Fans and the media alike are mesmerized by Kovalev’s ability to knockout the majority of his opponents, but Caparello has the ability to go the distance and that could prove troublesome for Krusher, who has never gone more than 8 rounds (and has only done that once in his career: against Darnell Boone on Oct. 9, 2010). Blake is no stranger to lasting deep into the later rounds of a fight, with 14 of his 20 career professional bouts going the distance. He has four complete 12-round fights and five complete 10-round fights. According to Lou DiBella, Blake’s promoter, “Blake is very confident in his ability. He is a gifted boxer and very athletic. For Blake to be successful in this fight, he will need to use his boxing ability and not stand in front of Sergey. He will need to get Sergey’s respect and then look to take him into the later rounds. It is an interesting match-up and I believe it’s going to be a heck of a fight.”
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“Il Capo”
Photo Courtesy of: DiBella Entertainment Ed Diller |
With all the hype surrounding a possible unification fight between Kovalev and Hopkins, Caparello is hoping Sergey is also looking past him. He does not feel any additional pressure about returning to the United States for only the second time in his career or about fighting on HBO. He said, “There’s no pressure for me. All the hype is about Sergey, so the pressure is on him. I don’t read into anything too much. I’m focused on my job and that is to win the WBO title.” Many fighters are unwilling to get in the ring with “Krusher” – not Caparello. When asked about whether or not he hesitated about accepting the fight he said, “I accepted immediately. We pushed hard for this fight. We love challenging ourselves.”
DiBella feels this fight is a win-win for Caparello, “There is a great advantage to fighting Kovalev: if you manage to hang in there with him, you are going to earn the respect of fans. There are a lot of guys who are afraid of Kovalev, but Blake isn’t. Blake is going to go out there and do his best to win. This is the fight he always wanted.” DiBella also provided this assessment of his fighter, “I knew Blake was a natural. His instincts are excellent. He does a lot of things right. I expect a great performance whether he wins or loses.”
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