Kovalev vs Safar

Who won Kovalev vs Safar?

Robin Sirwan Safar beat Sergey Kovalev by unanimous decision in their 10 round contest on Saturday, May 18th, 2024, at Kingdom Arena, Riyadh.

The scorecards were announced as 95-94, 99-90, 97-92 in favor of winner Robin Sirwan Safar.

The fight was scheduled to take place over 10 rounds in the Cruiserweight division, which meant the weight limit was 200 pounds (14.3 stone or 90.7 kg).

This fight appeared on the undercard of Tyson Fury losing to Oleksandr Usyk for the WBC World Heavyweight, WBO World Heavyweight, WBA Super World Heavyweight and IBF World Heavyweight championship. Also on the undercard Jai Opetaia beat Mairis Briedis for the IBF World Cruiserweight and The Ring Cruiserweight belts, Joe Cordina was overcome by Anthony Cacace for the IBF World Junior Lightweight title, Agit Kabayel was victorious over Frank Sanchez for the WBC World Heavyweight championship, Mark Chamberlain beat Joshua Oluwaseun Wahab, Isaac Lowe defeated Hasibullah Ahmadi, and Daniel Lapin was victorious over Octavio Pudivitr.

Kovalev vs Safar stats

Back in May 2024, Sergey Kovalev stepped into the ring with a record of 35 wins, 4 losses, and 1 draw.

Robin Sirwan Safar made his way to the ring with an unblemished record of 16 wins and 0 draws.

Sergey Kovalev was the older man by 10 years, at 41 years old.

Safar had a height advantage of 3 inches over Kovalev.

Both Sergey Kovalev and Robin Sirwan Safar fought out of an orthodox stance.

Kovalev was the more experienced professional fighter, having had 24 more fights, and made his debut in 2009, 7 years and 10 months earlier than Safar, whose first professional fight was in 2017. He had fought 133 more professional rounds, totaling 204 compared to Safar's 71.

Robin Sirwan Safar was ranked number 15 by the WBO in the 200lb division.

Kovalev vs Safar form

Kovalev had beaten 3 of his last 5 opponents, stopping 1 of them, going the distance twice.

In his last fight leading up to this contest, he had won against Tervel Pulev on May 14, 2022, by unanimous decision in their 10 round contest at Forum, California, United States.

Prior to that, he had been beaten by Canelo Alvarez on November 2, 2019, by technical knockout in the 11th round in their WBO World Light heavyweight championship fight at MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas.

Going into that contest, he had won against Anthony Yarde on August 24, 2019, by technical knockout in the 11th round in their WBO World Light heavyweight championship fight at Traktor Sport Palace, Chelyabinsk, Russia.

Before that, he had beaten Eleider Alvarez on February 2, 2019, by unanimous decision in their WBO World Light heavyweight championship fight at The Ford Center at The Star, Texas, United States.

He had lost to Eleider Alvarez on August 4, 2018, by technical knockout in the 7th round in their WBO World Light heavyweight championship fight at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, New Jersey.

Activity check

Kovalev's last 5 fights had come over a period of 5 years, 9 months and 14 days, which means he had been fighting approximately every 1 year, 1 month and 26 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 51 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 10.2 rounds on average.

What time did Kovalev vs Safar start?

The fighters were expected to ringwalk at around 5:00 PM UTC at Kingdom Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which was 1:00 PM EST or 10:00 AM PST on the West Coast of America, or 6:00 PM BST in the UK.

Who broadcast Kovalev vs Safar?

Kovalev vs Safar was broadcast on DAZN PPV UK in the UK, while the fight was broadcast in the United States by ESPN+ PPV.

What were the odds on Kovalev vs Safar?

Sergey Kovalev was a 11/10 (+110) underdog going into the contest, while Robin Sirwan Safar made his way into the ring at 4/6 (-150) with oddsmakers.