Was Canelo-Kovalev Fixed?

Personally, I thought the oddest, most off-putting takeaway
from the event was DAZN’s eagerness to be cuckolded by the UFC. You know,
making their cash cow, Canelo, wait around for 104 minutes before a “historic”
stab at becoming a 4-division world champ against WBO light heavyweight champ Kovalev
and forcing a 1:18 AM main event start time on their paying customers, just so
they could begin after the UFC 244 main event ended.

You would think that DAZN’s blatant disrespect to its own
product and customers would be the ideal target for angry-minded, cynical
boxing fans.

But, no.

Instead, social media, message boards, and YouTube boxing
channels are filled with angry talk about Alvarez-Kovalev being fixed.
Apparently, Canelo’s totally legit left-right fight-ending combo was “fake,” nowhere
near strong enough to knock a beast like Kovalev out and Kovalev’s limp-legged
response and slumping to the canvas was “Hollywood phony.”

Man…

I saw this coming, though.

Back in September, over at my other gig at FightHype.com, I wrote this about the impending storm of tinfoil hat-wearing conspiracy theorists:

“It’s easy to understand why there’s so little trust in
things being on the level in boxing.

And, in Canelo-Kovalev, there’s a perfect storm of possible
bullshit—especially if you’re prone to buy into the “Canelo is a fraud…Canelo
is protected…Canelo is a coward” narrative.

If Canelo is “ducking” one Euro-killer in Golovkin, why
would he be moving up two weight classes to fight a bigger, stronger
Euro-killer in Kovalev—unless there was zero risk in the fight and the result
was in the proverbial bag?

And why would there be a two-fight DAZN deal on the line for
Kovalev if he LOSES —unless he’s expected to lose?

Apparently, the Canelo-Kovalev conspiracy is as follows:
Canelo is paying Kovaelv to take a dive to avoid meeting the ‘real’ challenges
at 160 and to let that middleweight herd thin itself out. Then, Kovalev gets
two soft touch DAZN paydays to ‘rebuild’ before moving back to ESPN where he
can jump back into the light heavyweight mix there, either as a real player or
as a big-name patsy to one of the other 175 lb. players. Win-Win-Win. Everybody
makes money, Canelo appeases DAZN with a ‘tough’ fight that’s not really a
tough fight, and Kovalev extends his main stage career for at least another 18
months.”

Those claiming Kovalev took a dive on Saturday point to the
Russian’s timid, tepid performance throughout the fight. Instead of being his
own monstrous self, he came out cautious, throwing weak jabs and never actually
stepping forward to launch much of an offensive assault.

“This was not Krusher,” the conspiracy theorists say. “It
was obvious he was taking it easy on Canelo, waiting for the right time to be ‘knocked
out.’”

However, there was a reason Kovalev fought tepid and
seemingly timid against his naturally smaller opponent.

As I also wrote on FightHype.com, post-fight:

“Kovalev picked with the jab on the outside much of the
evening, unable and unwilling to open up against Alvarez, who was using subtly
brilliant footwork and distancing to keep Kovalev at a perpetually off-putting
range. The Russian would occasionally bumrush Alvarez with shoulder-first
lunges to open up proper distance, but he was never able to firmly establish
the space he needed to launch any sort of meaningful offensive push.”

In short, Kovalev fought insecurely because Canelo fought a
brilliant tactical battle and never let the Krusher be the Krusher. A good
strategy always trumps brute force. That’s just basic boxing common sense.

Fight-fixing is not a bogus issue, though. It does happen,
but there’s a pattern and a cadence to fixed fights and, usually, a set business
pattern to their making. Nothing about Canelo-Kovalev really screams “fix.”
And, if it was fixed, Kovalev would have to be the most inept dive-taker in the
history of rigged fights. One taking a dive does not usually get legitimately
knocked out while taking that dive.

The truth is simple to see in this fight. An in-his-prime Canelo
was the smarter fighter employing the superior strategy against a 36-year-old
who was on the downside of his career, anyway. Those who begrudge the Mexican
star, for whatever reason, even the slightest bit of credit for anything he’s
accomplished, will remain Canelo-cynical no matter what.

Simple truth is not so easy to see when bias and prejudice
are present.