Lou DiBella is always nervous on fight night. Heck, he was even nervous for the fight scene in the movie “Rocky Balboa,” when he played himself as the promoter.
So, he’ll be plenty anxious Saturday night when his fighter, Blake Caparello of Australia, challenges Sergey Kovalev of Russia for the WBO light heavyweight championship at Revel Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City.
Caparello (19-0-1, 6 KOs) is a huge underdog against the hard-punching Kovalev, who has 22 knockouts amid a record of 24-0-1. But DiBella thinks his fighter can win.
“I think Blake might beat him,” DiBella said. “I think Blake is going to give him a heck of a fight. I really believe that. But I’ll be worried until the final round because [Kovalev] can freaking punch.”
Boxer versus puncher is always intriguing. We saw the boxer win not long ago when Chris Algieri was a frustrating target for Ruslan Provodnikov. Algieri went on to capture the WBO 140-pound title.
Caparello may not be as slick as Algieri, but he hopes to be elusive enough to escape the thunder in Kovalev’s fists.
“Blake Caparello has the best style to beat him,” DiBella said. “He’s going to be the best guy [Kovalev] has ever fought. If you stand in front of Kovalev like if you stand in front of Triple-G [Gennady Golovkin] you’re going to lose. If you’re not fast enough to give angles and move laterally and pop two or three punches and get away, you’re going to lose. But Blake knows what he has to do and believes he can do it.”
Kovalev has wrecked those types of game-plans with a solid punch to the chin.
“Blake’s a decent puncher and boxer,” said Kovalev’s trainer, John David Jackson. “Sergey understands that. He knows we have to break down Blake slowly. Once Blake gets hit and feels Kovalev’s power, all his game plans are going to go out the window. I don’t think this is going to go 12 rounds.”
Kovalev insists he is not taking the little-known Caparello lightly.
“We are both stepping in the ring to do our job,” Kovalev said. “Blake has an advantage because he is coming to get the title. He is hungry and has nothing to lose. It is my job to keep the title.”
Kovalev needs to win to keep alive hopes for a unification bout with either WBC champion Adonis Stevenson or WBA/IBF champion Bernard Hopkins.
“Hopkins, Stevenson either one,” said Kathy Duva of Main Events, Kovalev’s promoter. “It’s a high profile fight where everybody’s watching. That’s what makes your career. Either one is just as good as the other.”
The bout will be part of split triple-header televised by HBO. The other two bouts will originate from Las Vegas, where undefeated WBA super lightweight champion Jessie Vargas (24-0, 9 KOs) of Las Vegas will defend against Anton Novikov (29-0, 10 KOs) of Russia, and Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios (31-2-1, 22 KOs) of Oxnard, Calif., will face Diego Chaves (23-1, 19 KOs) Of Buenos Aires in a 10-round welterweight bout.