HBO announces Kovalev-Shabranskyy, Corrales-Machado fights

During tonight’s “SuperFly” broadcast from Carson, California, HBO officially announced a pair of upcoming main events for October 21 and November 25.

The November 25 fight is the bigger of the two, with former light heavyweight titleholder Sergey Kovalev (30-2-1, 26 KO) looking to bounce back from consecutive losses to Andre Ward when he faces Vyacheslav Shabranskyy (19-1, 16 KO).

The show will take place at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Shabranskyy, 30, can’t be overlooked here. He was seen as a top prospect in the 175-pound division before a December 2016 loss to Sullivan Barrera, which is hardly a bad defeat at this point, now that we’ve seen Barrera return this year to dominate against Joe Smith Jr.

Kovalev, 34, will also be working with a new trainer, and we’ll have to see how he adjusts to that, and how he responds from the first stoppage loss of his career.

The October 21 main event will see WBA super featherweight titleholder Jezreel Corrales (22-1, 8 KO) defend against unbeaten Alberto Machado (18-0, 15 KO). Corrales, 26, beat Takashi Uchiyama twice in 2016 to make his name and win his title, and earlier this year made his U.S. debut with a controversial decision win over Robinson Castellanos.

Machado, 27, is a prospect from Puerto Rico who has shown power and skill, but he’s also yet to face a real contender. This will be a big step up in competition for him.

Corrales-Machado will take place at Turning Stone in Verona, New York.