Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (24-0-1, 22 KOs) has a reputation as a knockout artist but his challenger for the WBO Light Heavyweight World Title Blake “Il Capo” Caparello (19-0-1, 6 KOs) has a reputation for lasting deep into the later rounds of a fight where Krusher has never been before. On August 2nd everyone is dying to see whether Caparello can handle Sergey’s power long enough to see whether or not Sergey has the endurance to go the distance. Below is the scouting report for the match-up:
Category | Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev | Blake “Il Capo” Caparello |
| Age | 31 | 27 |
| Record | 24-0-1, 22 KOs | 19-0-1 (6 KOs) |
| Strength | Sergey’s biggest strength is his power. He has both one-punch power and he can mix it up. He has the ability to break opponents down with his power. | Caparello has incredible technical skills, easily out-pointing most of his opposition thus far. He is also very well conditioned and stays active, with this is his ninth bout in the past two years. |
| Weakness | Kovalev has been hit before, though not hurt, so his defense is questionable. He has not gone past eight rounds so endurance is an unknown. | Caparello lacks real punching power. He has only earned a knockout in six of his 20 professional fights. |
| Experience | Sergey has fought everybody that has been put in front of him. He has gone into other people’s hometowns and came through victorious. | Blake’s experience is gradually improving with each fight, he recently outpointed former ranked light heavyweight contender Elvir Muriqi |
| Power | Krusher has an abundance of power. It is his biggest advantage. He also puts punches together well. | Kovalev will have a big advantage in power as Caparello utilizes his technical skillset more than anything. |
| Speed | Kovalev has average speed. | Caparello has average speed. |
| Endurance | Sergey’s endurance has never been tested because he knocks out the majority of his opponents. He has never been past the eighth round. | Blake has great endurance, he successfully went 10-rounds in his most recent bout, and had three consecutive 12-round decision wins before that. |
| Accuracy | Kovalev puts bunches of punches together. He is very accurate with the one punch knockout. | Blake is a pretty accurate puncher. He puts together good counter-shots and has a very effective jab as well. |
| Defense | Sergey focuses on his offense more than his defense. | Blake is very defensive-minded, moves around the ring well and has not really gotten himself into danger thus far. |
| Chin | Krusher has never been down in a fight. | Blake’s chin is questionable because nobody has really gotten to it yet. |
| Style | Sergey is an offensive fighter who comes straight at his opponents. | Blake is a defensive-minded fighter with great technical skills offensively. |
| Intangibles | This is Sergey’s second straight fight where there has been the possibility of an even bigger fight on the horizon but he has managed to stay focused on the opponent in front of him | Caparello could have continued to quietly climb the rankings, but instead has decided to seize the moment and take a fight that most other fighters would rather avoid. |
| Crowd Support | Sergey is fighting in Atlantic City for the second time. He is trying to make it his home. It is close to Brooklyn where he has a big contingent of Eastern European fans who will make the trip to Revel. | Caparello has only fought in the US once before, and his name is not too well-known so he will most likely be in hostile territory. |
| The Match-Up |
If this fight goes past eight rounds everyone is anxious to see whether or not Caparello can seize the opportunity and out-box Sergey or if Sergey’s beast mode will take over in later rounds to finish off Caparello. |
Main Events’ CEO Kathy Duva, said, “In the Provodnikov-Algieri fight in June, we saw a previously untested underdog box his way to a world title against a widely-feared puncher. That was a big upset! I think Sergey Kovalev is better than Ruslan Provodnikov, but maybe Caparello is better than Algieri? We just don’t know and that’s why we fight the fights. And the great thing about Kovalev is that he makes every fight exciting!”
