Sergey Kovalev v Anthony Yarde

[Denilson-The-Comeback]

People saying Kovalev is past it at 36 are forgetting that B-hop's career pretty much started when he was 36 (After he beat Trinidad)

B-hop is a true legend, man.

But the fight ?

It was a valiant effort by Yarde but not quite valiant enough. I got my prediction wrong becase I thought it'd be a one sided win for either man and not be close. It was anything but.

The "How to Beat Kovalev" book is written & even civilians know it, but for some reason Tunde Ajayi didn't. Kovalevs resistance to body shots is almost equivalent to Khan's chin resistance. Kovalev has no poker face when it comes to them.

Yarde looked more effective when he tried to emulate Tysons side to side style of upper body movement, slipping inside the jab than when he was trying to be Mayweather. Which is ironic since he always says he based himself on Tyson until he met Tunde and he tried to create a new Floyd. He needs to get away from the TMT gym and stop trying to emulate the Mayweather style.

Why Yarde didn't just throw a 5 punch combination to the balls when he had Kov in trouble. It worked for Ward.



But push the pace and it's hasta la vista Krusher. Even when he had hurt Kovalev in the 8th. Yarde still didn't have his legs under him. He still wasn't able to stand back and really sink his punches in



And that's one the reason Kovalev didn't take a knee because Yarde was head-hunting too much. That's why amateur experience is important because when you're fatigued you resort back to the fundamental basics you were taught when you coming up. Yarde had only 12 amateur fights and that's why Kovalev despite his tiredness punched and clinched his way through the 8th, but a better, more schooled fighter than Yarde wouldn't have allowed that to happen.

At the end of the 8th Buddy McGirt (Kovalev's Trainer) said he was gonna throw in towel if Kovalev kept getting hit. That lit a fire. Buddy must have been real nervous with his previous fighter dying in that fight because he took too much punishment.



As everyone knows Yarde is gonna have to work on his stamina because all muscles do for most fighters is get their plug pulled out in the late rounds. Yarde's lack of 12-round conditioning was his eventual downfall. It's called boxing. Not Bodybuilding! "Skillz pay the Billz!" Muscles sell fights. People see muscles and the zero at the end of a record with all the KO's and they get weak in the knees.

But anybody knocking Yarde for going down on a jab should understand that he had ZERO left in the tank. A slight breeze woulda laid him out. Kovalev deserves a Heisman for the stiff-arm jab he showed in this fight. Yarde's lack of exp, no sparring during camp & lack of real conditioning bc of his muscle mass all worked to his detriment in the latter half of the fight. Hopefully he learns from this & comes back better.

And I know when a 36 year old fighter known for having stamina issues has far superior stamina than you, then it's not a good look. But kudos to Yarde for travelling to Kovalev's backyard and acquitting himself well for a major portion of the fight, but it really was too much of a step up, too quickly.

As for Kovalev if he can just control himself and not grope any more women on planes he will earn a mega payday with Canelo.
.