and IBF Light Heavyweight titles–will make his first mandatory title defense and his second appearance of 2015 when he takes on heavy-hitting challenger Nadjib “Irondjib” Mohammedi (37-3, 23 KOs).
Kovalev is coming off two of the biggest wins of his career against the legendary Bernard Hopkins in November of 2014 and against former champion Jean Pascal in March of this year.
While Mohammedi may not have the name recognition or resume of the aforementioned fighters that Kovalev has faced, the Krusher knows that he is facing a top contender and someone who packs a serious punch–highlighted by 10 stoppage victories in his last 11 fights.
Even with odds hovering at around 45 to 1 in his favor, Kovalev knows he must stay focused as he continues his quest to unify the four major titles in the Light Heavyweight division.
“For me, any fight means a lot because it is the next step. He is the No. 1 IBF contender. He deserves this fight. When a boxer is motivated or any man is motivated it makes him very dangerous,” said Kovalev during a media conference call last week.
After winning a competitive bout over Pascal in Montreal, people will be looking to see how Kovalev responds to headlining a card in Las Vegas with the bright lights of HBO’s camera’s on him once again.
“For me it doesn’t matter where I am fighting. I don’t have any problems. I feel very comfortable and happy that my fight is in Las Vegas. I wait a long time for my fight. Las Vegas is biggest place for the fight and Las Vegas is terrific place a lot of people from everywhere come to Las Vegas to get more fun,” said Kovalev.
Regardless of what Mohammedi brings to the table, Kovalev has shown the ability to adapt to different styles. Kovalev does a good job of boxing and obviously has crippling power, but even with all of the tools in his arsenal he is still looking to show improvement.
“I want to be better and want to be improved for every fight because a boxer can never to be perfect. Every boxer wants to be better, better, better. My goal in my preparations is to get better and remove all my mistakes from last fight,” said Kovalev.
Kovalev and Mohammedi will square off on an HBO World Championship Boxing telecast beginning at 10:00 pm, EST/PST.
Header photo by Bret Newton/Main Events
