Sergey Kovalev is willing to fight any of the top dogs in the Light Heavyweight division after crushing Vyacheslav Shabranskyy in two rounds at the Theater in Madison Square Garden in New York this past Saturday night. Kovalev regained one of his world titles with the victory after back to back but controversial defeats to Andre Ward. Ward surprisingly relinquished the belts by announcing his retirement in September, leaving three belts vacant and now the light heavyweight division is much clearer with Kovalev’s destruction of Shabranskyy. There are four belts and four champions now in the light heavyweight division.

Sergey is the world champion of the WBO, and his goal is to be the best light heavyweight in the world and would like a chance to fight for the WBC, WBA, and IBF world titles in 2018.

Sergey Kovalev has a tentative date scheduled for March in New York

The 34-year-old Russian knockout artist still looked like an elite fighter this Saturday night, burying any doubts that the Ward losses had damaged him mentally. Kovalev has moved on from the losses and maintains that the fights with Ward help change some bad habits that affected his previous performances. Sergey says he is now a new man and looks forward to attempting to regain his old throne of the light heavyweight division. Main Events promoter Kathy Duva who promotes Sergey already has a tentative date set with HBO for Kovalev’s return for perhaps March with the Theater at the Garden once again being the likely venue.

Sergey Kovalev potential opponents for 2018

There are a number of opponents for Kovalev’s return in March that will make for an interesting fight. Newly crowned WBA champion Dmitry Bivol (12-0, 10 KOs) is a potential opponent, though promoter Kathy Duva feels the fight is not ripe enough yet to make. She would prefer to first make a unification bout with newly crowned IBF world champion Artur Beterbiev (12-0, 12 KOs) who has a long rivalry with Sergey dating back to their amateur days.

However, Beterbiev is going to through a promotional dispute with his current promoter and until that is resolved; a unification bout between the two is not realistic at the moment. That finally leaves the longtime WBC champion Adonis Stevenson (29-1, 24 KOs) who for one reason or another has failed on multiple occasions to come to terms to fight Kovalev.

Stevenson’s selection of opponents has suggested to the boxing world that he never had any intention of fighting Kovalev and perhaps never will.

The most likely candidate to be Kovalev’s next opponent could be Sullivan Barrera (21-1, 14 KO’s) who was victorious this past Saturday night on the undercard. Barrera is a top light heavyweight contender and is promoted by Main Events which makes the fight much easier to make. Barrera does have options and will be presented with two offers both world title opportunities against either Kovalev or Dmitry Bivol. Barrera’s team will choose which path for a world title shot.
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