By Norm Frauenheim-
LAS VEGAS – Imagine trying to demolish what you once designed. It sounds awkward and it probably is if you’re an architect suddenly hired to bring down a building you constructed.
But boxing isn’t architecture. It’s about changing roles and changing sides. One day, you’re drawing up the blueprint. The next day, you’re swinging the wrecking ball.
So it is for Abel Sanchez, who finds himself in the opposite corner Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in an attempt to bring down a feared fighter he helped create.
Sergey Kovalev was just another Russian in 2010 when Sanchez became his trainer.
Then, Sanchez didn’t exactly foresee himself in Nadjib Mohammedi’s corner as the mastermind in an attempted plot to derail Kovalev’s swift emergence as a potential successor to the pound-for-pound throne soon to be vacated by Floyd Mayweather Jr.
He was only certain that Kovalev would become a star.
“I told him, I told him he would be where he is right now,’’ Sanchez said Thursday after a news conference for the light-heavyweight bout (HB0, 10 p.m. ET/PT).
For eight fights between October, 2010 and December, 2011, Sanchez trained Kovalev. Kovalev won all eight by stoppage. Only in hindsight is it evident that Kovalev was then beginning to discover an identity now summed by his nickname, Krusher. He’s been the real wrecking ball. Everybody, even Bernard Hopkins, has been crushed by lethal power complemented by unshakable poise.
Sanchez knew he had a future champion in his gym. But he also knew he had to make tough choice. Middleweight champ Gennady Golovkin was there, too.
“Sometimes, we make choices that maybe we are forced to make,’’ Sanchez said.
What happened after that decision, however, is a matter of some debate. It also appears to be at the heart of a simmering rivalry.
Stories about sparring sessions between Golovkin and Kovalev began to circulate. Sanchez told the media that GGG once knocked down Kovalev. He also was quoted as saying that he thought Golovkin had a higher ring IQ than Kovalev.
The comments had to get back to Kovalev, who is getting to know English as well as he knows his way around the ring. Translation: Very little escapes him.
When asked about Sanchez during an international conference call, Kovalev said:
“Who is this Abel? I don’t know any Abel.’’
Kovalev didn’t have to say anything more. It’s clear he intends to show that Sanchez made the wrong choice in 2011.
“I want to show in this fight just who I really am,’’ said Kovalev (27-0-1, 24 KOs), who sounds as if he is motivated by what he believes was a sub-par performance in an eighth-round round stoppage of Jean Pascal in March.
Betting odds indicate that Mohammedi (37-3, 23 KOs), a Frenchman of Algerian descent, has no chance no matter what motivates Kovalev or who is in his corner
Mohammedi is a 33-to-1 underdog, according to odds posted on a sheet at the Mandalay Sports book late Thursday. The line is surprisingly lopsided, so much so that Mohammedi has nothing to lose. If it goes the distance, he probably earns another good payday.
“When I’m told we have no chance, that means we have every chance,’’ Mohammedi co-manager Vince Caruso said.
Best guess: Mohammedi’s best chance rests in what Sanchez knows about Kovalev. Sanchez was giving no hints Thursday as to what Mohammedi’s game plan might be. No surprise there. Instead, he praised Kovalev for the progress he’s made under trainer John David Jackson.
“He evolved,’’ Sanchez said. “He’s a world champion now. I think guys, when they become world champions, get better anyway. They have something to protect. They have something they don’t want to lose. They work harder.
“He’s a much better fighter because of all of those things and because he’s got a very good coach in John David.’’
A personal rivalry is an expected element, said Sanchez, who has been working corners long enough to know that emotion can turn an ordinary fight into great one.
“He has a very competitive nature,’’ Sanchez said. “He knows that one day he might fight another one of my guys. He might fight Golovkin, if it ever gets to that point.
“It’s professional competitiveness that sometimes gets mistaken for animosity. During the news conference, he looked over at me and I winked at him. He kind of acknowledged me.
“But you know what? It’s not personal. This is business, just business.’’
A business full of unexpected corners.
