r/Boxing • u/Puzzled-Category-954 • 1d ago

On this day in 2019 Sergey Kovalev knocked out Anthony Yarde in Round 11 to successfully defend the WBO Light Heavyweight Title

https://streamain.com/wVaaDRFFuMLAxXD/watch
62 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

27

u/GujjuGang7 14h ago

I sure hope Kovalev got to rest and prepare fully fit for his next match after this grueling fight…

Right??

16

u/Intrepid_Credit_9885 13h ago

No he has to fight Canelo right away with a cute little rehydration clause

-2

u/Due-Sherbert3119 12h ago

Kovalev has never been one to rehydrate a whole lot the rehydration clause didn’t affect him

12

u/Intrepid_Credit_9885 7h ago

So why put it in

2

u/RRR04_ 41m ago

The man struggled to even make 175 for the Canelo fight. He weighed in initially at 176. So of course he was gonna struggle with a rehydration clause.

Y'all need to stop acting like people don't find it harder to make weight as they get older.

6

u/Due-Sherbert3119 12h ago

Grueling fight? Lmao only one round was grueling kovalev dominated the rest of the fight 

5

u/Theee1ne 3h ago

Either way going 11 rounds ain’t a walk in the park

1

u/GujjuGang7 6h ago

Lies. Round 8 was just the worst one

1

u/SquareShapeofEvil Bitter GGG Fan 17m ago

He punched a woman and gave her a concussion and multiple fractures. Also kicked her dog. Getting knocked out for a multimillion dollar pay day, even if he wasn’t up for it, was way more than Kovalev deserved.

It more so bothers me that Canelo gets to say he’s been a light heavyweight champion, because I think even around 2019 a fully rested and prepared Kovalev without a rehydration clause would beat Canelo, but seeing Kovalev get clocked is still satisfying.

1

u/GujjuGang7 13m ago

You can make this argument about all of r/Boxing’s favorites: Ali, Tyson, Foreman, SRL etc

10

u/MyzMyz1995 10h ago

Yarde is unlucky he had such dominating guys in his division like Kovalev, Beterbiev and now Bivol otherwise he would've gotten one of the titles for sure at any other time.

2

u/T-CAP0 3h ago

Hmm I dont know if it was unlucky.

I think it is more of mismanagement. Had his team built him up properly he would have beaten Kovalev.

It was as simple as having him fight better opposition as his career went on. He should have fought Barrera, Chilemba, Pascal and then go for the Kovalev fight.

Look at his career since that fight, who has he fought, to up the levels. Again because of that he got beat by Beterbiev. Even with better opposition he would have still lost IMO, but it would have certainly made the bout closer.

Now look who he has to fight lol.

6

u/darkprince_23 12h ago

This was a sick fight shame how Kovalev's career declined hard after losing to Andre Ward but he was something else to watch in his prime damn near GGG level.

1

u/Razorion21 2h ago

him vs Beterbiev and Bivol wouldve been fun

1

u/Visual_Hedgehog_1135 5m ago

Him vs Beterbiev would be some fight. Though I think Artur would have won. He could take Gvozdyk's punch and is a vicious body puncher which Kovalev didn't like.

11

u/RRR04_ 19h ago

Being an East Londoner, all my mates here really thought Yarde was gonna win this 🤣 a man with his level of opposition up to this point was never gonna beat a world champion. The matchmaking for Yarde was atrocious. That said, he fought valiantly.

4

u/NyQuil_Donut 9h ago

IMO Yarde could've been great. He took away Kovalev's right hand for most of the fight, and got hit almost entirely by jabs. Almost had Kovalev out of there in round 5 too. It's just that his stamina is possibly the worst I've ever seen in a fighter. He could slip Kovalev's right all day, but he couldn't land enough shots to win rounds because he has no gas tank.

5

u/Wavepops 19h ago

If yarde was going to be world level consistently he would’ve won this fight. Kov was gassed the second half of this fight and he was in cruise control the first half 

1

u/tkdhrison 19h ago

And Kovalev would never be the same again.

8

u/thedogstrays 12h ago

The stoppage loss to Ward then Eleider Alvarez a year later firmly established he was already pretty far over the edge of his prime.

1

u/LastofDays94 5h ago

Yarde looked like he had him midway through this fight