Who won Kovalev vs Chilemba?

Sergey Kovalev beat Isaac Chilemba by unanimous decision in their 12 round contest on Monday 11th July 2016 at DIVS in Ekaterinburg.

The scorecards were announced as 116-111, 117-110, 118-109 in favor of winner Sergey Kovalev.

The fight was scheduled to take place over 12 rounds in the Light Heavyweight division, which meant the weight limit was 175 pounds (12.5 stone or 79.4 KG).

This contest was for the unified light heavyweight championship of the world, with the WBA, IBF & WBO belts on the line.

Kovalev vs Chilemba stats

Sergey Kovalev stepped into the ring with an undefeated record of 29 wins, zero loses and 1  draw, 26 of those wins coming by the way of knock out.

Isaac Chilemba made his way to the ring with a record of 24 wins, 3 loses and 2 draws, with 10 of those wins by knock out.

The stats suggested Kovalev had a massive power advantage over Chilemba, boosting at 90% knock out percentage over Chilemba's 42%.

Sergey Kovalev was the older man by 4 years, at 39 years old.

Chilemba had a height advantage of 2 inches over Kovalev. That also extended to a 1-inch reach advantage.

Both Sergey Kovalev & Isaac Chilemba fought out of an orthodox stance.

Kovalev was arguably the less experienced fighter, having had 1 more fights, and made his debut in 2009, 3 year and 9 months later than Chilemba, whose first professional fight was in 2005. He had fought 72 less professional rounds, 194 to Chilemba's 266.

Kovalev vs Chilemba form

Kovalev had beaten 3 of his last 5 opponents, stopping 2 of them, going the distance once.

In his last fight before this contest, he had won against Igor Mikhalkin on 3rd March 2018 by technical knockout in the 7th round in their WBO World Light heavyweight championship fight at Madison Square Garden, New York, United States.

Previous to that, he had won against Vyacheslav Shabranskyy on 25th November 2017 by technical knockout in the 2nd round in their WBO World Light heavyweight championship fight at Madison Square Garden, New York.

Going into that contest, he had been beaten by Andre Ward on 17th June 2017 by technical knockout in the 8th round in their WBA Super World Light Heavyweight, IBF World Light heavyweight, WBO World Light heavyweight and The Ring Light Heavyweight championship fight at Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas.

Before that, he had lost to Andre Ward on 19th November 2016 by unanimous decision in their WBA Super World Light Heavyweight, IBF World Light heavyweight and WBO World Light heavyweight championship fight at T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas.

He had beat Isaac Chilemba on 11th July 2016 by unanimous decision in their WBA Super World Light Heavyweight, IBF World Light heavyweight and WBO World Light heavyweight championship fight at DIVS, Ekaterinburg, Russia.

Activity check

Kovalev's last 5 fights had come over a period of 5 years, 10 months and 8 days, meaning he had been fighting on average every 1 year, 2 months and 3 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 41 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 8.2 rounds on average.

Chilemba's last 4 fights had come over a period of 8 years, 2 months and 4 days, meaning he had been fighting on average every 2 years and 16 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 39 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 9.8 rounds on average.

What were the odds on Kovalev vs Chilemba?

Sergey Kovalev was a (+100) underdog going into the contest, while Isaac Chilemba made his way into the ring at (+100) with oddsmakers.