It was a short camp with a rehydration clause that was less than three months after Kovalev had fought Yarde... Are you serious? If you want to know where it ranks, it doesn't.
Not very highly, especially in hindsight. It's probably his second worst world title conquest (Rocky F being the worst)
Hardly at all. Kovalev was clearly a shell of him self following the first Ward bout and on a fast downward spiral, not to mention the short camp and rehydration clause already mentioned. Canelo has a strong resume overall, but the Kovalev win isn’t one of his better wins.
In the run up to the fight I backed Kovalev to win, however in hindsight that was naive and my view of Canelo's win has soured. Kovalev was clearly on a severe downward slope at the time, with his wear in the ring and his poor lifestyle out of it taking its toll, as evidenced by his loss to Eleider Alvarez who I don't rate highly at all. Add to that the fact Kovalev was just two months removed from a bruising fight with Yarde, where he was hurt and possibly concussed, and it's hard not to conclude Kovalev was set up to fail (especially given that Kovalev outboxed Canelo for the majority of the fight but was inexplicably down on the cards at the time of the stoppage).
Incredibly high. Kovalev was a light heavyweight champion and knocked out top light heavy Anthony Yarde three months before that. All-time great win for Canelo. More impressive than Roy Jones beating Virgil Hill or Bobo Olson beating Joey Maxim, which are great wins, too. Canelo was better against Kovalev than Ward (either time) two years earlier. Clean knockout. Incredibly exciting.
I don't know too many "shot to pieces" guys who could've knocked out Anthony Yarde. That was an excellent fight, too. Yarde should've knocked out Kovalev if Sergey was so "shot to pieces."
I don't rate it at all. Kovalevs chin resistance wasn't their anymore. There's a reason why Canelo went after Kovalev and stayed far away from the other Champs
Then why didn't Yarde knock out Kovalev? A lot of people want to toss that win aside like it was nothing, but Kovalev didn't look like "nothing" three months earlier when he stopped the power-punching, undefeated Brit. He didn't look like "nothing" when he beat the undefeated Eleider Alvarez in their rematch to regain his title months prior to that. Alvarez wasn't exactly a soft touch at 175. Truth is, if Kovalev beat Canelo, those three wins in 2019 would've made it one of the best years of Kovalev's career. But he lost the third fight that year, and all of sudden he was "nothing." It's ridiculous the way the group mindset works around here sometimes. Someone is either totally great or utter ****. Nothing in between. Just dumb.
You are basically ignoring all context if you rank it as a very good win; to go as far as ranking it as high as an ATG win is insane
@Dubblechin I get your point - but did Kovalev have a short camp after a grueling bout for those bouts, as well as a dehydration clause? There’s more to judging this win than just saying Kov looked bad so he was bad (but he also did clearly lack any zip to his movements or punches, even while outboxing Canelo…)