Comments Thread For: Sergey Kovalev Smiles, Reveals His New Trainer

[meme_man]

Options:

A. Trainer who will make me train and cost me a lot of money.

B. Yes man who will work for beer and ******* and do what I train him to train me to do.

Hmmmm........

No lie this was a good one lol...

[Scipio2009]

How dare the Russian boxer who barely speaks enlish hire a Russian trainer! If he had only hired an American trainer, I would have rooted for him to destroy Ward, but since he hired a Russian trainer, I'm so glad Ward lost to him and then hit him in the balls! Yesss!!!! And now I just hope Artur Beterbiev, the next great American superstar, also beats up Kovalev! Yess!!!!

I dont get you man. Who is Beterbiev's coach anyway? Not a Russian?

I dont get why everyone blames Kovalev for the JDJ thing. It seems to me like JDJ is the one who doesnt know what he's doing. They have an outdated "more is always better" attitude towards physical training, which is probably what burned Kovalev out. The miles he was running some days was absolutely insane. Secondly, JDJ was giving Kovalev horrible advice about hitting Ward's ribs inside until he "broke Ward's ribs." In reality, clinch shots almost never break ribs at that level of boxing, so all that advice actually did was help tire out Kovalev's arms, and give Ward a chance to fight inside, the only area Ward was having any success in their two fights.

Kovalev has also said in many interviews that he actually DOES want a teacher, and that the real problem with JDJ was that JDJ didn't teach him anything, that basically Kovalev's amateur coaches were much better than JDJ, and that everything JDJ was trying to teach him were things he'd already been taught better elsewhere and weren't helping him. In support of this theory, we can see that JDJ has no other top level boxers in his stable, and that his best current boxer, Curtis Stevens, just came off a brutal knockout loss under his stewardship.

So, none of us will really know the exact story unless we were in camp with them, but as much as you see a pattern of Kovalev being an untrainable a**hole, I see just as much or more of a pattern of JDJ not being a good trainer, and of Kovalev complaining about that, and simply being honest about how he wasn't unhappy with the low quality of teaching he was getting from JDJ. The only thing that makes me lean towards blaming Kovalev, like you do, is that Abel Sanchez also had a falling out with him, but guess what, Abel Sanchez is also known for, essentially, overtraining boxers, in high altitude at that, and now we are seeing GGG decline at an insanely high rate in his early-and-mid-thirties, so once again it begs the question, why automatically believe the trainer? Because as I said, I see just as much or more evidence that not only JDJ, but also Abel Sanchez, may not know what they're doing, as I see evidence that Kovalev is to blame.

So, it might not be as simple as you think.

No one is saying that he can't hire a Russian coach; how about hiring a guy with more pedigree than bringing along one Olympian.

Anatoly Lomachenko was right there, likely willing and ready to coach. Alexander Zimin or Kostya Tzuyu, both guys who have helped bring along Povetkin, were there to be considered. Heck, he could've called up Viktor Petrochenko (renowned work with Dmitry Pirog and 'Czar' Glazkov) to train him. And that's without too much effort.

Rather than going with a trainer with some acclaim, Kovalev went with a no-name trainer that he's quite unlikely to actually listen to when things inevitably go bad again.

[Commie]

Tursunpalatov is Uzbek with attitude. He's gonna have the say in Camp.
Nobody can change Krushers game which is hard straights from different angles. The only way the new Coach helps him is making him train in a better way and maybe make him actually listen to advice that works

[Eff Pandas]

This seems like a well paid gig for holding mitts for this guy. That said if there isn't another near Ward-like guy around & Kov can get back into his old groove maybe he retakes over the division for a short time, but I feel like the blueprint is available now for anyone who saw the Ward fights so every fight from here out is gonna be a bigger challenge for Kov than previous comparable fights + I think the division gots some up & coming compelling contenders who'll test Kov or anyone else in the division.

[Kiowhatta]

Kovalev just wants a trainer who is not going to challenge him too much..just push him and work on his strengths rather than try to change Sergey's style and training habits; which understandably JDJ did not have to put up with.
There are plenty of fiery fighter-trainer relationships: how hard would it be to constantly get along in a high-pressure situation for 6-7 hours a day 7 days a week for 6-12 weeks?

At Krusher's age, he knows what his strengths and his preferred style are. It's still a shame he won't seemingly allow a critical eye to try and correct his bad habits because that can really diminish a fighter a great deal.

[Kiowhatta]

Abel Sanchez also had a falling out with him, but guess what, Abel Sanchez is also known for, essentially, overtraining boxers, in high altitude at that, and now we are seeing GGG decline at an insanely high rate in his early-and-mid-thirties, so once again it begs the question, why automatically believe the trainer? Because as I said, I see just as much or more evidence that not only JDJ, but also Abel Sanchez, may not know what they're doing, as I see evidence that Kovalev is to blame.

I totally agree with you about Abel Sanchez, who over-relies on scientific data to direct the approach he takes. I think he tries to change the DNA of a fighter according to the opponent rather than let a fighter keep his natural talents.
Case in point: When he took on Miguel Cotto, Cotto's natural strengths of his hooks and other trademark Cotto moves started to disappear.

As soon as Cotto I think got back with Freddie Roach; Freddie said: 'right let's get back to working on what you do naturally best', which worked as I think Cotto when on a win streak with Roach, after suffering losses with Sanchez.

[soul_survivor]

Kovalev has a long way back. Regardless of how I felt about the stoppage and the illegal blows that went in, even before that round, KOv did not look like a world class fighter (neither did Ward mind you). Heck, I remember posting after the weigh in that KOv did not look in the type of shape he is normally. yeah he is never particularly ripped but he normally looks healthy, last time he looked like the russian homeless guys who walk the streets in london.

He needs to dedicate himself or retire.

[Willy Wanker]

Options:

A. Trainer who will make me train and cost me a lot of money.

B. Yes man who will work for beer and ******* and do what I train him to train me to do.

Hmmmm........

Beer and coke and on the job training? **** man, I should train Kovalev.

If I was in his corner for the Ward rematch, I would have jumped in after Ward low-blowed Kovalev like Roger did for Floyd after Judah hit him low.

I would have made the fight continue.

[ShoulderRoll]

I totally agree with you about Abel Sanchez, who over-relies on scientific data to direct the approach he takes. I think he tries to change the DNA of a fighter according to the opponent rather than let a fighter keep his natural talents.
Case in point: When he took on Miguel Cotto, Cotto's natural strengths of his hooks and other trademark Cotto moves started to disappear.

As soon as Cotto I think got back with Freddie Roach; Freddie said: 'right let's get back to working on what you do naturally best', which worked as I think Cotto when on a win streak with Roach, after suffering losses with Sanchez.

Abel Sanchez never trained Cotto.

[stuff jones]

Why is him smiling headline worthy?