Sergey Kovalev: I lost my mind when I got famous

Sergey Kovalev returns to the ring tomorrow in Atlantic City when he faces Eleider Alvarez in the light heavyweight title main event on HBO, and the 35-year-old Russian veteran admits that he let fame get the better of him earlier in his career.

He also continued to take shots at former trainer John David Jackson, even without saying his name:

“I lost my mind when I started to get famous. And I also didn’t have a coach in my training camp. I now have coaches in my training camps. (Before) all of my training camps were done myself, and of course some training camps were good, and some were not. … My coach working with me for the fight, Abror Tursunpulatov, I feel much more professional, because we’ve delivered and went through mistakes. I hope this Saturday, I will show my best skills and what I came to do.”

Kovalev (32-2-1, 28 KO) has won two straight since his pair of losses to Andre Ward in 2016 and 2017, but Alvarez (23-0, 11 KO) is his first fight against a serious contender since facing Ward. We’ll see if there’s more wear and tear — mentally or physically — on Kovalev that the likes of Vyacheslav Shabranskyy and Igor Mikhalkin weren’t equipped to expose.