By Ryan Burton
A big upset occurred on August 4th in Atlantic City when Eleider Alvarez knocked out WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev in the 7th round of their HBO televised main event.
Kovalev was winning the fight handily on all three cards before he was caught and dropped three times in the 7th round. Kovalev was in no shape to continue which forced the referee to waive the fight off.
Another major player in the 175 pound division is Badou Jack. The 34-year-old last fought in May when he battled Adonis Stevenson to a draw in an exciting fight. Jack started off slow but finished the fight strong against the WBC champion.
When asked about the Kovalev-Alvarez result, Jack wasn't particularly surprised.
"It is boxing. Anything can happen. I sparred with Alvarez a couple of times. He is not from what I remember a big puncher but he is a good fighter. He fought a lot of good fighters and waited for a title shot against Stevenson for a long time and didn't get it. He moved on to Kovalev and knocked him out so all glory to him. I would love to fight him too," Jack told BoxingScene.com.
After suffering back to back losses to Andre Ward, Kovalev picked up two wins against lesser competition before the knockout loss to Alvarez. At 35-years-old could age finally have caught up to Kovalev?
"Age? Me and him are the same age. I don't know. Maybe he lost his confidence from the Ward fights. He has been in some tough fights but Alvarez is a good fighter so you have to give him credit and not just say Kovalev is getting old. They are the same age. We are all about the same age," explained Jack.
As for who he wants next, with Stevenson locked in to fight with his mandatory Oleksandr Gvozdyk, Jack said that he would love to face Alvarez.
"Probably Alvarez. He is hot right now. I want to fight the best," said Jack.
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