Former unified light heavyweight world champion Sergey "Krusher" Kovalev (30-2-1, 26 KOs) is scheduled to return to the ring on Saturday, November 25 at The Theater Madison Square Garden.

He takes on tough contender Vyacheslav "Lion-Heart Chingonskyy" Shabranskyy (19-1, 16 KOs) in a ten round light heavyweight showdown, which headlines an HBO Boxing After Dark card.

The fight will be his first after suffering back to back defeats to Andre Ward, who last week announced his retirement from boxing. Kovalev lost a close twelve round unanimous decision to Ward last November in Las Vegas. And then this past June he was stopped in their rematch.

The upcoming return will be Kovalev's first with a new trainer.

In the early part of his career, Kovalev was trained by Abel Sanchez. The two had a falling out and Kovalev hired John David Jackson and two of them have been working together for several years.

Jackson was in Kovalev's corner for all of his biggest fights and took him to three world titles. But in the last two years the relationship has really become strained and the two parted ways in the aftermath of the Ward rematch.

Jackson conducted an interview that was published on BoxingScene.com, where he ripped apart Kovalev.

The Russian puncher claims a new trainer is already in place and everything will revealed in due time.

"I want to assure all of you that everything is fine with respect to the coaching staff and I already have an agreement on working together [with a new trainer] for the upcoming fight," Kovalev said. 

"The name of the trainer will be revealed five weeks before the fight, and that's when I will start the training camp for November 25. Right now I am with my physical trainer, training in the mountain town of Big Bear [California] at an altitude of 2100 meters, as part of the general physical training. Everything is going according to plan."