Canelo Álvarez vs. Sergey Kovalev

Date	November 2, 2019
Venue	MGM Grand Garden Arena, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
Title(s) on the line	WBO light heavyweight title
Tale of the tape
Boxer Canelo Álvarez Sergey Kovalev Nickname Canelo ("Cinnamon") Krusher Hometown Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico Kopeysk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia Pre-fight record 52–1–2 (35 KO) 34–3–1 (29 KO) Height 5 ft 8 in (173 cm) 6 ft (183 cm) Weight 174+1⁄2 lb (79 kg) 175 lb (79 kg) Style Orthodox Orthodox Recognition WBA (Super) and The Ring middleweight champion WBA (Regular) super middleweight champion The Ring No. 3 ranked pound-for-pound fighter 2-division world champion[*] WBO light heavyweight champion
Result
Álvarez wins via 11th-round KO

Canelo Álvarez vs. Sergey Kovalev was a professional boxing match between Canelo Álvarez and defending WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev. The fight took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada on November 2, 2019. Álvarez won by 11th-round knockout.

Background

Álvarez made his debut at light heavyweight and was looking to become a three-weight world champion^[*] by challenging WBO titleholder Kovalev, who was defending his title after having fought two months prior on August 24, 2019. Kovalev was stopped for just the third time in his career when Álvarez knocked him out in the 11th round.

Fight card

Weight class		vs.		Type	Round	Time	Notes
Light heavyweight	Canelo Álvarez	def.	Sergey Kovalev (c)	KO	11/12	2:15	Note 1
Lightweight	Ryan Garcia	def.	Romero Duno	KO	1/12		Note 2
Super welterweight	Bakhram Murtazaliev	def.	Jorge Fortea	UD	12/12
Flyweight	Seniesa Estrada	def.	Marlen Esparza	TD	9/10		Note 3
Welterweight	Blair Cobbs	def.	Carlos Ortiz	RTD	6/10		Note 4
Middleweight	Meirim Nursultanov	def.	Cristian Olivas	UD	10/10
Light heavyweight	Bektemir Melikuziev	def.	Clay Collard	TKO	4/8	1:11
Super welterweight	Evan Holyfield	def.	Nick Winstead	KO	1/4	0:16	Note 5
Super welterweight	Tristan Kalkreuth	def.	Twon Smith	UD	4/4

^Note 1 For WBO light heavyweight title

^Note 2 For vacant WBC Silver lightweight title

^Note 3 For WBA female flyweight title

^Note 4 For vacant WBC-NABF welterweight title

^Note 5 Holyfield's professional debut

Aftermath

Immediately after the bout, many fight fans started asking Kovalev on social media about why he allegedly took a dive. The former champion answered via several videos on his Instagram page,^[1]:

"It was impossible for me to win that fight because of all the demands and contract clauses I have signed, and my physical conditioning problems. But financially it was very interesting for me... so, yeah, I accepted the fight I was not supposed to win."^[2]

Álvarez responded by calling Kovalev a "bad loser".^[3]

Broadcasting

The fight was streamed live on DAZN in the United States and nine other countries, televised on both FTA Azteca 7 in Mexico and Channel One in Russia.^[4][5]

Country	Broadcaster
	Free-to-air	Cable/Pay television	PPV	Stream
Australia[6]	—		Main Event	—
Austria	—			DAZN
Brazil
Brunei	—		Astro Box Office	Astro GO
Canada	—			DAZN
China[7]	CCTV-5		—	CNTV Ai Bugu
Denmark	—	TV3 Sport	—	Viaplay[8]
Finland				Viasat Urheilu
France[9]	—	beIN Sports	—	beIN Sports Connect
Germany	—			DAZN
Indonesia	Mola TV[10]		—	Mola TV On Demand
Ireland	—	Sky Sports[11]	—	Sky Go
Italy	—			DAZN
Japan
Kazakhstan[12]	QAZTRK	—		QAZTRK
Latin America Central:  Costa Rica  Dominican Republic  El Salvador  Guatemala  Honduras  Nicaragua  Panama South:  Argentina  Chile  Colombia  Ecuador  Peru  Uruguay  Venezuela		Space (PAN and South)	—	Space GO (PAN and South)
Mexico	Azteca 7
	Las Estrellas	TUDN		TUDN
Malaysia[13]	—		Astro Box Office	Astro GO
MENA  Algeria  Chad  Comoros  Djibouti  Iran  Iraq  Jordan  Kuwait  Lebanon  Libya  Mauritania  Morocco  Oman  Palestine  Qatar  Saudi Arabia  Somalia  Sudan  Syria  Tunisia  United Arab Emirates  Yemen	—	beIN Sports	—	beIN Sports Connect
New Zealand	—		Sky Arena	—
Norway	—			Viasport
Panama[14]	Telemetro	—		Medcom Go
Philippines[15][16][17]	5 (delayed)	—		ESPN5 (delayed)
		—	Cignal TV
			Sky Sports
Poland[18]	—	Polsat Sport	—	IPLA
Russia	Channel One	—		Channel One
Spain	—			DAZN
Sub-Saharan Africa  Angola  Benin  Botswana  Burkina Faso  Burundi  Cameroon  Cape Verde  Central African Republic  Chad  Comoros  Congo  Djibouti  DR Congo  Equatorial Guinea  Eritrea  Eswatini  Ethiopia  Gabon  Gambia  Ghana  Guinea  Guinea-Bissau  Ivory Coast  Kenya  Lesotho  Liberia  Madagascar  Malawi  Mali  Mauritania  Mauritius  Mozambique  Namibia  Niger  Nigeria  Rwanda  Sao Tome and Principe  Senegal  Seychelles  Sierra Leone  Somalia  South Africa  South Sudan  Sudan  Tanzania  Togo  Uganda  Zambia  Zimbabwe	—	SuperSport[19]	—	DStv Go
Sweden	—			Viasport
Switzerland	—			DAZN
Taiwan[20]	—	Eleven Sports	—	Eleven Sports
Timor-Leste	Mola TV		—	Mola TV On Demand
Turkey[21]	DMAX	—		DMAX
United Kingdom	—	Sky Sports	—	Sky Go
United States	—			DAZN
				Pluto TV (undercard only)
				Stadium (undercard only)

Fight purses

According to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Álvarez earned an official purse of $35 million and Kovalev a $3 million purse. These figures are the final figures they will earn as Canelo has a subscription deal which means no potential PPV revenue.^[22]

Guaranteed base purses

• Canelo Álvarez ($35 million) vs. Sergey Kovalev ($3 million)
• Ryan Garcia ($250,000) vs. Romero Duno ($50,000)
• Bakhram Murtazaliev ($55,000) vs. Jorge Fortea ($20,000)
• Seniesa Estrada ($50,000) vs. Marlen Esparza ($50,000)
• Blair Cobbs ($20,000) vs. Carlos Ortiz ($5,000)
• Meiirim Nursultanov ($12,500) vs. Cristian Olivas ($12,000)

Notes

1.^ Canelo is a 2-division champion because his WBA (Regular) super middleweight title was a secondary title. The universally recognized WBA super middleweight champion during this fight was WBA (Super) champion Callum Smith.

References