Absolutely. When a faded legend puts up such a display, it shows enough to deduce a prime matchup. Another example I like is Wlad and AJ.
And I have the same conversations in the classroom when a kid says they've done the homework, they just haven't registered it as complete online.
****ing ridiculous how people will discredit other fighters, just flat out deny the win and say it wasn't even real
I don't think it was fixed I do think it was good timing with the matchmaking getting a compromised Kovalev which flattered Canelo further. If Kovalev was prime Canelo wouldn't have gone near him. but he wasn't and Canelo went in and did what was required to get that scalp. Optically it didn't look great with the way Kovalev crumpled but that's what happens when a guy is shot.
I can hear the pre-fight conversation now: "So we spar till the 11th and then I feign injury and quit on my stool?" "No man, I knock you unconscious and break your face" "Sounds good to me!"
Was the fight made at the perfect time for Kovalev to lose? Yes. Did Kovalev came in the ring to purposely lose? You have to be a moron to believe that.
Canelo timed it right by getting a faded past-prime Kovalev to agree to fight a mere two months after sustaining significant damage against Yarde in Russia. But was it fixed in the sense that Canelo paid Kovalev to take a dive? Obviously not, and you have to be an idiot to believe that.
Everyone that followed boxing the last decade knows the answer to that one, and without checking the scores.