Canelo Alvarez: I’m ready to make history. I’m ready for this great fight with Kovalev. Thank you to my team, to my family, thank you to my beautiful daughter who’s here – hi my love, I love you. We are ready to win.”
[Why Kovalev?] “Because he’s the best in his division, he’s one of the best, that’s why we chose him, to make history by fighting one of the best.”
[175 vs. 160:] “I feel comfortable, I feel good, we’ll see on Saturday how it all goes but I feel good.”
Sergey Kovalev: “I’m sure this fight is going to be very interesting and very difficult for both of us because we never step back, never give up…my goal is to break his strategy and use my strategy in the fight. My goal is to defend this title and follow my dreams.”
[Were you offended that Canelo chose you, perhaps seeing you as an easy win?] “No, I’m happy. It’s nice that this is the biggest call in my boxing career, and to face Canelo, I’m happy. This is a big test for me – to prove one more time, I’m the best light heavyweight in the division.”
[Will you be the first to KO Canelo?] “You know, let’s fight, and in the fight you’ll get to see. It’s not my goal, because when you follow that goal, you can’t do it. I just want to get into the ring and box very well and make a great fight for boxing fans and the boxing world.”
Canelo Alvarez: I’m ready to make history. With the judges behind me and a little help from the referee, I will be victorious this Saturday Night!
…don’t forget timely matchmaking! this diva would never have dreamed of moving up when Krusher was banging out Pascal
Make no sense your comment. Is like thinking Jaime Munguiaor any top 154 vs. Beterbiev today.
He obviously doesn’t know he’s saying. LOL. Your absolutely correct Mikemiguel.
And you forgot to say : against an opponent who is no more in his prime !
That’s nothing new Regis. Was Bernard Hopkins when he fought Kovalev?
Have you ever think the possibility that Ward decided to face Kovalev because he noticed he was not longer on his primes, concluding that if Isaac Chilemba lasted 12 rounds was for that reason ?
Ay arturita celosa jaja
Kovalev can’t hide his game plan. Use of his size and reach advantage to maintain Canelo at the end of his jab. If he is well conditioned, he could even stop Canelo.
There are no secrets in here about who he is now and how he was 4 or 5 years ago, the real questions IMO are about how Canelo will responds if Kovalev lands clean on him and how Kovalev will handle the youth and speed of Canelo if the fight goes beyond the 7 round. I doubt Canelo will rely on body punches entirely to get the win. Kovalev has a suspicious chin too.
I don’t think this fight is going to be like Fielding vs. Canelo, where Canelo landed at will to the midsection of Fielding without a threatening response. Kovalev could be old and past his primes, but is a much better than Fielding all around, plus his size and reach advantages. This is not a cherry picking (Fielding was), instead is a well calculated risk that could be wrong in less than one second
Mike, you make some good points. Kovalev never would have taken this fight unless the bank funds in large sums were not presented in the first place. That being said, Kovalev has nothing to prove in this fight except having a nice nest egg where he wont have to work a job once he walks away from boxing. Canelo seems to want this more than Kovalev. I would love to see Kovalev win this to shake up the controversy, but I doubt it.
Let’s be honest. Kovalev is almost done. Canelo is not interested facing Bivol or Beterbiev. Not even Callum Smith.
Oscar takes no risks.
Absolutely Correct Mikemiguel. These clowns try and find any reason saying Kov is old, why didnt he fight Kov when he was younger. Yea, thats cuz Canelo was a jr middle weight stupid haha same with GGG. I saw previous comments on why didnt Canelo fight GGG when he was younger. Simple. GGG was too big. He was more concerned at calling out smaller Canelo than being a man and stepping up to Ward when he got called out. Thats why it took him a while to fight GGG.
It could have been a mismatch, because Canelo was exposed to still green in his fight against Mayweather, and when GGG was calling him, Canelo was trying to rebuild his boxing career after that loss. The fights were made at the right time, not when almost everything was in Golovkin’s favor. Is like this fight with Kovalev would have been made just before Ward fights (2016), it could have been an absolute mismatch .
He wasn’t a junior Middleweight, never; he was just a fighter who cheated to make that weight..
Arent most fighters doing what they gotta do to make weight. danny Jacobs being the biggest cheater of em all in your eyes im sure. C’mon now, all do it. Thats jus the game.. there are very few that dont cut hard. I did it and i was never actually elite…
Ricky Hatton publicly admitted that between fights he was almost 190. But not for that reason we can say he should have faced Calzaghe. Almost every fighter’s weight is oscillating between 15 to 20 pounds over in normal life. That is one of the reason the WBC has a regulation about the weight. A fighter cannot be more than 10 percent over the division limit 30 days out, 5 percent 14 days before the fight and 3 percent seven days before the fight.
That is when is in training for a fight, so, what about before in his normal life?
You seem to forget the events leading up to Canelo finally fighting Golovkin. Saul kept saying he wasn’t a middleweight even AFTER he won the lineal title from Cotto. He allowed the WBC to strip him of his title instead of fighting Gennady (Do you see a pattern here?). He stalled as long as he could and still lost to GGG, whom was slightly past his prime.
Both guys (Cotto and Canelo) abused of a title that land on their hands by good luck, not by a real and fair contest, because Cotto, as the payday guy obligated Martinez to go under 160 for this fight, and Martinez, in an unprofessional and dishonest action, keep silent he could not longer fight because a busted knee. Then Cotto in his first defense made a Daniel Geale, who was a full fledged middleweight go down in weight almost like Jr. Middleweight. That night a corpse instead of fighter was against Cotto. Canelo took the title from Cotto, who was really afraid to fight GGG, and Canelo was not ready to face him.
No promoter wants to throw his cash cow under the bus knowing that beforehand, and shamefully the title was vacated under the blessing of the WBC, elevating GGG from interim to a regular champion.
Canelo in 2!
He must eat a lot of protein. I will leave it at that.
Doesn’t matter, boxing is a joke now. Promoters are running the sport right into the ground. Need the 70’s, 80’s,and 90’s fights back.
Back then promoters and handlers got the best benefits, best profits, reason why only few fighters retired with enough money to live a decent life that justified their sacrifices. The trend is different now.
Mayweather, JMM, Pacquiao, Canelo, Ward, Joshua, Mikey Garcia and many others are good examples
Why to come back to those days?
Even canelo had to check his work.. Hes the best.. One of the best”(he’s good.. He’s Ok.. He’s still a boxer… Hell hes someone i can fight). Lmao