Alvarez “Shocks” Kovalev by KNOCKOUT … Berto Edges Alexander

By Tom Donelson  / Author, Member of Boxing Writers Association of America

Eleider Alvarez was down on the scorecard and it looked like Sergey Kovalev had taken command of the fight.  A heavy underdog, the undefeated Alvarez who had only 11 knockouts in his previous 23 fights, showed unexpected power when he sent Kovalev down with a big right hand at the start of the seventh.  Kovalev came up wobbly and Alvarez jumped on Kovalev with a left hook followed by a right that sent the Russian down for a second time.  Kovalev was still shaking on his feet and Alvarez finished Kovalev up for a final time as a few short punches landed. 
 
 
Alvarez stunned the boxing world with the biggest upset of the year.  Alvarez career had been marked with damaged right hand from his amateur days that reduced his power and for the first two rounds, Alvarez boxing skills confused Kovalev but his punches were hardly intimidating Kovalev.  In the third, Kovalev power started to show as his punches had more snap than Alvarez. In the fourth round, Kovalev threw 80 punches and landing over 25 of them.  Alvarez kept himself from being trapped in the corner and off the rope but he didn’t appear to give Kovalev a reason to be concerned.  What many of us watching were not noticing, Alvarez started to wear down Kovalev and not the other way around.

 

Roy Jones noticed what many of us didn’t when he noted, “Like I said early in the fight, I didn’t like how Kovalev was looking [with his facial and physical reactions].  Those jabs [from Alvarez], when that were throwing off [Kovalev’s] timing and putting him off-balance with the jabs.  Those types of things let me know something about a fighter.  When I see that, I don’t like it.  Could he withstand the early onslaught [from Kovalev].  We knew that if he could weather the storm, he could get Kovalev.” 

 
Alvarez won his biggest fight while stunning Kovalev, leaving HBO announcer Roy Jones wondering if Kovalex at 35 was finished as an elite fighter.  Kovalev has now lost three fights and Alvarez is the king of the light heavyweights. 
 
Andre Berto and Devin Alexander are no longer elites in their division but they still are entertaining fighters.  While Fox television kept telling the audience that both of these fighters have championship hopes still alive but this is an illusion as neither fighter are part of the Welterweight elites. 
 
Alexander dominated the early rounds as he beat Berto to the punch consistently and even sent Berto down in the third. From that point, Berto came alive, and started to pound Alexander body.  In his fight against Ortiz, Alexander started out fast before tiring and barely coming up with a majority decision.  This fight followed a similar pattern as Alexander wilted against Berto’s pressure but this time, he lost a split decision.
 
Over the last half of the fight, Alexander didn’t return fire to Berto’s pressure.  While Berto may view himself with one more shot at the title, the reality is that his loss to Shawn Porter gives a good indication of where he stands as Porter dominated him before stopping him in the ninth.
 
Berto came back to win and provided fans with an entertaining fight but the big fight this past Saturday was the arrival of Eleider Alvarez and possibly the end of Kovalev as an elite light heavyweight. 
 
I had Kovalev up 4 rounds to 2 before the seventh but there were close rounds and while the judges had it in favor of Kovalev, it could have easily been 4 to 2 in favor of Alvarez.  I agreed with two of the judges 115 to 112 for Berto.  

One thought on “Alvarez “Shocks” Kovalev by KNOCKOUT … Berto Edges Alexander

  1. I agree on the Kovalev vs Alvarez fight David. I thought Alexander was robbed vs Berto, but he did allow Berto back in the fight.

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