BoxRec

Surprised no-one's started a thread on this yet - Kovalev v Chilemba is coming up on Monday, being shown live on B0xnati0n from 17:30 onwards. I know Chilemba is rubbish to watch, but I fully expect Kovalev to look great and be the first man to stop him. Then onwards to the Ward fight in November

Was really looking forward to watching this after work on Monday. Just moved into a new apartment which has a communal dish that somehow doesn't pick up BN's frequency, excellent

I think Chilemba is the best stay busy opponent for Kovalev prior to a Ward bout. He's tough to watch, but he's very slippery and despite facing good opposition has never been stopped. I had him winning the first Bellew fight and beating Eledier Alvarez a few months ago, but when faced with Kovalev's fire power I'm not sure that he'll try to do much more than survive.

I expect Kovalev to stop him too, but it may take a while.

DannyMCR wrote:Was really looking forward to watching this after work on Monday. Just moved into a new apartment which has a communal dish that somehow doesn't pick up BN's frequency, excellent

Do you have Internet? You could get a fire stick and you can access BN through that same as Netflix. I still get my BN through Virgin but I have moved my Netflix so I can access it through my fire stick. My mate put Kodi on it as well which is awesome!

Ive never been the biggest fan of Chilemba's style but its effective and he's a good fighter who's been on the wrong end of 1 or 2 unlucky decisions including last time against Alvarez,i remember scoring his 1st fight with Bellew a draw so wasnt complaining about that,he's a tricky customer with durability and can be quite hard to nail clean,i think Kovalev will stop him though,late on after dominating throughout,Kovalev is a good boxer and i dont think Isaac will want to engage,leaving Sergey to pile up the points before getting a KO later on

I've only ever seen the Bellew fights, one on TV and one live (wasn't it on the undercard of Froch-Kessler 2?) and thought he was unspectacular both times. Solid sort of fighter, tough, but nothing special. Even before Kovalev's destructions of 'Nard and Pascal, I'm sure Chilemba had been mooted as an opponent and I've always figured he'd give him rounds at least.

I remembered him as being quite a little bloke actually and was surprised that he is a couple of inches taller than Kovalev, who always seems massive. I tried to re-watch the first Bellew fight to get an idea about what sort of fighter he was and couldn't get past just how tall and drained Bellew looked at LHW, and his terrible punch technique. I got bored and watched something else.

I will watch as Kovalev is my favorite but can't give any predictions as to how Chilemba will fare as I cannot watch him fight without falling asleep. I don't think he has anything to trouble Sergey, though.

Stuarty30 wrote:

DannyMCR wrote:Was really looking forward to watching this after work on Monday. Just moved into a new apartment which has a communal dish that somehow doesn't pick up BN's frequency, excellent

Do you have Internet? You could get a fire stick and you can access BN through that same as Netflix. I still get my BN through Virgin but I have moved my Netflix so I can access it through my fire stick. My mate put Kodi on it as well which is awesome!

I have BT broadband but they messed up the order so its probably gonna be a couple more weeks before it goes live. I've got a fire stick and was thinking of getting the BN app but there's a lot of one star reviews saying the streams are really unreliable. Could try to stream it I suppose but its not as enjoyable

fights starting now,just doing the worlds longest build up should be in the ring in about 5 minutes.could get used to this boxing on a monday night

He's got a woman trainer, she's telling him what to do has the world gone MAD

Londonirish wrote:He's got a woman trainer, she's telling him what to do has the world gone MAD

Whatever next? A woman Prime Minister

Stuarty30 wrote:

Londonirish wrote:He's got a woman trainer, she's telling him what to do has the world gone MAD

Whatever next? A woman Prime Minister

I took 7/2 which i thought was big he went out to 4/1 to win on points, a win is a win tho....

I've said many times that Ward will beat Kovalev, I'm more sure of it than ever after that performance.

Boxerbeetle wrote:I've said many times that Ward will beat Kovalev, I'm more sure of it than ever after that performance.

I tend to agree but I wouldn't take that performance as a factor. Chilemba is impossible to look good against plus this was a nothing fight.

Boxerbeetle wrote:I've said many times that Ward will beat Kovalev, I'm more sure of it than ever after that performance.

I agree, think Ward beats him comfortably. Only way Kovalev wins is by KO and I can't see that happening.

samwbr wrote:

Boxerbeetle wrote:I've said many times that Ward will beat Kovalev, I'm more sure of it than ever after that performance.

I agree, think Ward beats him comfortably. Only way Kovalev wins is by KO and I can't see that happening.

I think Ward wins but he'll need to be clever about it. He won't be able to rough Kovalev up the way he likes to.

Ward could actually rough him up all night if he wants too. Very underrrated skills and strength on the inside.

Its a total mismatch for me. Ward can pick and choose how he beats him.

Don't be surprised to see Ward get the stoppage either. He'll be landing big counters all night.

TheLeprechaun wrote:Ward could actually rough him up all night if he wants too. Very underrrated skills and strength on the inside.

Its a total mismatch for me. Ward can pick and choose how he beats him.

Don't be surprised to see Ward get the stoppage either. He'll be landing big counters all night.

Ward's only ever stopped one big name fighter. He ain't stopping Kovalev. Ward definitely has strength on the inside, but he'll never have faced an opponent as strong as Kovalev, and he's never faced a hitter like Kovalev.

gilgamesh wrote:

TheLeprechaun wrote:Ward could actually rough him up all night if he wants too. Very underrrated skills and strength on the inside.

Its a total mismatch for me. Ward can pick and choose how he beats him.

Don't be surprised to see Ward get the stoppage either. He'll be landing big counters all night.

Ward's only ever stopped one big name fighter. He ain't stopping Kovalev. Ward definitely has strength on the inside, but he'll never have faced an opponent as strong as Kovalev, and he's never faced a hitter like Kovalev.

Kovalev will probably just lose a wide decision but it depends on whether or not he accepts that Ward is the better man like all of Wards opponents have. Both they and Ward then settle for Ward UD. Kovalev will have to settle for Ward UD or get knocked out. I get the feeling he will settle for Ward UD but some fighters would rather be knocked out than lose a decision.

TheLeprechaun wrote:

gilgamesh wrote:

TheLeprechaun wrote:Ward could actually rough him up all night if he wants too. Very underrrated skills and strength on the inside.

Its a total mismatch for me. Ward can pick and choose how he beats him.

Don't be surprised to see Ward get the stoppage either. He'll be landing big counters all night.

Ward's only ever stopped one big name fighter. He ain't stopping Kovalev. Ward definitely has strength on the inside, but he'll never have faced an opponent as strong as Kovalev, and he's never faced a hitter like Kovalev.

Kovalev will probably just lose a wide decision but it depends on whether or not he accepts that Ward is the better man like all of Wards opponents have. Both they and Ward then settle for Ward UD. Kovalev will have to settle for Ward UD or get knocked out. I get the feeling he will settle for Ward UD but some fighters would rather be knocked out than lose a decision.

They could fight 10 times and Ward would never stop Kovalev. Ward may well win a decision that's not difficult to imagine, a Ward victory by KO is extremely unlikely.

Credit to Chilemba he's a seriously hard bastard. As has been mentioned he's hard to look good against but he was always throwing back.

Ward v Kovalev is still an appealing fight. You can't condemn Kovalev based on this performance.

Wasn't a great performance from Kovalev,he looked a bit flat and was one paced throughout,taking nothing away from Chilemba who made it hard for Sergey to land clean but even when Kovalev scored the KD and hurt Isaac he wouldn't or couldn't press,Barry Jones mentioned he thought Kovalev was tired and i thought that too but i dont know,he didn't look too bad so??

Still he won well,i had it 117-110,maybe could've been a bit closer but no doubting Kovalev was the winner but he did look a bit "old"

Maybe Kovalev took it steady so as not to frighten Ward into pulling out of their bout?

handsofstone wrote:Wasn't a great performance from Kovalev,he looked a bit flat and was one paced throughout,taking nothing away from Chilemba who made it hard for Sergey to land clean but even when Kovalev scored the KD and hurt Isaac he wouldn't or couldn't press,Barry Jones mentioned he thought Kovalev was tired and i thought that too but i dont know,he didn't look too bad so??

Still he won well,i had it 117-110,maybe could've been a bit closer but no doubting Kovalev was the winner but he did look a bit "old"

He's looked old for a while - he looks mid 40's ...In all serious though I know what you mean.

Teddy's Toupee wrote:Maybe Kovalev took it steady so as not to frighten Ward into pulling out of their bout?

No way!!!

lefty wrote:

handsofstone wrote:Wasn't a great performance from Kovalev,he looked a bit flat and was one paced throughout,taking nothing away from Chilemba who made it hard for Sergey to land clean but even when Kovalev scored the KD and hurt Isaac he wouldn't or couldn't press,Barry Jones mentioned he thought Kovalev was tired and i thought that too but i dont know,he didn't look too bad so??

Still he won well,i had it 117-110,maybe could've been a bit closer but no doubting Kovalev was the winner but he did look a bit "old"

He's looked old for a while - he looks mid 40's ...In all serious though I know what you mean.

He still looks like a young Russ Abbot to me.