Fighting a guy jumping two weight classes is never a sign of bravery. Not calling Kov a coward by the way.
@CST80 You guys have to give credit to Big Red for having one of the most devastating inside uppercut in boxing these days. Big Red is no master inside worker but they uppercut is deadly
Kov weighed under 180 for the Alvarez rematch, Clenelo was coming in as high as 172-174 down at 154 six years ago and he's obviously bulked up a lot since then after going on that 'Mexican beef' diet. Even if Kov decides to come in heavier than he did in that fight I don't think the weight difference between them is going to be anywhere near as much as most people think it will be.
A little worried taking a fight so soon after surely being somewhat concussed, could be falling into a trap. Some thought Miocic was KO'd by Cormier in the first fight because he fought too soon after being wobbled by the African in the previous fight. Canelo's dirty team would definitely be trying to get an edge in this way and Kov's team would be treacherous not providing enough rest time. It seems very suspicious a fight of this magnitude would have such a short lead up. There's no way in hell AJ would have fought Ruiz a couple of months after the first fight just because it suited dates, as handlers would be worried about his bruised brain-like object. Sure Kov wasn't TKO'd, but he was in trouble and took a lot of shots in that round. Bradley wasn't KO'd either against Provod, and couldn't talk properly for months, different order of magnitude but same principle.
That Golovkin dropped Kova with a body shot has all been but confirmed. There was a bunch of talk at the time of how Kovalev had just started training and he'd not been ready for heavy sparring.
Kovalevs power is for real. He just hasn't loaded up his shots since his KO over shabransky because he's scared of gassing. Nowadays He puts together combinations and "point getting" flurries of straight punches without his real weight behind them instead of bombs