Former unified light heavyweight champion Sergey "Krusher" Kovalev (30-2-1, 26 KOs) is less than a week away from the opportunity to win back one of his titles.
On November 25th at The Theater in New York's Madison Square Garden, Kovalev will face Vyacheslav Shabranskyy (19-1, 16 KOs) for the vacant WBO light heavyweight title. Their bout will headline an HBO televised tripleheader.
Kovalev will attempt to bounce back from back to back defeats at the hands of Andre Ward.
The IBF, WBA, WBO world titles became vacant after Ward announced his retirement from the sport a few months ago.
After suffering a stoppage loss to Ward in their June rematch, Kovalev had bad falling out with his head trainer of the last few years, John David Jackson.
Kovalev has now hired veteran amateur trainer Abror Tursunpulatov.
The Russian puncher admits that he was basically training himself and doing whatever we wanted - where now there is a strict set of rules with Abror. And he also feels that there is a much better level of communication because they speak the same language.
Kovalev strongly feels that leaving Jackson and hiring Abror was the perfect move for the future progression of his career.
"I worked hard by myself, but with Abror, these workouts are different dosages, intervals. If today we're working very hard, then next day is a little bit lighter, working on my style. When I work myself, I work hard every day. I didn't give a rest to my body, it wasn't good," Kovalev said.
"We're just working on my strengths, what I can do the best. We are working on my body, my style, and what I can do much better. I'm very glad to work with Abror. We understand each other; we speak the same language. It's the most important thing. I understand what he wants.
"If he says something about an exercise and I don't agree, we discuss it and we find compromise, some solutions. It's almost never happening, because what he's giving me, I understand it can help me. We are the same mentally, I understand where we go, for what, and why. I feel very comfortable to work with him and very happy he has control of my training camps and my conditioning for my shape."
2023-10-20 00:25:16
