ATLANTIC CITY, NJ - AUGUST 04: Eleider Alvarez punches Sergey Kovalev during the WBO/IBA Light Heavyweight Title bout at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City on August 4, 2018 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
WBO light heavyweight titleholder Eleider Alvarez and Sergey Kovalev will meet in a rematch on Feb. 2 in Frisco, Texas, with the expected bout made official on Saturday at a press event in New York.
The fight will air on ESPN the night before the Super Bowl.
Alvarez (24-0, 12 KO) upset Kovalev (32-3-1, 28 KO) on Aug. 4 in Atlantic City, coming from behind to knock the Russian out and take his title in the seventh round. Kovalev led on all three scorecards at the time of the stoppage.
HBO passed on a rematch of the bout, leading promoter Main Events to team up with Top Rank as part of Top Rank’s ESPN TV deal.
Kovalev, 35, will be working with new trainer Buddy McGirt after a three-fight run with Abror Tursunpulatov, which followed the fighter’s long and eventually turbulent pairing with John David Jackson. Alvarez, 34, will be looking to prove that the win in the first fight was no fluke. It figures to be a compelling rematch, one I could see going either way.
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