Triller Fight Club announced that heavyweight contender Jerry ‘The Slugger’ Forrest, (26-4-2, 20 KOs), of Newport News, VA will now face two-time world title challenger Kubrat ‘The Cobra’ Pulev (28-2 14 KOs), over ten rounds at the ‘Lineage of Greatness’ event set for Saturday, May 14 at the Forum in Los Angeles.
Forrest replaces Andrey Fedesov who was previously scheduled to face Pulev.
Forrest returns to battle following a hotly contested split-decision draw against top-rated heavyweight contender Michael Hunter on December 2, 2021 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City headlining TrillerVerz IV.
Earlier last year, Forrest battled to a majority draw against undefeated contender Zhilei Zhang, the fight taking place in Miami, FL at the Hard Rock Stadium on the undercard of the Canelo Alvarez / Avril Yildirim super middleweight world title Fight.
In the main event, Sergey Kovalev comes back from his knockout loss to Canelo Alvarez in 2019, to face heavy-handed Tervel Pulev, the 2012 bronze medalist at the Olympic games and the younger brother of two-time heavyweight world title challenger Kubrat Pulev.
Also featured on the undercard, son of a legend, Evan ‘Yung Holy’ Holyfield (9-0, 6 KOs), will compete in a scheduled six-rounder in the junior middleweight division. He is the son of three-time heavyweight world champion Evander ‘The Real Deal’ Holyfield. He will face Maurice Williams, 7-2-0 (3 KOs).
SERGEY KOVALEV VS. TERVEL PULEV (10 Rounds / Cruiserweight)
Sergey Kovalev last fought evenly with the current #1 Pound-for-Pound Fighter in the World, ‘Canelo Alvarez, before getting stopped in the 11th round. His illustrious career includes victories over Bernard Hopkins, Eleider Alvarez (twice), Jean-Pascal (twice), and Isaac Chilemba. He also holds two highly controversial losses to Andre Ward.
The heavy-handed Tervel Pulev, the 2012 Bronze Medalist at the Olympic Games, the younger brother of two-time heavyweight world title challenger Kubrat Pulev, returns to the ring following a knockout victory over Vikapita Meroro on July 29, 2021. He is currently the holder of the WBA International Cruiserweight Title.
KUBRAT PULEV VS. JERRY FORREST (10 Rounds / Heavyweight)
Kubrat’ The Cobra’ Pulev (28-2, 14 KOs) will clash with Andrey Fedosov (32-3, 26 KOs) over ten scheduled heavyweight rounds. Pulev is returning to action after a first-round knockout of Frank Mir on November 27, 2021, at the first-ever Triad Combat event in Arlington, TX. Pulev has defeated numerous heavyweight boxing contenders, including Samuel Peter, Hughie Fury, Dereck Chisora, Tony Thompson, Alexsandr Ustinov, and Alexander Dimitrenko. His only losses have come to Heavyweight World Champions Wladimir Klitschko and Anthony Joshua.
Two outstanding, evenly fought battles against top contenders Michael Hunter and Zhilei Zhang in 2021 have prepared Jerry’ Slugger’ Forrest (26-4-2 20 KOs) for the biggest fight of his career against Kubrat Pulev.
EVAN HOLYFIELD VS. MAURICE WILLIAMS
Also featured on the undercard, Son of a Legend, Evan’ Yung Holy’ Holyfield (9-0, 6 KOs), will compete in a scheduled six-rounder in the junior middleweight division. He is the son of Three-Time Heavyweight World Champion Evander “The Real Deal” Holyfield. He will face Maurice Williams, 7-2-0 (3 KOs).
PRO DEBUT OF EMILIANO VARGAS
Rounding out the card, The Fernando Vargas Dynasty continues with the highly anticipated professional debut of Seven-Time Amateur Champion, lightweight Emiliano ‘El General’ Vargas. He will be joining his highly regarded and undefeated brothers on the card at the star-making venue, junior middleweight Fernando ‘El Feroz’ Vargas, Jr. (5-0, 5 KOs) and Amado’ El Malvado’ Vargas (3-0, 2 KOs), competing in the featherweight division. They are the sons of junior middleweight world champion Fernando ‘El Feroz’ Vargas. All three bouts will take place over four rounds.
This Triller Fight Club PPV event TrillerVerz V is priced at $29.99. All traditional PPV TV platforms will carry the event in North America.
Triller's Trillerverz 5 show, an event themed with match-ups involving boxing families, is now thirty days away, as the event will occur at the Forum in Los Angeles on Saturday, May 14th. It will be streamed live on pay oer view and via TrillerVerz Subscription on Fite.TV. It will also be available on all major cable and satellite via iNDemand and commercial locations from Joe Hand Promotions. The includes former world light heavyweight champion Seregy Kovalev (pictured) facing Tervel Pulev at cruiserweight. Kovalev last fought competitively with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez until getting KO'd in the eleventh round. His career includes victories over Bernard Hopkins, Eleider Alvarez (twice), Jean-Pascal (twice), and Isaac Chilemba. He also holds two losses to Andre Ward, one which was controversial. The heavy-handed Pulev, a 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, is the younger brother of two-time heavyweight title challenger Kubrat Pulev. Tervel returns to the ring following a knockout victory of Vikapita Meroro on July 29, 2021.
Maybe it's a good cituation for Kovalev. He was obliged to fight at LHW before he got into the PED scandal, but now he's free of that weight limit. It looked like he wasn't doing well with weight-cuts later in his career. He at the downfall of his career anyway, but it definitely will be easier for him to compete at CW. This bout sounds like a decent warm-up matchup for Sergey after the time-off. Of course, he won't become a new CW threat, but in a case of good start at this division it can be possible to organize a couple of solid cash-out matches before retirement. If he loses to Tervel, he should retire.
weight drained and obviously not able to put any steam behind his shots he still boxed beautifully against canelo until he got caught clean and it was game over.
i fully believe the excruciating weight cut on short notice was the issue that he felt so powerless. he normally walks around above 200 before he starts a fight camp.
lack of power shouldn't be the issue for a heavier in shape kovalev.
if he's serious and can adjust and trim his aging body in top cruiserweight shape he could definitely get a shot at a title within the next 3 or 4 fights, if he beats the right guys.
Former light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev's return to the ring could be worrisome.
The 39-year-old has not fought since a Nov. 2019 knockout loss to Canelo Alvarez. The following years and months have not been so kind to him either.
An announced fight against Sullivan Barrera was scrapped due to COVID-19 in 2020, and another fight against Bektemir Melikuziev in 2021 was canceled after “Krusher” tested positive for synthetic testosterone.
Kovalev's circuitous path to the squared circle culminates Saturday when he makes his cruiserweight debut against Tervel Pulev at The Forum in Los Angeles in a Triller pay-per-view event.
Kovalev (34-4-1, 29 KOs) admits the near 2 ½ year layoff could prove to be problematic.
“Of course . When you don't fight for a long time, you lose boxing skills and fighting skills,” Kovalev told BS.com in an interview. “When I started sparring sessions [for this training camp], the first two weeks I couldn't touch my sparring opponents. I was very heavy, like 210 pounds. But then my boxing skills came back, and everything is fine.”
Kovalev said he plans on weighing between 187 to 190 for his fight against Pulev.
When asked if he will ever embark on a crusade at bridgerweight or heavyweight should he accomplish his goal of winning another title in a new weight class, Kovalev said: "I'm small even for cruiserweight."
Tasked with getting Kovalev up to speed is Hall of Fame fighter turned trainer Buddy McGirt.
“We're still working together. I am happy. Everything is going well and to plan with Buddy McGirt. It's amazing to fight,” said Kovalev. “Buddy was a very smart boxer and right now he is a very smart coach. It doesn't always turn out that way, for a good boxer to be a good coach. I learn a lot working with him. He's controlled my training process and gives me the kind of advice I need to be in the best shape for a fight. He doesn't overload or overtrain me. He stops me on time.”
Having gone 4-4 in his fights dating back to 2017 – with three of those losses being knockouts – Kovalev is in the twilight of his career.
He admits that his motivation to keep going as a near-40-year-old is to further his legacy as a champion once again, inspire his children, and earn money so that his family can have a more comfortable living.
“The hardest part of training now is being separated from my family,” said Kovalev. “At 29, I didn't have a family. But now, I have two kids and a wife, thanks to God. It's the most difficult part of my career right now.”
i prefered fedosov -pulev, because i like andrey and he's got some of that ko pop, but i think at this stage forrest does indeed have a real shot for the upset
I hate Triller. Dying to watch Kovalev fight, but it's hard to sit and watch an old Cyprus Hill dying for breath on the mic. Who goes to rap concerts? They're absolutely dreadful. I understand rock since those guitarists have insane talent, but rap has to be the worst media for concerts.