And it's same weakness everyone has seen in Kovalev since he fought Ward... that he doesn't take body shots well. Canelo has moved up in weight once before to cherry-pick an opponent who he stopped in the 2nd round with.... body shots (Rocky Fielding). He's been calling out ONLY Kovalev at 175 and none of the other champions like Gvozdyk, Beterbiev or Bivol, none of whom he'd beat and he knows it. Keep in mind that he sees weakness in Kovalev to the point that he'd jump 2 weight classes to fight him instead of fighting Demetrius Andrade in his own weight class. Just one of the many reasons Canelo isn't an elite fighter imo.

Some are calling this Kovalev's swan song, getting a final big payday that he truly deserves before leaving the sport as an aging fighters who's slowing down. I mean he almost got KO'd less than a month ago by Anthony Yarde who's one of the greenest fighters in boxing, now he turns fight around and fights Canelo? It could truly be a swan song.

With that said, Kovalev can really box. He outboxed Ward for long stretches of their first fight. It takes a great boxer to do that. Even tho he's older, he's still dangerous.

I'd say this is a 60-40 fight for Canelo. Not only do you have to KO him to get a draw, but Kovalev is older and soft to the body. Canelo should win, but I don't think it'll be super easy for him. Kovalev can box and will have a big reach advantage. I see Canelo getting low to avoid shots and attacking the body... he might even win by KO. With Kovalev's skill and pedigree, I'm not super confident in this pick, but I just think it's the most logical.