Sergey Kovalev has a new opponent for what would be his first fight in 2½ years.

BoxingScene.com has learned that the former light heavyweight champion will battle undefeated Tervel Pulev in a 10-round cruiserweight fight set to headline a Triller Fight Club pay-per-view show May 14. The Forum in Inglewood, California, likely will be the site for the card that’ll feature Russia’s Kovalev (34-4-1, 29 KOs) and Bulgaria’s Pulev (16-0, 13 KOs), a younger brother of longtime heavyweight contender Kubrat Pulev.

Tervel Pulev is 39. Though undefeated, he is untested at the championship level.

Kovalev, who will turn 39 on April 2, has not fought since Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez knocked him out in the 11th round of what was a competitive WBO light heavyweight title fight in November 2019 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The inactive Kovalev was supposed to face China’s Meng Fanlong in Triller Fight Club’s main event May 14, but Fanlong opted to box another former light heavyweight champion, Jean Pascal, in part because the Kovalev fight hadn’t been officially announced. Fanlong had agreed to fight Kovalev at a catch weight of 188 pounds, but he will oppose Pascal at a contracted weight of 175 pounds, the light heavyweight limit at or near which Fanlong has competed throughout his seven-year pro career.

Fanlong (17-0, 10 KOs) and Pascal (35-6-1, 20 KOs, 1 NC) will headline a card promoted by Probox on May 20 in Plant City, Florida.

Quebec’s Pascal will fight for the first time since he tested positive for four banned substances – Drostanolone, Drostanolone Metabolite and Epitrenbolone – late last spring. Failing tests for multiple performance-enhancing drugs caused Pascal’s removal from what was supposed to be a 12-round rematch with fellow former light heavyweight champion Badou Jack on the Floyd Mayweather-Logan Paul undercard last June 6 at the Miami Dolphins’ Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Now that he has a commitment from a new opponent, Kovalev can prepare for a long-awaited return that was initially scheduled to take place in January 2021.

Kovalev’s layoff continued because he, too, was removed from his DAZN main event versus then-unbeaten Uzbekistan native Bektemir Melikuziev (8-1, 6 KOs). The polarizing Kovalev couldn’t move forward with the Melikuziev match because he tested positive for synthetic testosterone.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.