What was Cleverly's game plan?

[Jam Jars]

One can't simply run away from Kovalev -- he cuts the ring easily and connects monster punches into the process.

Better to let the fire chase you than walking in to it.

[MDPopescu]

Better to let the fire chase you than walking in to it.

I "advised" Clev to take a dive in the 3rd...
But the kid chose to go to hospital instead.

[PACnPBFsuck]

And even if his punches are blocked, they hurt like hell

I saw some punches that looked like Clev blocked, but you could tell that they were gonna start hurting sooner than later.

[Bushidō]

I think his plan was to have Kovalev fighting going backwards. Takes some of the steam out of his punches and also it would sap his stamina faster. Cleverly must have truly believed he could overwhelm Kovalev and slowly break him down and take over the 2nd half of the fight.

[BoxingGenius27]

It looked like his game plan was the rope a dope. Take as many shots as possible while covering up, make it to the 5th or 6th round, then go to work.

He was going to try to take him in the deep waters and drown him.

To be honest, I'm not sure Kov could've kept up that paste when he got to the 5th or 6th round. He was throwing a lot of power punches and looked like he was slowing down before the stoppage