Sergey Kovalev Height, Age, Girlfriend, Wife, Children, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Sergey Kovalev

• Sergey Kovalev’s father left the family when he was around 3 years old. He later lived with his stepfather who died in 1995. Kovalev later reunited with his biological father.
  

  A childhood photo of Sergey Kovalev

• He liked playing ice hockey during childhood; however, he gave up the sport since his parents could not afford another kit after his kit was stolen from the dressing room.
  

  Sergey Kovalev playing ice hockey during his childhood

• He grew up in a tough environment and lived in a two-room apartment with his family. He washed cars in front of gas stations and sold newspapers when he was 5-6 years old to earn money.

• He played various other sports before starting boxing and wrestling at the age of 11 years in 1994. He practised in the private gym of Sergey Vladimirovich Novikov, who became his first coach.
  

  Sergey Kovalev (extreme left) during his childhood when he started boxing

• In 1997, when he was 14 years old, he started boxing in the amateur boxing championships and won many medals in different tournaments.
  

  Sergey Kovalev (centre) during his first amateur boxing tournament

• He has been in several street fights during his growing years. He once saw a man being beaten to death by a mob.

• He has been the champion of Russia and a medallist in various Military Championships around the world.
  

  A photo of Sergey Kovalev taken during a military boxing championship

• According to one source, he decided to turn professional in 2009 due to corruption and favouritism in the amateur boxing scene in Russia, and as per another source, he could not keep up with the intense competition and turned professional.

• Sergey’s love story with Natalya Kovaleva began in 2005 when she went to a gym with her friends. She did not like boxing but met Sergey there. They later fell in love and started dating.
  

  Sergey Kovalev with Natalya Kovaleva (right) when they started dating around 2005

• When he retired from amateur boxing, he had 195 wins and 18 losses.

• In 2009, he met Egis Klimas, a Russian businessman and boxing manager based in the USA. Klimas later became Kovalev’s manager, took him to the USA, and paid for his expenses from 2009 to 2011.
  

  Sergey Kovalev with his manager, Egis Klimas (left)

• On 5 December 2011, he fought with Roman Simakov in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Kovalev knocked his opponent down in the sixth round and the fight was stopped one round later and Kovalev was awarded a TKO (technical knockout) victory.
  

  Sergey Kovalev (left) during his boxing bout against Roman Simakov

• Simakov was taken to the hospital as he lost consciousness in the ring. He later lapsed into a coma and died three days later. It was the first time a fighter died inside the boxing ring in Russia.
  

  Roman Simakov being taken out of the ring on a makeshift structure

• Many fans criticised Kovalev after this fight who called him a heartless killer. Kovalev defended himself by saying that he and his wife went to church to pray for Simakov’s health. He also said that he wanted the fight to stop but neither Simakov’s corner nor the referee stopped the fight.

• Kovalev tried to talk to Simakov’s parents; however, they did not talk to him and filed a complaint against him. He was also questioned by police who termed Simakov’s death an accident.

• In 2016, Kathy Duva, Kovalev’s promoter, and Yahoo released a documentary titled Life After Death: The Toughest Fight For Sergey Kovalev which discussed the events leading up to Simakov’s death.
  

  Sergey Kovalev with his promoter, Kathy Duva (right)

• Kovalev won his first World Boxing Organization (WBO) light-heavyweight title on 17 August 2013 by defeating Nathan Cleverly via a knockout which was the first knockout defeat of Celeverly.
  

  Sergey Kovalev landing a punch on Nathan Cleverly (in blue shorts)

• He unified the WBO light-heavyweight, WBA (Super), and IBF titles on 8 November 2014 by defeating Bernard Hopkins with the judges’ decision on Kovalev’s side with scores of 120–107, 120–107, and 120–106. He earned $500 thousand from the fight while Hopkins earned $1 million.
  

  Sergey Kovalev with Bernard Hopkins (left) during the promotion of their fight

• He suffered defeat at the hands of American boxer Andre Ward on 19 November 2016 with the judge’s decision in favour of Ward with the scores of 114–113. He earned $2 million while Ward earned $5 million from the fight.
  

  Sergey Kovalev with Andre Ward (right)

• Kovalev lost the rematch with Ward on 17 June 2017 in the 8th round. Two judges took Ward’s side with scores of 67-66 while one judge gave a score of 68-65 on Kovalev’s side.

• He defeated the British Boxer Anthony Yarde via knockout on 24 August 2019 at the Traktor Sport Palace in Chelyabinsk, Russia. After the fight, Kovalev praised Yarde by saying ‘he will 100% become  a world champion one day.’
  

  Sergey Kovalev and Anthony Yarde (right) during the weigh-in before their fight

• Middleweight champion Canelo Álvarez defeated Kovalav by a knockout in the 11th round on 2 November 2019. After his loss, Kovalev said that he was tired due to back-to-back training camps but only accepted the fight due to the huge earnings of  $12 million (£9 million).
  

  Sergey Kovalev and Canelo Alvarez (left) during their face-off

• He handed the first career defeat to Tervel Pulev on 14 May 2022 with the scores of 98–92, 98–92 and 97–93.
  

  Sergey Kovalev with Tervel Pulev (right) before their fight

• He likes to drink wine or alcohol during parties or celebrations.
  

  Sergey Kovalev drinking wine during a date with his wife

• In an interview, he said that he takes care of his family members in Russia. He gifted an apartment to his younger brother who lives there with his wife.

• Kovalev talked about his father in an interview in January 2016 and revealed that his father suffers from diabetes and has undergone more than 7 operations. His father got stressed after he was unable to save his brother from a fire and later developed diabetes.

• He is renowned for his power-hitting. Many boxing trainers have said that his size does not give the idea of the strength of his hands.
  

  Sergey Kovalev’s physique

• He has gained popularity for defeating his opponents by knockouts in maximum boxing matches. As of 2023, 29 out of 35 wins (82%) of his wins have come via knockouts.

• He suffers from high cholesterol due to the diet of eggs and spaghetti he consumed from his childhood to adulthood.

• He likes to train for eight weeks before any fight. His cardio includes running, bicycling, and using elliptical machines for around an hour to increase his stamina. As fight day approaches, he shortens his workouts and increases the speed and intensity. He once said that his power has been a result of workouts and his natural ability.
  

  Sergey Kovalev during a sparring session