2. Cut off the Ring
Sergey Kovalev must use his footwork not only to get out of the way of shots, but to get himself in better position to land his own. Kovalev must cut the ring off because Jean Pascal will be looking to move around a lot.
In Round 1 of his fight against Ismayl Sillah in 2013, Kovalev was not able to land much because of Sillah’s movement. In Round 2, Kovalev made the adjustments and blocked off any path for Sillah to take so that Kovalev was able to land multiple unanswered head shots, which knocked Sillah out.
Pascal is smart enough not to engage in a slug fest with Kovalev, but he will try to move around to make it difficult for Kovalev to land the big shots. Kovalev must set traps to get Pascal into a vulnerable place where he cans start landing the missals to inflict damage.
