Should Kovalev have taken a knee?

Kovalev wasn't just reluctant to throw his right hand, he was reluctant to throw any punch with any type of authority behind it period.

Going into the fight win or lose I was at least expecting Kovalev to pump his jab out with some type of authority the way he did vs Ward and every other fight he's been in.

Ever heard of Manuel "Mantecas" Medina???
Watching Kovalev reminded me of a poor man's version of Medina.
The difference between them was that Medina perfected the his style of pitter patter and threw and landed in heavy volume, something
Kovalev could never do.

I'll keep saying it, Buddy McGirt tried to convert a power punching assasin in Kovalev into Manuel Medina, a very dumb thing to do.

 

Take a knee at what point? Before the left hook Kovalev was doing more or less fine. That scrambled his circuits rather abruptly, leaving him defenseless against the right hand that dusted him off.

 

What for ? This fight was over before it began. It deserved to be pre-empted.

 

Still Kovalev did good enough to win on most cards, with the exception of the official crooks that had it one-sided. So he was certainly doing something. I still insist that he didn’t go too far with his punches because of Alvarez’ counters, which clearly discouraged him after being nailed by them.

 

I knew something was awry the moment I saw Kovelav's gentle jabs were falling short by a foot. I've seen choreographed fight scenes that were more realistic.

 

It is amazing that Canelo took away GGG body attack and Kova right hand, truly gifted fighter.

 

yep, and now he has ZERO power. very strange

 

Your tin foil hat is in full display.

 

I don't think I've ever seen a fighter take a knee from a head shot. usually it's from a body shot.

 

I'm just not seeing how anyone could have Kovalev ahead on the scorecards.

I had it 6-3-1 for Canelo, Kovalev won the rounds on my card where he actually put something behind his jab.
The only round where Canelo retreated I thought Kovalev did good work in, but in-between rounds McGirt informs Kovalev Canelo was setting a trap by retreating, and that he should'nt fall for it, "keep with the jab." There went any chance that Kovalev would come out of his shell to actually punch with the authority he's capable of.

 

I think the reason is that Canelo just wasn't throwing very many punches outside of a couple of rounds. When he did throw he landed some nice shots but Kovalev was just peppering him with the jab. Granted Canelo had the high guard up and was blocking most of them but some were getting in.

 

I had it a draw going into the 10th and literally anyone else I know personally had Kovalev comfortably ahead. As far as McGirt’s advice is concerned, I think he knew his fighter got hurt when he threw the right hand. Alvarez actually clocked him over the right hand pretty hard numerous times. That definitely discouraged him into fighting the way he did and it worked for him to be honest.

 

Does anyone have the punchstats to this fight?

Not that I'm guided by punchstats, but according to the announcing crew during the fight, connects were pretty even going into the late rounds. If that statement by the DAZN crew is correct, how on earth can anyone have Kovalev ahead when Canelo is throwing and landing with much more torque and power behind his shots???