Sergey Kovalev smashed by ELBOW in the face in first fight since Canelo Alvarez KO – but wins on cruiserweight debut

Sergey Kovalev was elbowed in the face by Tervel Pulev in his return to the boxing ring on Saturday night.

The former light-heavyweight world champion was at one point the dominant force in his division, but suffered four defeats and so is moving up in weight.

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Kovalev was twice beaten by Andre Ward back in 2016 and 2017.

He won back a world title, lost it by knockout to Eleider Alvarez, then won it back again by outpointing him in a rematch.

After successfully defending against Anthony Yarde in 2019, Kovalev fought Canelo Alvarez and was KOd again.

He was scheduled to return against Bektemir Melikuziev last year, but tested positive for synthetic testosterone and so the fight was scrapped.

Now, two-and-a-half years on from the Canelo loss, Kovalev has finally got back in the ring.

He did so on a Triller show against Tervel Pulev - brother of heavyweight title challenger Kubrat Pulev.

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The bout took place at cruiserweight - Kovalev's first contest in the new division.

He dominated the ten-rounder almost entirely with his jab.

It was a comfortable unanimous decision victory with scores of 98-92, 98-92 and 97-93.

The main talking point came in round seven though, as Pulev landed an elbow on Kovalev, which understandably staggered the Russian.

It did not impact the overall result though.

“After a long rest it was a little harder than usual,” Kovalev said.

“But I’m back. I’m okay. I’m gonna keep shape after this fight.

";Rest one week and then be back in the boxing gym. Next fight will be much more [better]. I promise you."

He added: “I worried about how I was going to be in this fight

“Pro boxing at a high level. More than one year, this is very big rest.

"My body don’t like this. I want to fight every three, four months.”