By Norm Frauenheim-
It’s hard to know what Sergey Kovalev knows about Thanksgiving, a uniquely American holiday. But he fights a couple days after Turkey day and if the Nov. 25 bout goes as expected, he’ll come away with a pretty good understanding.
Bolshoe spasibo
That’s Russian for thanks very much. Thanks, Google.
How ever it is pronounced, the guess here is that Kovalev will say it as often as the rest of us eat Turkey sandwiches in the hours and days after the last piece of pumpkin pie.
A victory over Vyacheslav Shabrankskyy in The Theater at New York’s Madison Square Garden in an HBO televised bout will allow Kovalev to hit the reset button and, moreover, forget about a 13-month stretch of controversy and frustration over two losses to Andre Ward.
First, he lost a decision to Ward last November in a bout most people thought he won. Then, he lost an eighth-round stoppage to Ward in a June rematch that was controversial for low blows, what the referee did or didn’t do and who he was or wasn’t.
Then, Ward retired and, by the way, bolshoe spasibo for that. There would have only been a lot of indigestion with a trilogy, mostly for Kovalev, still a compelling light heavyweight who continues to be ranked No. 5 in The Ring’s pound-for-pound edition.
“Right now, I feel all bad things are gone from my mind,’’ Kovalev said this week in a conference call. “Right now I concentrate, and I focus for the future of my boxing career. I’m ready to be again a world champion and collect my belts if somebody will be ready to unify the title.’’
It’s hard to imagine Kovalev thanking Ward in a language that doesn’t include some well-chosen obscenities. But Ward’s retirement did mean he vacated a title, the WBO’s version of the 175-pound belt, that will go the Kovalev- Shabrankskyy winner. That figures to be Kovalev, unless the guy he didn’t recognize in the Ward rematch shows up for opening bell for Shabranskyy. He said he wasn’t himself in the rematch.
Some of that can be blamed on Ward, who took away Kovalev’s deadly jab with his inside tactics while also eliminating some of his leverage by getting underneath him in an effective inside assault. It was as frustrating as it was maddening and it seemed to drain Kovalev’s energy, if not passion, for the task immediately in front of him.
Kovalev said he has adjusted. He has a new trainer, Arbor Tursunpulatov, instead of John David Jackson.
“I’m happy to work right now with my new coach,’’ Kovalev said. “He’s doing a great job and we understand each other because we speak and understand one language. We understand each other and I feel comfortable.’’
He also says he has eliminated the distractions. Distractions are supposed to be an American or maybe Filipino kind of thing. Think of Floyd Mayweather Jr. with bales of cash and a garage full of high-end cars, or Manny Pacquiao with karaoke. Trips back to Russia, however, appeared to knock Kovalev off his regimen, especially in the months before a long-awaited showdown with Ward, who retired unbeaten and at the top of the pound-for-pound debate.
“When I’m doing boxing, I should do boxing,’’ said Kovalev, who also discovered that an American author, Thomas Wolfe, might have been right when he said you can never go home. “Not another business or a lot of flights to come back and forth to Russia to spend free time. Because when I’m in Russia, I don’t have the time, like for locals and doing the boxing. Just a lot of meetings, a lot of businesses, a lot of wrong things.
“I mean, not sport at all. But right now, I’m here in America, and started a new chapter in my boxing career.’’
One victory beyond Ward might put Kovalev back on track to achieving the singular prominence that seemed to be within reach of his dangerous hands.
His promoter, Kathy Duva, thinks so.
“The first fight, I will say for the rest of my life, he didn’t lose,’’ Duva said of Ward-Kovalev 1. “The second one, he was fighting the referee and the fighter, but he lost to the No. 1 fighter in the world. That’s not coming back. You don’t fall too far when you’re that close with a guy who is that good. Ward has a style that is just very, very hard to beat, especially when he’s getting help.
“My feeling about this is that Sergey is must-see TV. Sergey is still one of the most compelling, exciting fighters in the world. Having lost a debatable decision or a debatable stoppage shouldn’t really derail somebody’s career all that much.
“And as things turned out, Sergey is in a position right now to, not only be right back on top, but to be right back on top of one of the most exciting and perhaps the deepest division in boxing.’’
A surprise, as things turn out, and a reason to say Bolshoe spasibo.
