KRUSHED!

by Matt Benoliel

For 11 rounds, Sergey Kovalev stuck to his game plan-extend the jab and prevent the dangerous Canelo Alvarez from invading his personal space. Canelo, as well, stuck to his plan the entire fight-advance, harass and land heavy shots. In the end, Canelo did what most experts and odds-makers predicted.

Surprisingly, or maybe not so due to the increase in weight, Canelo did not throw as many punches as we are used to. The fact that he was constantly applying pressure, forcing Kovalev to retreat, may have won some favor on the judges scorecards, but Kovalev simply threw and landed more shots. The graphics below, provided by boxstat.co, break down the shots thrown and landed throughout the fight.

At 175, Canelo appears comfortable, but was he pacing himself? Or was he afraid of gassing out if he threw more punches? Or was he simply confident that opportunity would present itself as it did in the 11th round? At any rate, it is great to see Canelo break new ground and collect more belts.