According to ESPN, boxing sensation Sergey "The Crusher" Kovalev is set to return to the Circle and will appear in the match against Sweden's Robin Safa on Feb. 17 against Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk.
A three-time light heavyweight world champion who nearly unified the entire 175-pound at his peak, Kovalev was a standout player in terms of talent, power, and technique, but failed to make a breakthrough in two fights with American Andy Ward, one of which was a recognized black whistle, and the second was defeated by his opponent's frequent low strikes.
In 2019, Kovalev scored four divisional titles against Mexico's Canelo Alvarez when he was knocked out in the 11th round, but he trailed by a narrow score of -94 by the end of the fight.
After Kovalev was rumored to have received a hefty $8 million appearance fee against Alvarez, he lived a comfortable life away from the ring until he returned to boxing in May 2022, beating Tver Pulev, the younger brother of the famous fighter Kubot Pulev, on points in a 200-pound welterweight bout.
After the victory over Pulev, Kovalev is once again away from boxing, and his next fight with Safa will be Kovalev's first bout in 21 months, and it will be interesting to see how much he has left.
Kovalev is now 40 years old and will turn 41 in three months, some people believe that the reason why he appeared in the Fuli and Usyk battle mat match is purely because the organizer Saudi Arabia specially invited him to make up the numbers in order to attract the public's attention, considering Kovalev's age and form, this fight is more like an "exhibition match", but you have to admire Saudi Arabia's ability to operate, that is, to get fans interested in the fight as much as possible.
The Kovalev vs. Safa fight will once again take place in the 200-pound welterweight division, and fans can't help but ask: Who is Safa?The 31-year-old Safa is ranked 63rd in the world overall, and his professional record is not bad - 16 wins, 12 knockouts, and a heavy gunner in terms of knockout rate, but unfortunately the quality of his fights in the past 7 years of his career has been too mediocre, and the boxrec fighter database shows that Safa has had all his fights so far with 0 or 1 stars, never had a 2-star fight, and never reached 10 rounds, let alone 12 rounds of the title, all of which were 6 rounds. 8 rounds of fighting, so it is not difficult to imagine his experience, however Safa is young after all, and at the same time 1The height of 90 meters is also significantly better than Kovalev's, so there is still the possibility of an upset in the confrontation.
Since the 2019 match against Alvarez, Kovalev's bout has been low due to the fact that he has lost the motivation to compete in the ring as a millionaire, and as for this comeback, some people have joked that either the money is almost spent, or he wants to return to boxing to earn some pocket money, but the fans are concerned about what kind of performance Kovalev has performedCan you even be knocked out of the ring by your opponent?
Throughout his career, Kovalev has defeated Nathan Cleverley, Bernard Hopkins, Jean Pascal, Ered Alvarez, Anthony Yade and other famous fighters, and according to Kovalev's achievements, he is expected to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame when he completely retires from boxing, and he is also one of the toughest fighters in Russian boxing history.