Blake Caparello – “My preparation has been the best to date”
IN just a handful of days, unbeaten Australian Blake Caparello will look to cause a stand alone candidate for upset of the year when he attempts to end the title reign of undefeated hard-hitting WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev in Atlantic City.
By the time the highly anticipated night arrives, Caparello, 27, will have spent just under two weeks in the US finalising his camp for what is without a doubt the biggest opportunity of his professional career.
“My preparation for this fight has been the best to date,” said Caparello in an exclusive interview with Aus-Boxing.
“My trainer Sam Labruna and I sat down before the fight was signed and put together a training program specialised for Sergey Kovalev,” he explained. “I’m feeling very confident, I have always had great self belief in my abilities in the ring and I know I have what it takes to be the one to dethrone Sergey.”
While there is no understating the talent and defensive ability of Caparello (19-0-1, 6 KOs), it goes without saying that he is arguably facing the most unenviable task in boxing at the moment – Gennady Golovkin aside – but in some ways Caparello is facing the closest thing to the middleweight dynamo in Kovalev (24-0-1, 22 KOs).
Since dethroning defending champion Nathan Cleverly in Wales last year, Kovalev, 31, hasn’t looked remotely close to being beaten – or even challenged – as he has steamrolled through both Ismayl Sillah and Cedric Agnew in one sided title defences televised on cable giant HBO.
“Kovalev is the most feared fighter in the division and no one is jumping to sign for a fight with him. But if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best – so here I am.” Caparello continued. “If you’re the best in the division, we want to fight.”
The fight against Kovalev will be the Australian’s second on US soil, having made his American debut earlier this year with an impressive one-sided shutout over former title challenger Elvir Muriqi. While Muriqi and previous opponents such as Allan Green differ stylistically to Kovalev, a well prepared Caparello believes he has the tools to spark the major upset.
“I have settled in well, I’ve brought Lou Korica (assistant trainer), Nik Skolarikis (cut man), Brendan Bourke (co-manager) and Dave Aloua (sparring partner) over with me, so I’ve had no shortage of support.”
“I’m not sure what will be the biggest challenge for me will be, but I’m prepared for whatever challenges are thrown at me on the night. I can’t reveal it all now – but you will have to tune in and see.”
Photo: Aus-Boxing
