November 2, 2019 will truly be engraved in Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez memory for a very long time after conquering his 4th world title, WBO light heavyweight from Sergy Kovalev after a late knockdown in the 11thround on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Being the first time fighting in the 175-pound division, Team Canelo had a successful night where he dared to be great, to concur not just another win in his career, but another belt to his waist.
It was almost after an entire hour that the main event began due to Dazn, the streaming service, delaying their usual start time of the fight to allow fans that tuned in to the UFC PPV main event, Masvidal vs Diaz, enough time to switch over to the Canelo vs Kovalev.
Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KO) certainly shut the critics that were desperately wondering how he would take Kovalev (34-4-1, 29 KO) throughout the night after jumping two weight classes from middleweight division. At first it appeared that Kovalev's size was going to slowly take 'Canelo' down in the first 4 rounds with repeated punches, specifically throwing jab after jab and trying to prepare his combinations, but little by little Alvarez took pace of the fight and was patient in waiting for an opening in which the fight became a chess match. Kovalev never appeared as he was ready for the “kill” (he didn't live up to his terrifying nickname, “The Krusher”, earned earlier in his carreer). This gave the Mexican more confidence that he could finish Kovalev in a spectacular manner.
'Canelo' did everything in his power as the “smaller” fighter to close the gap with a high guard against a tall and long Kovalev. He threw power punches to Kovalev's head (despite usually attacking the body first in all fights) as the “Krusher” knew that the game plan was to stay away from the vicious punches to the mid-section. It was repeated round by round with the scores being pretty close for the critics and fans; some were even leaning on giving Kovalev more rounds due to the Russian staying more active, but it all changed on the 11th round.
Throughout the night, 'Canelo' kept on throwing the same hook punch behind the ear of Kovalev. It started the wobbling of Kovalev that gave 'Canelo' the opportunity to land a straight right power punch to the chin of the Russian, which left him out cold on the ropes and concluded the long awaited main event in Las Vegas.
Saul Alvarez rewarded the fans with another outstanding performance. Now with 29 years of age, he will have numerous options on who to face next from and will surely deliver a phenomenal performance as the usual. As for Kovalev, 36, losing four out of his last eight fights could possibly mean that he's a boxer that will quickly fade in to the sunset after many spectacular nights in his career.