Tuesday 21 November 2017 15:42, UK
Sergey Kovalev is back looking to rebuild his standing after the high-profile losses to Andre Ward, live on Sky Sports this weekend...
'Krusher' is back in action looking to not only return to winning ways, but rebuild his position at the top of the light-heavyweight division. Andre Ward took it all away but with the American now retired, the Russian can pick up a world title and fire out a reminder to his new-found rivals. And after splitting from long-standing trainer, John Davies Jackson, he has a new man in his corner for this one, Abror Tursunpulatov.
For me every fight is important but right now this is the situation where I lost the belts, but thank God I am fighting for them again
The Ukrainian is now based in the States so will be on home soil but knows he needs a solid base to spring a major surprise and beat Kovalev. He has lost once to another 175lbs star in Sullivan Barrera, but has been sparring with another, Dmitry Bivol, and super-middleweight world champion David Benavidez.
This is a very big event. Fighting for a world title - it's all or nothing.
The WBO world title was one of the three Ward won off Kovalev before freeing them up with his surprise September retirement. It will take Kovalev back to the very beginning of his rise, when he took it away from Nathan Cleverly in four ferocious rounds, back in 2013. Ward's recent retirement left the IBF and WBA Super along WBO belts free, with Artur Beterbiev (IBF) the first to fill one of the vacant voids, earlier this month.
'Krusher' has already got his sights on unifying the division, with the vacant WBO his platform. Will compatriots Bivol and Beterbiev take him on and what chance will Adonis Stevenson, who holds the WBC but has yet to dip his toe in the unification water, have? Krusher is on a mission but will he be the same after those two defeats?
Sullivan Barrera is another light-heavyweight who has suffered at the hands of Ward, but is yet to fight for a world title. He was the first to meet 'S.O.G' at light-heavyweight and took him the distance. Barrera then saw off Saturday's challenger Shabranskyy in a humdinger that saw them both go down in seven sensational rounds. The Cuban now takes on another light-heavyweight prospect Felix Valera, who carries an 81 per cent KO rate with him.
Down the weight ladder, super-featherweight star Jason Sosa faces one of Cuban's best-known fighters, two-weight world champion, Yuriorkis Gamboa. There is no world title on the line but even so, these two are always in entertaining fights. A win for Sosa could set up another world title shot, and even a rematch with Vasyl Lomachenko down the line, while a win for Gamboa could see him return to the super-featherweight top tier.
The iconic Madison Square Garden has the chance to re-establish itself as New York's premier boxing venue. It has not hosted a major fight since the St Patrick's Day showcase that saw Michael Conlan make his debut, eight months ago, while Brooklyn's Barclays Center has held plenty of high-profile fights throughout the year. There is the small matter of Vasyl Lomachenko-Guillermo Rigondeux at MSG next month, but first Kovalev makes his Midtown Manhattan debut.
Our latest Live Fight Night International starts at 3am on Sky Sports Action, with Kovalev's comeback the last of three live fights we are showing, his ringwalk is expected to be no earlier than 4.30am.
Watch Sergey Kovalev vs Vyacheslav Shabranskyy, from Madison Square Garden, New York, in the early hours of Sunday, November 26, live on Sky Sports.
