I keep seeing a lot of comments about how Povetkin just gassed, but I've barely seen anyone mention why. Povetkin didn't gas out because he's old, ill prepared or out of shape. He was winging in shots and a lot of the heavier ones he was being made to miss because they were being slipped. More importantly however is the bodywork which went largely unnoticed. Joshua's jab was about 75% effective, as it was sometimes thrown lazily and he was made to pay, but when it was snapped out it dropped Povetkin dead in his tracks. It was the body jab however which won the fight, every time he speared Pov with it it doubled him over opened him up and setup heavier artillery and ultimately the end of the fight.
Of course he gassed. as it's expected from a 40 year old athlete. Mo Farah isn't running marathons anymore because he's too old. It's comes as no surprise that even boxers have stamina issues at such an old age.
Povetkin could not maintain his high intensity feinting, head movement and constant footwork at such an old age. A young Povetkin would do it for 12 rounds.
How many athletes have won a marathon at age 39? How many Olympic gold medalists do we have at 39 in combat sports like boxing?
Farrah will not be anywhere near as effective running marathons as he was at the shorter distances, he`s going to get slower and slower and he sure won`t be running aged 37, not at world class level anyway.
AJ said the plan was to jab to the body to make Povetkin gas, Floyd used to use this tactic but AJ`s jab is more powerful than other heavies, his team really know their boxing and planned this tactic during camp.
Pov had slowed down by round 5, throwing left and right hooks for every minute of every round will take its toll especially at the age of 39. Also no doubt AJ's size, holding and jabs to the body and a few punches here and there took further toll.
