The Forum, Inglewood, California, USA. In the main event of the evening, ex-hegemon light heavyweight veteran from the Russian Federation Sergey Kovalev (35-4-1, 29 KOs) made his debut in the cruiserweight limit (up to 90.7 kg) with a victory against the Olympic medalist from Bulgaria Tervel Pulev (16-1, 13 KOs). ).
Pulev started the fight aggressively. He desperately rushed at Kovalev with sweeping attacks, but he calmly defended himself, clinched in time, jabbed well. A lot of fuss from the Bulgarian, but physically he looks much bigger. Kovalev countered several times with a right cross. So far, he is more accurate, controls the course of the fight. It is strange that Pulev does not even try to break through the body of the Russian.
Having picked up jabs, Tervel no longer pressed Kovalev, more and more often he backed away. A little better Pulev had the 7th round, but still did not dare to develop successful moments. Does he know that without options he is inferior in the long run? The Russian got a little bit – he missed an elbow strike.
Tervel Pulev dropping an elbow in a #boxing fight. #TrillerVerz5 pic.twitter.com/2cphpGYzfp
— FITE (@FiteTV) May 15, 2022
The fight went all the way. Pulev continued to back away from Kovalev until the final gong. It looks like he wasn’t going to win.
The score of the judges: 98-92, 98-92 and 97-93 in favor of the Russian.
Kovalev UD 10. A trifling matter.