Quote Originally Posted by Silkeyjoe View Post
Main event looks a bit of a mismatch on paper. Dont know much about Mikhalkin but lost to a really poor fighter (Clerverly flattened him) and took 3 goes to convincingly beat Ngumbu who isnt bad but nowhere near Kovalev standard. Easy night for Kov.

Think Bivol flattens Barrera too
Igor Mikhalkin isn't bad.

He may have had an off night against Kuziemski back in 2010, but he's been on a ten-fight winning streak since then. He was the first to beat
Thomas Oosthuizen who was 27-0 at the time. The BoxRec computer has Mikhalkin ranked at #11 at light heavyweight.

Mikhalkin has earned his world title shot. Barrera turned down the fight with Kovalev, but then agreed to fight the inexperienced Bivol for less money.