Dallas — Sergey Kovalev made his reputation as the “Krusher”, but on Saturday in a rematch with Eleider Alvarez, the Russian champion regained his light heavyweight title by using his boxing smarts. The 35-year-old Kovalev won by a 12-round unanimous decision to avenge a stunning loss to Alvarez six months ago and retake the World Boxing Organisation 79,3kg belt. The judges had Kovalev controlling the fight with one scoring it 120-108. The other two scored it 116-112. Kovalev did some of his best boxing in the 10th round, where he hurt Alvarez, and the 12th, where he had a strong finish. Saturday’s victory makes him the first fighter since 1990, and the third, to win the light heavyweight title three times. Kovalev, who improved to 33-3-1 with 28 knockouts, seemed all but invincible in the light heavyweight division until he lost consecutive fights to Andre Ward in 2017 and 2016. Alvarez seized the WBO belt from Kovalev on August 4. The Colombian was trailing on every scorecard, but...

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