Photos: Dmitry Bivol, Sullivan Barrera - Face To Face at Final Presser

Kathy Duva, CEO of Main Events - "Hello everyone. It has been a very long, cold winter, but don't worry. Main Events is now here to heat things up. You can count on us to bring you plenty of hot boxing action this weekend at the greatest venue for boxing in the world, Madison Square Garden."

"Every single one of the fighters in our lineup for Saturday's fight has sweated through harder workouts and tougher training than ever in their careers. Many will fight at the Mecca of Boxing for the very first time. Some of them are returning, and that is a big deal, whether you're a champion, or just starting in a four rounder."

"In our televised fights, four light heavyweights know that the eyes of the world will be on them and they want to make a big impression. You will want to be part of this."

"Tickets starting at $50 are still available through Ticketmaster and at the Madison Square Garden box office. Although if you want to sit up in ringside, you can't, because those are gone. You could also watch it live on HBO World Championship Boxing® starting at 10:05 PM Eastern and Pacific."

"At the top of our card we have a pair of exciting fights in the red-hot light heavyweight division, which I think is the perhaps most competitive division in this sport. First, we have Sullivan Barrera and Dmitry Bivol. In our main event, two-time Light Heavyweight World Champion Sergey Kovalev will face his tough Siberian countryman and former amateur teammate Igor Mikhalkin."

"On our non-televised under card, three talented and undefeated Eastern Europeans out of Egis Klimas' Boxing Laboratory in Oxnard, California, promise to light up the arena. We have Bakhram Murtazaliev of Grozny, who is co-promoted by Main Events and Krusher Promotions, facing Keith McNeil of Birmingham, Alabama in a 10-round super welterweight bout. We have two young gentlemen from Kazakhstan. One, a middleweight named Meiirim Nursultanov, who will be in a battle with Alejandro Torres of Mexico. Rounding out this trio is Madiyar Ashkeyev, also of Kazakhstan, who is making his Garden debut versus tough Dominican, Jose Antonio Abreu in a welterweight showdown."

"As if that wasn't enough, how about the return of Vaughn Alexander of St. Louis to New York? Vaughn fought here as a rising star in 2004 and now he's back 14 years later after getting his life together. What an amazing story. He's going to be fighting a new opponent because apparently the guy he had been scheduled to fight thought better of it yesterday, and so Jolene [Mizzone, Main Events' matchmaker], as usual, comes through with a miracle...We may have actually ended up with an even better and more competitive fight."

"You can expect a big, big show from our heavyweights on this card. Cassius Chaney, clearly, was born to box with that name or at least his father decided he was. First, he was an NCAA scholarship basketball player at the University of New Haven. He graduated, switched sports and now we've got him."

"We never forget our New York fans and we are going to take good care of you on Saturday with the three born and bred local fighters who promise some smoking hot performances. They include Brooklyn's Frank Galarza, who's going to return to Madison Square Garden after his big win in November. Frank, when you get to the ring it's sort of like the main event because it seems like everybody in the arena is there to see him. We're going to hear a lot of noise."

"We also have Long Island native LeShawn 'Lightning' Rodriguez. He's generating a lot of buzz and electricity."

"Back after winning in his professional debut, also from New York, will be Ismael Villarreal of the Bronx."

"We would like to thank our sponsors, Medoff Vodka and Leon.ru. For this card, we are working with Krusher Promotions and World of Boxing, in association with EC Box Promotions. We have Vadim Kornilov, Dmitry Bivol's manager, and Erol Ceylan of EC Box with us today and I am so happy to see you. Thank you. I also want to thank HBO and especially Peter Nelson, Tony Walker and Ray Stallone for their support. They always have our back, and we will prove worthy of the opportunity."

About March 3:  The Saturday, March 3 main event between Sergey "Krusher" Kovalev and Igor Mikhalkin is a 12-round match-up for the WBO Light Heavyweight World Title at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The co-main event features WBA Light Heavyweight World Champion Dmitry Bivol versus Sullivan Barrera in a 12-round title fight. Tickets range from $50 to $300 and are available online at TicketMaster.com and at the Madison Square Garden box office. The event is promoted by Main Events, Krusher Promotions and World of Boxing in association with EC Box Promotions, is sponsored by Medoff Vodka and Leon.ru and will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing® beginning at 10:05 p.m. ET/PT.