Report: Sergey Kovalev vs. Marcus Browne Set To Happen This Summer
Sergey Kovalev's next fight could see him come back to Madison Square Garden for his third consecutive time.
First reported by BoxingScene.com, Kovalev will defend his WBO light heavyweight title against Marcus Browne at the Theater in Madison Square Garden. The fight has not been signed yet, but terms have been agreed upon, per multiple reports. There is no set date for the fight, but it could happen sometime between June 23 and the end of July.
Kovalev last defended his title on the March 3 HBO Boxing After Dark card, defeating Igor Mikhalkin. It was Kovalev's first title defense since winning the title last November by knocking out Vyacheslav Shabranskyy.
Interestingly, Browne is actually the mandatory challenger for the IBF light heavyweight title, currently held by Artur Beterbiev. The two were scheduled to have a purse bid on March 19, but the purse bid is now expected to be canceled with Browne fighting for Kovalev's WBO title. Browne is 21-0 as a pro boxer, last competing on the January 20 boxing card at the Barclays Center, scoring a TKO win over Francis Ntetu.
After Kovalev beat Mikhalkin, he had expressed interest in possibly fighting WBA champion Dmitry Bivol, who had fought on the undercard of that same HBO card. Main Events, who promote Kovalev, quickly went to work to have both Kovalev and Bivol fight on separate fights in the same card this summer to set up a unification fight between the two at the end of the year.
