Why did Kovalev not throw his RIGHT hand?

[QueensburyRules]

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.

- -Kov landed his signature Rt than sends fighters down for the count, but Canelo unbothered.

What grade U repeat this year?

[Htown-Finest]

Easy answer. Canelo left hook to body

[bojangles1987]

He's an worn, timid, fighter with bad stamina whose punch resistance has gone down the drain. He was worried about what would happen if he threw with any real purpose. I guess the ending tells us that he had good reason to worry.

It was pretty depressing to see just how far Kovalev's offense has fallen from his peak, but it's pretty obvious why he fought that way. He can't take a punch anymore and opening up increases the chances of him getting caught.

[QueensburyRules]

He's an worn, timid, fighter with bad stamina whose punch resistance has gone down the drain. He was worried about what would happen if he threw with any real purpose. I guess the ending tells us that he had good reason to worry.

It was pretty depressing to see just how far Kovalev's offense has fallen from his peak, but it's pretty obvious why he fought that way. He can't take a punch anymore and opening up increases the chances of him getting caught.

- -How long U down drain?

[bojangles1987]

actually kov plan was working, he was fighting his way to a points win until canelo found him out.

Against someone of poorer timing, Kovie had that just by cruising.

I mean, he didn't really find Kovalev out. He just finally landed a shot that put Kovalev down. He didn't really do anything differently than he did all night.

[mathed]

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.

Part of the stipulations in the contract

[DreamFighter]

I mean, he didn't really find Kovalev out. He just finally landed a shot that put Kovalev down. He didn't really do anything differently than he did all night.

he was timing him, my friend.

[UNBANNED]

Direct quote from him after fight:

"It leave my body open."

Translation: He was scared to get countered. And everytime he threw a power shot Canelo countered him with a harder shot immediately. He was basically gun shy and trying his hardest not to get knocked out.

His jab won him about 3-4 rounds though, not bad. Same as Golovkin in the second fight except Golovkin's jab won him 4-5 rounds.

Yeah theres a segment in round 4...about 2:25 in round 4. Canelo fires a massive left hook to Kova right body and Kova throws only 2-3 more right hands entire round..he threw like 10 rights up to that point

[UNBANNED]

He's an worn, timid, fighter with bad stamina whose punch resistance has gone down the drain. He was worried about what would happen if he threw with any real purpose. I guess the ending tells us that he had good reason to worry.

It was pretty depressing to see just how far Kovalev's offense has fallen from his peak, but it's pretty obvious why he fought that way. He can't take a punch anymore and opening up increases the chances of him getting caught.

Without taking anything away from Canelo...pretty much this. Great scouting by Canelos team, but Canelo did eat some of those quality Kovalev rights...impressive as fu.ck

[BennyBlanco]

Without the involvement of the FBI (As in the 60s), we will never know if it was a fix or not but I think any of us who are boxing fans and have seen the sport for decades can see something is seriously wrong when a boxer - any boxer - refuses to throw punches...nothing more than arm punches, something you might do during a light sparring warm up.

This is why I'd rather watch what the UFC did last night or fights featuring the likes of Usyk, AJ, Loma then any big American show.

Yeah...because it was so satisfying and exciting to watch the ref protect AJ from getting punched (particularly inside) by Parker or AJ getting the benefit of the early stoppage vs. Takam. We don't really know why the ref acted that way in either case.

So the issue isn't limited to U.S. fights...