Canelo Alvarez Defeats Sergey Kovalev With a Vicious KO in the 11th Round

Canelo Alvarez delivered a brutal knockout in the 11th round to defeat Sergey Kovalev and write history. The Mexican boxer became one of the few fighters who won titles in four different divisions.

For this one, he had to move up two weight classes and 15 pounds, but that didn’t bother probably the best boxer on the planet. The light heavyweight belt ended in his possession. Previously, Canelo won the junior middleweight, middleweight, and super middleweight titles.

“I’m very thankful,” Alvarez said. “This is just a step in my career and my history, and all I ask of you is to be patient because Canelo will make history. That is guaranteed.”

Canelo KO’s Kovalev in the 11th Rd to capture the WBO Light Heavyweight championship #CaneloKovalev 🇲🇽🇷🇺 pic.twitter.com/gohjIUjT3g

— BOXING CORNER 2️⃣4️⃣/7️⃣ (@boxingcorner247) November 3, 2019

Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KOs) got the job done in the 11th round, opening tired Kovalev (34-4-1, 29 KOs) with a left hook, which broke the Russian’s defense. While wobbling around disorientated, Kovalev exposed his head, and Canelo threw one monstrous punch directly to the rival’s chin. The Krusher was out, and fortunately, he fell down on ropes; otherwise, he would definitely hurt himself on the way to the ground.

He was looking pretty bad, and without any notice about the environment, which is why the referee in the ring, Russell Mora, didn’t want to count but called for help.

The Mexican fighter didn’t want to celebrate until he was sure that his opponent is ok, and he also tried to calm down the crowd. It is a sportsmanship gesture that needs to be mentioned, as there aren’t many of them these days.

The gameplan of both fighters was apparent from the start. Canelo would seek a chance to operate from a nearby and try to hurt the rival with his severe body shots. Meanwhile, Kovalev was to keep Alvarez on the distance with the jab, which he more less manage to do during the event.

Until the moment when he suffered a knockout, Kovalev and Canelo were tied according to the scorecard of judge Don Trella, while Dave Moratti and Julie Lederman gave a slight advantage to Canelo. The Mexican won the first three rounds, but as time went by, Kovalev was getting comfortable in the ring, and he started to be more offensive-minded, throwing some punches, mostly jabs, which did make problems for Alvarez. It was especially noticeable in the 7th and the 10th round, once forcing the Mexican to retreat.

https://twitter.com/corey_erdman/status/1190873490557149184

However, what many predicted as Kovalev’s biggest issue in this match, turned out to be right in the end. The Russian is older, and he does have occasional drops when it comes to his endurance and stamina. We’ve seen that against Anthony Yarde in the previous fight, and that also happened tonight. Canelo and his team knew that, and that was what they counted on when making a strategy.

“The plan overall was patience, that was basically it, to have patience,” Alvarez said. “We knew there would need to be five or six rounds for us to get him, but credit to him because he’s a great fighter. We stuck to our game plan, and it was delayed a little bit because he’s a great fighter.”

The reporters wanted to know what is his stance on having another fight with Gennady Golovkin. Both of their previous clashes ended a bit controversially, with many believing that the Russian fighter got robbed by the judges and their scoring. Right now, Alvarez is more likely to accept the challenge, than some two or three months ago.

“I have said it before. He’s really not a challenge for me as I fought him and beat him for 24 rounds,” Alvarez said. “But [if it does business] and the people want to do it again, we can do it.”

It pretty much means that we can expect another spectacle in the next few months.