BoxRec

Posted: **03 Nov 2019, 08:01**

In the context of purely the action that took place inside the ring, what things surprised you about the way the Canelo-Krusher bout played-out?

Here’s a list of the points I made a mental note of:

• Canelo started-off ridiculously slow, which resulting in him needlessly sacrificing some of the early rounds on the judges’ scorecard
• Canelo seemed solely-focussed on wearing down Kovalev, regardless of how may rounds he lost
• Kovalev gave Canelo far too much respect. He was on the back foot all the time and the Krusher of old never made an appearance, which meant he rarely attempted to throw any power shots
• From round five onwards, Kovalev was overly-negative, he didn’t try to impose himself and nor did he attempt to use his physical size advantage to force Canelo to retreat
• Canelo didn’t seem to throw any jabs – he seemed overly-patient and perhaps overly-confident about forcing a late stoppage, which could’ve cost him the fight
• Kovalev wasted shots by jabbing to Canelo’s gloves rather than using angles to breach the Mexican’s guard
• Kovalev seemed fearful of trading with Canelo
• Kovalev couldn’t hurt Canelo
• Canelo almost never needed to take a backwards step
• Kovalev didn’t seem overly-upset about the defeat (perhaps lacking ambition?) and nor did he attempt to alter his game-plan when he must’ve surely known the fight was close on the scorecards
• Canelo’s low work-rate in last night’s fight is something that needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency

For the record, the purpose of this thread is not to attack Canelo or Kovalev and criticise these guys on a personal level.

Instead it’s more about the difference between our expectations prior to the fight in comparison to how events actually played-out.

To a certain degree, I feel that both guys underperformed.

Thoughts?

Posted: **03 Nov 2019, 08:29**

- Textbook performance by Alvarez.
- While i am agree that Kovalev is past his prime, but that guy handled Yarde, who was practically almost heavyweight.
- What surprises me most was how Canelos defense was effective against Kovalev jabbing.
- Honestly i do not understand how people could have Kovalev ahead on scorecards.
- On the other side i was disapointed by Kovalev punch resistance. Time to hang up the glvoes and retire as milionaire.

I know lot of people wanna see Canelo losing against Beterbiev and Bivol but i would prefer his return to 160 and deal with Andrade, Derevyanchenko or Charlo.

Btw what fascinates me about Canelo and Mayweather. These guys taking dozens of millions for fights and always stayed focused on boxing and came 110% ready to fights, mentally and physically.

Edit: while Canelo is my favorite boxer for a long time, i hate these mexican crowd who are booing at other fighters

Posted: **03 Nov 2019, 10:29**

The main takeaway for me was the confirmation that the Alvarez camp called it spot on in terms of timing.

It was a nicely executed ko to be fair.

Hopefully Kovalev will retire now.

Posted: **03 Nov 2019, 10:35**

Kovalev is shot, a mere shadow of the fighter that murdered Cleverly.

Canelo is a punching artist, his repertoire of shots, the speed, accuracy and flow when countering is as good as it gets. I'm not sure Canelo does much else to that standard though, he's pretty static, low work rate, too keen to pot shot.

Posted: **03 Nov 2019, 11:50**

Both camps had their game plan for the fight.
Both fighters adhered to the game plan.
One game plan was better than the other.

Canelo had an obvious hand speed advantage on the bigger man. Bigger or not getting into a slug fest with an opponent who has faster hands is not a good idea.

IMO Canelo should go down to 168. Middleweights who want to fight him will move up.

In the post fight interview the losing fighter did not sound like a fighter who is going to stop fighting. I hope he chooses his opponents carefully.

Posted: **03 Nov 2019, 12:16**

Kovalev had both a great gameplan and a big mistake in it. The great thing was that he was boxing methodically. The mistake was that he didn't try to sharpen his game late.

Canelo did the last thing vice versa and got his main dividend from that.

Posted: **03 Nov 2019, 12:32**

DrDuke wrote: ↑03 Nov 2019, 12:16 Kovalev had both a great gameplan and a big mistake in it. The great thing was that he was boxing methodically. The mistake was that he didn't try to sharpen his game late.

Canelo did the last thing vice versa and got his main dividend from that.

I believe he is now contractually obliged to fight on DAZN for 1 or 2 fights.

Posted: **03 Nov 2019, 12:36**

The only takeaway is that it was a fix, as proven by Kovalev's pulling of punches and touching Canelo with jabs - when has he EVER fought like that before? He fought with mean intentions against Yarde, a legitimate LHW who will one day fight at CW and is a very hard puncher, but was scared to be countered by a blown up LMW who hasn't KO'd anyone at MW? Absurd & laughable. Kovalev never tried to win that fight - not once.

Posted: **03 Nov 2019, 12:46**

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑03 Nov 2019, 12:32
DrDuke wrote: ↑03 Nov 2019, 12:16 Kovalev had both a great gameplan and a big mistake in it. The great thing was that he was boxing methodically. The mistake was that he didn't try to sharpen his game late.

Canelo did the last thing vice versa and got his main dividend from that.
I believe he is now contractually obliged to fight on DAZN for 1 or 2 fights.

Probably the last ones for him. He wanted 5 before Yarde. He already had two and just lost his belt by KO. His time is coming.

Posted: **03 Nov 2019, 12:49**

lookingaround87 wrote: ↑03 Nov 2019, 12:36 The only takeaway is that it was a fix, as proven by Kovalev's pulling of punches and touching Canelo with jabs - when has he EVER fought like that before? He fought with mean intentions against Yarde, a legitimate LHW who will one day fight at CW and is a very hard puncher, but was scared to be countered by a blown up LMW who hasn't KO'd anyone at MW? Absurd & laughable. Kovalev never tried to win that fight - not once.

So you think Kov wanted to be brutally knocked tf out?

Posted: **03 Nov 2019, 14:18**

As many already mentioned, Kovalev fought scared. He had only two advantages over Canelo: power and jab, and he gave away one of them, plus minimizing the other one by not putting power into his jabs.

Kovalev also was clearly shot in terms of punch resistance.

Posted: **03 Nov 2019, 15:21**

Enlightened-One wrote: ↑03 Nov 2019, 08:01 In the context of purely the action that took place inside the ring, what things surprised you about the way the Canelo-Krusher bout played-out?

Here’s a list of the points I made a mental note of:

• Canelo started-off ridiculously slow, which resulting in him needlessly sacrificing some of the early rounds on the judges’ scorecard
• Canelo seemed solely-focussed on wearing down Kovalev, regardless of how may rounds he lost
• Kovalev gave Canelo far too much respect. He was on the back foot all the time and the Krusher of old never made an appearance, which meant he rarely attempted to throw any power shots
• From round five onwards, Kovalev was overly-negative, he didn’t try to impose himself and nor did he attempt to use his physical size advantage to force Canelo to retreat
• Canelo didn’t seem to throw any jabs – he seemed overly-patient and perhaps overly-confident about forcing a late stoppage, which could’ve cost him the fight
• Kovalev wasted shots by jabbing to Canelo’s gloves rather than using angles to breach the Mexican’s guard
• Kovalev seemed fearful of trading with Canelo
• Kovalev couldn’t hurt Canelo
• Canelo almost never needed to take a backwards step
• Kovalev didn’t seem overly-upset about the defeat (perhaps lacking ambition?) and nor did he attempt to alter his game-plan when he must’ve surely known the fight was close on the scorecards
• Canelo’s low work-rate in last night’s fight is something that needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency

For the record, the purpose of this thread is not to attack Canelo or Kovalev and criticise these guys on a personal level.

Instead it’s more about the difference between our expectations prior to the fight in comparison to how events actually played-out.

To a certain degree, I feel that both guys underperformed.

Thoughts?

good post

i aggree with all the things you said.

Posted: **03 Nov 2019, 15:24**

• Kovalev couldn’t hurt Canelo

That is utterly ridiculous. Kovalev DID'N TRY to hurt Canelo.

Posted: **03 Nov 2019, 15:47**

boxing_rocks wrote: ↑03 Nov 2019, 15:24
• Kovalev couldn’t hurt Canelo
That is utterly ridiculous. Kovalev DID'N TRY to hurt Canelo.

this is correct

Posted: **03 Nov 2019, 17:36**

He didn't want to take the counters.

Posted: **03 Nov 2019, 18:01**

I was surprised by Canelo championship rd strength although I appreciate he started slow. A slight critism of Canelo that I I’ve mentioned before over the years is that he is not as rangy as some best fighters I have seen in my lifetime - tends to swing and miss a bit however he eventually closed the gap and the show. He’d be very difficult to beat due to his toughness and shot selection.

Posted: **03 Nov 2019, 18:15**

lazboy wrote: ↑03 Nov 2019, 18:01 I was surprised by Canelo championship rd strength although I appreciate he started slow. A slight critism of Canelo that I I’ve mentioned before over the years is that he is not as rangy as some best fighters I have seen in my lifetime - tends to swing and miss a bit however he eventually closed the gap and the show. He’d be very difficult to beat due to his toughness and shot selection.

He is particularly hard to beat, because he is winning rounds on judges' cards without having to actually win them.

Posted: **03 Nov 2019, 19:00**

boxing_rocks wrote: ↑03 Nov 2019, 18:15
lazboy wrote: ↑03 Nov 2019, 18:01 I was surprised by Canelo championship rd strength although I appreciate he started slow. A slight critism of Canelo that I I’ve mentioned before over the years is that he is not as rangy as some best fighters I have seen in my lifetime - tends to swing and miss a bit however he eventually closed the gap and the show. He’d be very difficult to beat due to his toughness and shot selection.
He is particularly hard to beat, because he is winning rounds on judges' cards without having to actually win them.

Firstly I think he is very good. I have him no. 1 pound for pound but I also appreciate what you are saying. Canelo doesn’t have to work hard as others to win rounds and this way he can save energy for later or when needed and not sweat losing rounds. This in combination with his toughness, strength and high quality skills makes him so very tough to beat.

Posted: **03 Nov 2019, 19:19**

squiggy wrote: ↑03 Nov 2019, 17:36 He didn't want to take the counters.

That's my view. Kov was taking counter hooks to the body and head all night. And Canelo was putting everything behind those shots.

Posted: **04 Nov 2019, 00:05**

oogiebe wrote: ↑03 Nov 2019, 19:19
squiggy wrote: ↑03 Nov 2019, 17:36 He didn't want to take the counters.
That's my view. Kov was taking counter hooks to the body and head all night. And Canelo was putting everything behind those shots.

Kovalev was TOO cautious. He was a bigger and harder punching man, so Canelo was supposed to be more concerned about his power than the other way around. Kovalev fought scared and got what he was scared of. Instead, he should have tried to scare Canelo.

Posted: **04 Nov 2019, 00:19**

Gimp Mask wrote: ↑03 Nov 2019, 12:49
lookingaround87 wrote: ↑03 Nov 2019, 12:36 The only takeaway is that it was a fix, as proven by Kovalev's pulling of punches and touching Canelo with jabs - when has he EVER fought like that before? He fought with mean intentions against Yarde, a legitimate LHW who will one day fight at CW and is a very hard puncher, but was scared to be countered by a blown up LMW who hasn't KO'd anyone at MW? Absurd & laughable. Kovalev never tried to win that fight - not once.
So you think Kov wanted to be brutally knocked tf out?

I don't know if that was part of the plan, probably not. The reaction from Canelo was definitely one of concern after the KO, it was as if he thought 'damn, I didn't need to do that, I could've just won on the scorecards', because he was never gonna lose on them. But the point is, Kovalev was pulling his punches the entire fight. When has Kovalev EVER thrown so many weak jabs to an opponent's arms? Just go back and look at what a monster he was... the way he obliterated Sillakh, Pascal, Cleverly, and the way he actually tried to win in both Ward fights... he threw with mean intentions in all of these fights. But against a blown up LMW, he decides to be cautious against what was mostly a static target, especially with the body in the earlier rounds. He could've destroyed Canelo's body in the earlier rounds as it was wide open, but nothing.

One of the most blatant fixes I've ever seen, and I'm not the only one who thinks it. Go look at the comments on this video...

https://www.allthebestfights.com/canelo ... elea-2019/

Posted: **04 Nov 2019, 01:56**

Takeaway is that east euro/ussr fighters just can't seem to get it done at that uppermost, elite p4p level of opposition

Posted: **04 Nov 2019, 06:27**

As a shorter fighter myself(6'heavyweight) I had lots of those fight when the tall fighter just keeps jabbing my gloves and it does nothing really but I do understand people who score that higher than me just standing there with my gloves up. Im not trying to compare myself to the pros of course but still besides a great ko, Canelo was very lazy in this fight.

Posted: **06 Nov 2019, 09:50**

margaret thatcher wrote: ↑04 Nov 2019, 01:56 Takeaway is that east euro/ussr fighters just can't seem to get it done at that uppermost, elite p4p level of opposition

Gvozdyk almost killed adonis.
Loma schooled a olympic gold medalist cuban legend.
Usyk wiped out an entire division.
GGG and Derev fought a great fight.
Bertebiev looks like a freaking machine.

What are you talking about?

Posted: **06 Nov 2019, 10:26**

RonnyJ wrote: ↑06 Nov 2019, 09:50
margaret thatcher wrote: ↑04 Nov 2019, 01:56 Takeaway is that east euro/ussr fighters just can't seem to get it done at that uppermost, elite p4p level of opposition
Gvozdyk almost killed adonis.
Loma schooled a olympic gold medalist cuban legend.
Usyk wiped out an entire division.
GGG and Derev fought a great fight.
Bertebiev looks like a freaking machine.

What are you talking about?

Kovalev clearly beat Ward in their first fight.
GGG clearly beat Canelo in their first fight.

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