Australian light heavyweight Blake Caparello is the latest brave Aussie to sign on to face a scary/endearing Eastern Bloc puncher. Following in the footsteps of Daniel Geale, who agreed to fight Kazakhstan’s Gennady Golovkin last week, Caparello (19-0-1, 6 KO) has signed to face Russia’s Sergey Kovalev in Atlantic City on August 2 on HBO. Say what you want about my country, but you can’t say that we’re not plucky/stupid.
Realistically, the fight is a little bit of a disappointment for Kovalev (24-0-1, 22 KO). Then again, every fight was going to be a letdown for “Krusher” after his main rival, light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson, fled to rival network Showtime in the dead of night with a briefcase full of cash. Still, even ignoring that fiasco, Caparello is a bit of a disappointment as an opponent for a fan favourite like Kovalev. He’s not ranked in the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board top 10 at 175 pounds and has never fought a legitimate light heavyweight contender.
Still, if rangy underdog Chris Algieri upsetting Kovalev’s fellow lovable Eastern European Ruslan Provodnikov on the weekend taught us anything, it’s to overlook tall people at your peril. Caparello poses some risks. He’s an awkward southpaw who moves in and out and will have a two inch reach advantage. I doubt that’ll be enough to hang with a smart puncher like Kovalev, but you never know (with tall people).
The televised card will also feature welterweight Brandon Rios (31-2-1, 23 KO), who will attempt to bounce back from the awful beating he sustained at the hands of Manny Pacquiao last year. His opponent will be Argentine tough man Diego Chavez (23-1, 19 KO), last seen on US shores in a game losing effort against Keith Thurman. You never know what might happen in that one — Rios’ face first style doesn’t exactly scream “longevity.” That fight will take place at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.
Anyway, here’s a gif of Kovalev being Kovalev and a piece by friend of the site Rafe Bartholomew which explains why Kovalev is such a dude.
