Almost disgustingly so at times. Kinda reminds me of how Stevenson abuses the straight left. Kovalev could've made this fight easier on himself if he did a few things differently: feint the straight right; throw left hook--if it lands good--straight right follow up to the body or head. Feint the right hand; slide or hop quarter turn left and feint another right hand and let Pascal come from leaning all of the weight to his right to the left and catch him with a left uppercut as he's doing so. In a nutshell, Kovalev underutilized his left hand. He didn't even hook off the jab once in this fight. There wasn't enough overall foot movement from him and he was out of position at times which got him caught with big shots. He has moved his feet and gotten into better positions in other fights he's had so I don't know why he seemed somewhat lethargic at times in there tonight. Everyone will say it was a great performance but I saw a lot of things in there tonight that he could clean up. And Kovalev rarely went to the body in this fight. Good performance, but, he needs to get rid of John David Jackson. He isn't teaching him shit
Nothing to say about something so obvious, eh? My god there are so many novices on this board. It's like talking to a bunch of 5-year-olds who have never boxed in their entire lives.
Yes he should of kept behind the jab rather than setting up the right too much. But the left hook did some heavy damage.
Well, the problem is that throwing the left meant that he was opening himself up for the counter close-in. His right is his half-guard, and he jabs left to set up the right. He only combos with the left when he throws jab-right-left-uppercut/body/right with the opponent up against the ropes or in the corner. He did use his left when he was bolo punching, with the right doing the circular motion distraction for the straight left. On at least two clear occasions (probably one or two more). He didn't 'hook off the jab' because he spent four rounds using his reach to jab-straight right through Pascal's guard. The hook meant coming in close and opening up for the looping counter. Do you want him to box smart, or to show off his throwing versatility? Twice as many punches thrown and landed, was doing more and more damage as the bout went on. It was working perfectly, so what's the need for what you're looking for?
LOL what? It's his bread and butter. Every fighter has a go to punch. His jab is great and his sense of distance is second to none. It's not like he only throws that right hand like a potshot. He sets it up and almost always throws in combinations. He throws the hardest straight punches in the sport. A lot of punchers throw looping shots kovalev is straight down the pipe. Way to nitpick on a flaw.