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Atlantic City is home to a pair of big-time light heavyweight world title fights on Saturday night, as Sergey Kovalev defends his WBO belt against undefeated Eleider Alvarez, while WBA champ Dmitry Bivol takes on Isaac Chilemba in the co-main event.
In the United States, the fights will be televised nationally on HBO, with the broadcast starting at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Bivol vs Chilemba is first, followed by Kovalev vs Alvarez.
Even if you don’t have cable or can’t get to a TV, you can watch a live stream of the fights (or DVR them) on your computer, phone or streaming device by signing up for a free trial of one of the following cable-free, live-TV streaming services.
If you have Amazon Prime or want to start a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime, you can watch all HBO content through the HBO Amazon Channel, which also comes with a free 7-day trial.
Once you’re signed up for both Amazon Prime and the HBO channel, you can then watch the fights live on your computer via the Amazon website, or you can watch on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Amazon Video app.
Whether you already have Hulu or you want to sign up for a new subscription, HBO is available as an add-on to Hulu or Hulu with Live TV.
Once signed up, you can watch the fights live on your computer via the Hulu website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Hulu app.
If you can’t watch live, “Hulu with Live TV” also comes with 50 hours of Cloud DVR storage (with the ability to upgrade to “Enhanced Cloud DVR,” which gives you 200 hours of DVR space and the ability to fast forward through commercials).
Preview
Following back-to-back losses to Andre Ward (and the subsequent retirement of Ward), Kovalev has bounced back with knockout wins over Vyacheslav Shabranskyy and Igor Mikhalkin. The mystique behind him has somewhat worn off because of those losses, but when it comes down to it, he really shouldn’t be downgraded much due to a pair of close–and somewhat controversial–defeats to a great fighter.
Krusher is still a Top-10 pound-for-pound fighter, and he’s still either No. 1 or 2 at light heavyweight depending on how you feel about Adonis Stevenson.
Though Kovalev is the favorite in this one, Alvarez is an interesting opponent–certainly a better foe than either Shabranskyy or Mikhalkin. The 34-year-old Colombian is undefeated in 23 professional fights (11 knockouts), most recently earning an impressive majority decision win over veteran Jean Pascal.
With both of these fighters unable to get something done with Stevenson after countless attempts, they’ll instead face each other.
“Alvarez has earned his title shot, but ‘Chickenson’ dodged him, just like he dodged me,” said Kovalev. “I want to fight the best in my division. Alvarez took the fight with me without hesitation. I respect that, and I am excited to face him in my return to Atlantic City.”
In the co-main event, Dmitry Bivol takes on Isaac Chilemba. A rising star, the 27-year-old Bivol has won all 13 of his professional fights, he’s won the last five via knockout, and he’s quickly climbing the 175-pound rankings. He’s a massive favorite against Chilemba, who has lost three of his last four fights.
The idea here is that if Kovalev and Bivol both win on Saturday night, it sets up a potentially massive title unification bout.