Kovalev: Canelo Alvarez has nothing to lose

Image: Kovalev: Canelo Alvarez has nothing to lose
By Boxing News - 10/15/2019 - Comments

By Sean Jones: WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev says his November 2nd opponent Saul Canelo Alvarez has nothing to lose in their fight on DAZN because he’s moving up two weight classes to challenge him for his title.

If Canelo Alvarez (52-1-2, 35 KOs) gets beaten, he won’t be criticized at all my boxing fans It’ll be the 36-year-old Kovalev (34-3-1, 29 KOs) that

“I’m really confident of victory over Canelo,” said Kovalev during Tuesday’s international media conference call.

Kovalev has the height, reach, size and the punching power advantage over Canelo. More important than that is the fact that Kovalev is a natural to the light heavyweight division, and he’ll be fighting at a weight that he’s comfortable with. In contrast, Canelo is bulking up for this fight, and will be fighting in a weight class that he’s never fought at. All the extra weight that Canelo puts on for this fight could wind up tiring him out in the later rounds.

The extra weight Canelo puts on could slow him down

We’ve seen Canelo gas out in his important fights against Gennady Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Those fights were with Canelo at his natural weight class. But for him to add size to fight at 175, it’s going to put a definite straight on his heart in the later rounds, and that could be win Kovalev steps in and takes advantage of the situation.

Kovalev is the wrong guy for Canelo to be fighting if he doesn’t have the stamina. Canelo will need to pace himself in the early rounds to make sure that he doesn’t empty his tank in the championship rounds of the contest. That’s going to be difficult for Canelo to do if Kovalev is sticking a power jab in his face all night, and hitting him with one-two combinations.

“The only thing we didn’t have to change was to come into camp at full force, because he was already in shape,” said Kovalev’s trainer Buddy McGirt. “So we took it slowly, day by day, nice and slow, because he was already in shape. So I think it was a blessing that it was a quick turnaround.”

Kovalev – Canelo loses nothing if he gets beaten

“For me, I really like it was a short rest,” said Kovalev. “I don’t like that it’s four or five months have a rest. This is killing me. I’m getting lazy, and I’m getting busy with my family. But right now it’s just a small rest of three or four weeks and I’m ready and I’m back again in training camp. Right now, I’m feeling good. I like a short break in between fights.

“One month is enough. I respect Canelo, because he’s going up two divisions. This is a huge step for him. Canelo wants to try and get a world title in the light heavyweight division, and if he will not get the title, nobody will say, ‘Ah, you didn’t get the title.’ He has nothing to lose, you know?” said Kovalev.

Well, Canelo will lose some respect from boxing fans if he loses to Kovalev, because he’s taking on the weakest link among the 175-lb champions. Canelo losing to Kovalev by a brutal knockout will obviously lead to him losing respect from a lot of casual boxing fans. These fans won’t know that Canelo is moving up 2 weight classes to take on a bigger fighter in Kovalev. Only the hardcore boxing fan follow the sport closely enough to know that Canelo is trying to make history by going after his 4th division world title at light heavyweight.

Canelo wants to make history against Kovalev

“I must defend my title, and I’ll defend my title,” said Kovalev. “If I lose, I lose more than Canelo. He’s trying to make history, but I’m here. I’m trying to keep my position. I don’t think he wants to fight right now for GGG belt. He wants to make glory and history. When he fights against GGG what will happen will happen. It doesn’t matter. Canelo will win the fight on November 2 or not.

“He just wants to try to make history. on November 2, we will see. I’ll be in the ring, and I’ll be ready for everything what he will bring. If Canelo goes to the 175 pound division, he’ll be ready. He’s a short guy, but on fight date, he’ll be more than 175, I’m sure. He won’t be tired, because he won’t have to lose weight. And he’ll be fighting with a full stomach,” said Kovalev.

Making history is important, but not when you single out certain guys to do it against. That just looks weak. For example, Canelo won his first junior middleweight title [WBC] against welterweight Matthew Hatton in March 2011. Canelo didn’t even fight a junior middleweight to capture the vacant World Boxing Council 154-lb title. Instead, he fought a fringe welterweight contender in Hatton, the brother of Ricky Hatton.

Kovalev says this will be his biggest career win

“Yeah, it’s going to be my biggest win, yes,” said Kovalev when asked if this will be the biggest victory of his career if he defeats Canelo on November 2. “This is the biggest name that I’ve fought after Bernard Hopkins. I’m really happy I found this coach. I met with Buddy a long time ago when I came to the U.S in 2009. And I never saw that Buddy can be my coach, but right now everything happens for a reason, and I found Buddy McGirt and Teddy Cruz, and I’m really happy. I really like to work with them, and we’ll see on November 2, but I’m sure that’ll be a great fight.

“Buddy gives me everything right what I lost after I losing control over the training. When all my titles, I had three titles. I had all my amateur experience to get those titles. when I had big rest in between fights, I lost all my technique, because I didn’t have a good coach in my training camp.

“Nobody controlled me, and nobody gave me instructions about what I should do. I did everything by myself. When I lost the fight against Ward, and then another fight and another fight, I started looking for a coach who can help me, and I found it with Buddy,” said Kovalev.

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