Is Kovalev really that far gone?

[Boxing_1013]

In 2019 Kovalev avenged his loss to Alvarez, defended against a hungry challenger with KO power (both undefeated), and was giving a respectable (albeit tentative) performance against Canelo. Kovalev may be past his peak but he's still the champ and once again Canelo showed his versatility by employing a peekaboo style to stalk and take out the bigger man.

I think he just has no power left...and that made the fight easier for team Canelo to take...but I give him credit for stopping him, that still wasn't a foregone conclusion...but I just don't think Kov really has much left on his fastball anymore, to go along with his other issues.

[A-Wolf]

I was impressed with Canelo last night...his power seemed to affect Kov more than vice versa, which regardless of what one thought going in to the fight, had to be kind of surprising.

Canelo's quickness and counters probably made it tough for Kovalev to sit on his jab and really snap it...though Kov being long in the tooth and susceptible to counters/worn down in general made it an easier fight for Canelo.

I am just perplexed a bit as to how much credit Canelo really deserves here...Kov had almost nothing on his punches, gassed out early for no real reason, and was KOed by the first 1 or 3 good clean shots Canelo really landed.

Adding to that the fact that Canelo couldn't KO Jacobs or Chavez Jr or Cotto, or GGG twice...yet now he goes up to 175 and KOs a good fighter who had some good wins in his last few fights, regardless of whether he is a shell of his former shelf.

Overall I feel like the word has probably been out on Kovalev, through sparring etc, that his power is fading, with the jab and all other shots, and his stamina is worse, his legs/movement are declining, and he still doesn't like it to the body.

Basically things many on here have been suggesting, but I think other fighters hear this stuff and reallly know it is the truth...they see the decline in sparring and know he isn't the same fighter...that word spreads.

Because the truth is Kov has looked decent enough in his last few fights, decent enough to beat a MW coming up 2 weight classes anyway...but the word was probably out on Kov that he can't really hurt you anymore, and that is probably why Canelo jumped on the fight...he knew that worst case he could go 12 rounds.

I think that's why Yarde was so eager/ready to take that fight when otherwise it seemed too soon for him...it also may explain why Canelo wanted to X Yarde out and get to Kovalev before Yarde did....and as we saw in the Yarde fight, he did almost get Kov.

So yeah I am just trying to piece all this together...from why Canelo and his A-side would really want this fight, and also try and make sense of the performances from last night...will be interesting to see what Kovalev and Canelo do in the future.

I'm basically on your side of the fence on this argument but no matter how well you've communicated your ideas you're still using triangle type theories and filling in the gaps with your best reasoning abilities and that just isn't how life or boxing (which is life) works.

There is a precedent for an elite smaller guy moving up and beating the s%$# out of an elite bigger guy. It's happened a LOT in boxing as a matter of fact. Duran did it multiple times. Pacquiao did it multiple times. Cotto pretty much did it against Sergio Martinez.. I won't try and think any harder than that but it's happened many times in recent history that we know about.

[TheBestExcuse]

Yeah kovalev now is far gone to the vacation with his money. Thank you canelo n GBP for the talent fee, just call me again for 2nd dive

[A-Wolf]

Yeah kovalev now is far gone to the vacation with his money. Thank you canelo n GBP for the talent fee, just call me again for 2nd dive

Call it what it was though. This was an Academy Award Oscar level performance. Possibly the greatest dive of all time and far better than any performance Bernard Hopkins ever gave inside the ropes. Sergey Kovalev is the Daniel Day Lewis of boxing divers.

[GrandpaBernard]

Kov fought anxiously

[Phenom]

Kovalev was hurt or stopped in every fight since Ward he was there for the taking that's why Warren and Yarde jumped on the fight

Kovalev is shot also Yarde is not a ko artist guy is a British level boxer

[johnbook]

What has happened since Ward II is that by mid-fight Kov gasses and when he does he can no longer take a head or body shot.

This is not due to Ward, but father time.

[jackson8]

Kovalev was shot, why do you think Canelo took the fight. Kovalev looked shot against his last two opponents Eleider Álvarez and Anthony Yarde. People are acting like Canelo beat a 2015 version of Kovalev but reality should check in soon.

[KidDinamita]

IMO Kovalev wasn't fighting to hurt Canelo. It looked like a sparring session and in the end one of them got caught.

At least there was respect between them and there wasn't any ****** press conferences, circus style.

Could be either Canelo moved up in weight and gained power (meat or no meat), or Kovalev wasn't rested enough, 6 weeks ago just fought Yarde and was almost stopped.

[Citizen Koba]

I know Yarde had no one on his resume, but I was somewhat impressed with him before that fight and also in the fight...I could see why Kov was maybe cautious vs him...but maybe he just has no power left is what it really is...among his other issues.

He'll still have power, he just got gunshy. He no longer really commits because he'd become wary of getting countered, specially since a coupla KO losses. Hell even against Yarde and Eleider it was obvious, there were those of us who were saying he was losing his killer instinct as far back as Hopkins and Chilemba... silk sheets syndrome I thought then, maybe fatherhood too.