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Former WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey ‘The Krusher’ Kovalev 34-4-1 (29) has revealed his motivation to keep on boxing ahead of his cruiserweight debut against Tervel Pulev 16-0 (13) at The Kia Forum in Inglewood, California on Saturday night.
“My motivation to keep going? First is money and money is energy,” the 39-year-old Russian laughed. “Second is my son. I want to become world champion once again so he can see that ‘don’t ever give up’. Right now, it is all for my kids. I tell them and show them to follow your dreams and your dreams will come true. If I ended my boxing career right now, I would feel uncomfortable for the rest of my life.
“Since I lost my title to [Saul] Canelo [Alvarez], I am not on the top. Since I changed to cruiserweight it has changed everything, most importantly I don’t have to worry about losing the weight. Actually, the last two years fighting at light heavyweight and making 175 was miserable for me.”
2019 “was a crazy year” for Kovalev. In February, Sergey won back the title from Eleider Alvarez. Then the WBO ordered a mandatory defense against Anthony Yarde that was first scheduled June in Russia. He arrived in Russia one month before the fight and “was right on weight at 182”. The fight was soon cancelled the first week of June and rescheduled for August 24 “so I went back home to US and during those three weeks we celebrated my wife’s birthday and all the sudden I got back to 200 pounds”, which is his regular walk-around weight. Training camp for the new date began June 20 and on July 20 he returned to Russia.
“The day after the Yarde win, I got the offer to fight Canelo and two weeks later returned to training camp. Some fighters fight for their legacy, I fight to fight. I have never turned down a fight,” Kovalev said.
“The night of the Canelo fight, we are at the door to begin the ring walk and a fella with a headset came to us and said, ‘we are not ready, we have to wait for the other fights (the UFC card) to finish’. We waited for another hour. An hour! I went to the corner after round seven and I said to Buddy, ‘Buddy, I am spent, totally’ and he said ‘I see’.
“Now I feel fresh. Making 175 was killing me. I was at the point either quit or move up in weight. Now I can eat everything at any time.
“This is a new step in my boxing career. I plan to fight a couple more years. No more than three years. I am not sure how many fights it will take to get a title. But if I win a title next year – then I will stop.
“How long will it take to get a title shot? It could be a two or three year wait, but we will see. I can fight into my 40’s no problem. I just had two years off. I am fresh.”
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