This past Saturday night, WBA, IBF and WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (28-0-1, 25 KOs) crushed his IBF mandatory challenger Nadjib Mohammedi (37-4, 23 KOs) of France within three painful (for the Frenchman) rounds. After the fight he talked to Konstantin Ustyantsev of the Championat about his latest ring appearance.
Sergey Kovalev continues to struggle as a box office draw, but remains one of the most watched fighters on cable television. Proof on the latter is found in the unified light heavyweight titlist’s recent 3rd round knockout win over mandatory challenger Nadjib Mohammedi. The July 25 HBO-televised averaged just north of 1 million viewers (1.014 million) over the course of less than nine minutes of ring action. The number is down from his past two bouts, which is to be expected. However, it fared better than a similarly (mis)matched bout around this time last year, when his 2nd round knockout of Blake Caparello played to less than 1 million homes.
It looked like a standard ‘win a bunch of non-descript fights to move up’ mandatory challenge going in. It played out as less than that in the ring. There was at least some hope the awkward approach of Nadjib Mohammedi could give the fight a couple competitive rounds. Kovalev has seen awkward before. He obliterated it on Saturday. Sergey Kovalev is no worse than 1A at Light Heavyweight. The politics of keeping belts means sometimes sitting through this sort of thing.
Sergey "Krusher" Kovalev (28-0-1, 25 KOs)* and Nadjib "IronDjib" Mohammedi (38-4, 23 KOs) started off the main event slow, just feeling each other out in the first round. At the start of the second round, Kovalev engaged in an aggressive attack on Mohammedi which knocked the challenger down. In the third round the chants for Kovalev began to ring out from the Las Vegas fans and the champion knocked down Nadjib again. This time the referee stopped the fight at 2:38.
Sergey "Krusher" Kovalev (28-0-1, 25 KOs)* and Nadjib "IronDjib" Mohammedi (38-4, 23 KOs) started off the main event slow, just feeling each other out in the first round. At the start of the second round, Kovalev engaged in an aggressive attack on Mohammedi which knocked the challenger down. In the third round the chants for Kovalev began to ring out from the Las Vegas fans and the champion knocked down Nadjib again. This time the referee stopped the fight at 2:38.
Sergey "Krusher" Kovalev (28-0-1, 25 KOs)* and Nadjib "IronDjib" Mohammedi (38-4, 23 KOs) started off the main event slow, just feeling each other out in the first round. At the start of the second round, Kovalev engaged in an aggressive attack on Mohammedi which knocked the challenger down. In the third round the chants for Kovalev began to ring out from the Las Vegas fans and the champion knocked down Nadjib again. This time the referee stopped the fight at 2:38.
By Francisco Salazar - (LAS VEGAS, NEV.) - That was easy. Or at least, Sergey Kovalev made it look easy. Kovalev made short work of Nadjib Mohammedi, stopping him in the third round at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Kovalev successfully defended his multiple world title belts in the process. The outcome was expected as Kovalev demonstrated again why some consider him to be the top light heavyweight in boxing today. Unfortunately, Mohammedi bore the brunt of that, overmatched despite having won 13 bouts in a row prior to the Kovalev fight. Mohammedi was Kovalev's mandatory for the IBF title, stopping Anatoliy Dudchenko in June of last year. Kovalev, who stopped Jean Pascal on March 14 in Montreal, was also defending his WBO and WBA world title belts. After an opening round, Mohammedi, who resides in Marseilles, France and is of Algerian descent, attempted to use his awkward style to his advantage. But Kovalev's pedigree began to become evident in the second round, where the tide turned dramatically in Kovalev's favor. Kovalev dropped Mohammedi midway through the second round, courtesy of a barrage of punches that began with an overhand right. To his credit, Mohammedi fought back, but it looked as though the inevitable would come should Mohammedi stay within Kovalev's range.
WBO, WBA and IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion Sergey "Krusher" Kovalev (27-0-1, 24 KOs) will compete in his first mandatory title defense against Nadjib "Irondjib" Mohammedi (37-3, 23 KOs) on Saturday, July 25 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas, Nevada. The co-feature will include a ten-round light heavyweight match-up between Jean Pascal (29-3-1, 17 KOs) and Yuniesky Gonzalez (16-0, 12 KOs). Tickets are on sale now and start at $25. Tickets can be purchased through TicketMaster and all MGM Resorts Properties Ticket Offices. The HBO World Championship Boxing® telecast begins at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.
In the build up to Saturday's bout at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nev., the resignation amongst media and boxing fans is Sergey Kovalev will stop Nadjib Mohammedi and retain his multiple world title belts. That could be the case as Kovalev has mostly dominated or destroyed his opposition as a pro. Mohammedi has been looked at as an afterthought in this fight, while there has been talk of Kovalev possibly facing Andre Ward or Jean Pascal in a rematch of their March 14 bout.
Ryan Burton catches up with undefeated IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev to discuss his mandatory defense against Nadjib Mohammedi. WBO, WBA and IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion Sergey "Krusher" Kovalev (27-0-1, 24 KOs) will compete in his first mandatory title defense against Nadjib "Irondjib" Mohammedi (37-3, 23 KOs) on Saturday, July 25 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas, Nevada. The co-feature will include a ten-round light heavyweight match-up between Jean Pascal (29-3-1, 17 KOs) and Yuniesky Gonzalez (16-0, 12 KOs). Tickets are on sale now and start at $25. Tickets can be purchased through TicketMaster and all MGM Resorts Properties Ticket Offices. The HBO World Championship Boxing® telecast begins at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.