Why did Kovalev not throw his RIGHT hand?

[Bandman]

because everytime he did canelo was shredding his body with counter shots. Kovalev had to think twice

[Dean_Razorback]

canelo was moving forward without throwing anything. in another night kovalev would've picked him apart. really weird stuff

[Vlad_]

Better yet what the hell happened to his jab? From the opening bell Kovalev was fighting limp.

[ReggieKray]

Kovalev didn't come to fight. Right before the fight, Kovalev was shadow boxing throwing quick straight Rights and I thought to myself that will be deadly for Canelo. Fast forward to the actual fight and he didn't throw a single straight right... People saying he was afraid of getting counted are just amateurs. If Kovalev was fighting a serious fight that came with a big prize at the end if he won, he would have made sure to show Canelo his power to make Canelo think twice about countering.

I think for some fights the incentive to fight a war is not there. Especially if you are already guaranteed 14mil just to step into the ring and are considering retirement... If kovalev was offered a winning bonus of 5mil or more. This fight would have been different.

[SugarAnt05]

Same reason McGregor didnt throw his power punches against Floyd Lol . Kovalev can't take it to the body and that chin is cracked. Once you get him past 6, he's ineffective. I noticed it with the Chilemba fight in which he won but had no late power. Canelo knew all off that going in. Walked his azz down, kept him going backwards to take off the sting of the rights he would land, and broke him down.

[MulaKO]

All night long, from the first bell to the final KO, Kovalev refused to throw a single punch in anger. He out jabbed Canelo all night and in my opinion, should have been up on points but other than that, where were his power punches.

He pawed with his right hand (it may have been hurt as Buddy at one stage said "don't worry about the right"), his left hook was a playful slap and he didn't throw an uppercut against a guy walking in with his hands held up...

I am not going to say the KO was staged because it clearly wasn't. Kovalev was disconnected from his senses and no one can pull that off as an act BUT why was Kovalev so gun shy all night?

We saw hi just 12 weeks ago put a beating on a prime LHW and throw mean punches, yet here he was content with slapping and then fist bumping Canelo all night.

The sport in the US is all but dead and it would be even worse if the heavyweight championship was over there (oops, forgot the robbery that was Wilder/Fury). I am glad we're seeing guys like Usyk, Loma and AJ take fights all over the world. The further removed from the American and Mexican mobs we can get, the better for this sport.

I actually believe Canelo carried him
I believe that if Kovi got aggressive this fight would of lasted less than 6 rounds
Getting fughin flashbacks of Connor vs Floyd
At least Floyd had a reason , his wager on the over/under

[MulaKO]

Kovalev didn't come to fight. Right before the fight, Kovalev was shadow boxing throwing quick straight Rights and I thought to myself that will be deadly for Canelo. Fast forward to the actual fight and he didn't throw a single straight right... People saying he was afraid of getting counted are just amateurs. If Kovalev was fighting a serious fight that came with a big prize at the end if he won, he would have made sure to show Canelo his power to make Canelo think twice about countering.

I think for some fights the incentive to fight a war is not there. Especially if you are already guaranteed 14mil just to step into the ring and are considering retirement... If kovalev was offered a winning bonus of 5mil or more. This fight would have been different.

You don’t think a second fight is a big enough prize
Speaking of fughin amateurs..................

[lolpz]

That makes no sense what so ever and IF that was the gameplan, then why fight at all? They literally came in to get a paycheck and maybe survive 12 rounds.

Everyone involved in the making of this fight should be ashamed.

Makes sense because Kovalev's jab is just that good. It's great in fact.

He knew he wouldn't be able to handle Canelo's speed and counter punching abilities mixed with his power. Had he opened up, fight would've ended earlier. He stuck to his gameplan and racked up a decent amount of rounds to make it competitive round-wise until he got caught. Canelo is just that good.

[FinitoxDinamita]

Because they only gave him half and promised the other half after the fight is over.

They instructed him to flick jabs only and no power punches. That was the deal.

We can expect to see Kovalev party with ten russian whores on a yacht soon.

[bigdunny1]

Easy he didn't want to get countered. Same reason why GGG refused to throw any body shots against Canelo in their first fight then the entire world and his trainer screames GGG had to go to the body in the rematch and yet...GGG was still shook and wouldn't throw it. Same reason GGG after calling for Mexican Style ended up retreating and jabbing. THEY DON'T WANT TO RISK GETTING COUNTERED. So they become crazy with the jab which becomes more a defensive punch just to keep canelo off of them. You go to the body and canelo hands are faster and it leaves you open to eat huge shots. Kovalev commits to big shots with the right and it leaves him open for counter shots specifically that monster left hook to the body.

Canelo takes these shots away from his opponents and makes them less aggressive on offense because they don't want that return fire.