Sergey Kovalev’s second fight in his post-Andre Ward losses comeback tour was as successful as the first. The Russian Krusher got a mercy cuts stoppage after seven one sided rounds. Dmitry Bivol stopped Sullivan Barrera after twelve one sided rounds in the co-main event as well.
Sergey Kovalev (32-2-1, 28 KOs) basically cruised in this fight. Every round was more or less the same with some minor variations here and there. The first two were one hundred percent all Sergey Kovalev. He landed basically everything he threw and Igor Milkhalkin (21-2, 9 KOs) basically froze in there. The title challenger did come alive a bit in the third and landed some nice shots, but he still ate a lot of shots. Still, maybe he won it close which is something to hang his hat on. I didn’t score it for him, but I could see why someone maybe would.
The WBO titleholder put any sort of Mikhalkin surprise to sleep in the fourth. Igor was fighting back and still landing, but Sergey comfortably outboxed him. Mikhalkin just didn’t have the power to make his shots matter. I will say that Sergey Kovalev did look notably vulnerable in there dispite dominating given what his lesser opponent was able to land, but then again maybe if Igor Mikhalkin could punch then Kovalev would have been more careful.
The fight became more of a beating late in the fifth and that continued into the sixth. Igor Mikhalkin’s face began to physically betray him in the sixth as well. That thing was a mess of swelling and redness from chin to forehead. By the end of the round he was bleeding profusely as well. Even to the bitter end, he was still getting some work in though. It was his beaten face, however, that got the fight stopped in the seventh. Well, his face and the heavy shots Sergey Kovalev was putting on it.
Igor Mikhalkin showed a lot of heart and some real skill here, but he didn’t have the talent to hang with Sergey Kovalev. As for The Krusher, he was easy to hit here and did throw too many wild shots even though he dominated. I don’t think he will fair the same against the current batch of light heavyweights that have emerged at the top of the sport, at least not like he did against the last generation. That is how it goes in the fight game, however. There is always a younger crew rising up to dethrone the established fighters.
Kovalev said he is ready for a big fight in the post-fight interview, but not with a southpaw. The Russian titleholder believes he needs more work in that department. He mentioned Badou Jack as a potential next opponent should Jack beat Adonis Stevenson.
Dmitry Bivol (13-0, 11 KOs) opened the co-main event with a decent first round. Both he and Sullivan Barrera (21-2, 14 KOs) threw a ton of shots that didn’t land, but the Russian emerging top fighter got a few sharp shots at the end of the first. Bivol was cut in the second round on a head clash, but overall did most of the solid work with power shots. It was a bad cut though. He won the third too on a beautiful jab and combination punching.
The fight became even more one sided in the fourth. Barrera was getting battered in moments and appeared bothered by the shots for the first time at the midpoint of the round. He did better to avoid the damage in the fifth until the ten second warning. I think he was subtly hurt by a right hand there though. Plus, even when Barrera was avoiding damage, he wasn’t really creating any of his own. The sixth was more of the same, though Sullivan did get a good right hand in at one point.
The second half of the fight was more of the same to the point that I stopped bothering to take round by round notes. Bivol did slow a little in rounds seven and eight, but by the ninth he was back to cruising along. Barrera didn’t win the rounds he slowed down in either. I thought we were crusing to a comfortable decision, likely by shut out, but Dmitry Bivol came out aggressive in the twelfth with other ideas. At the round’s half way point, the young Russian titleholder landed a gorgeous right hand behind the jab that put Sullivan Barrera down extremely hard. The Cuban challenger rose, but the fight was waved off.
Dmitry Bivol is real and here to stay. Sullivan Barrera probably should have taken the money to fight Sergey Kovalev in the main event instead.
