Canelo Alvarez vs. Sergey Kovalev: Fight Odds, Time, Date, Live Stream, TV Info

Saul "Canelo" Alvarez has a new division to conquer.

Having established his supremacy at middleweight with wins over Gennady Golovkin, Rocky Fielding and Danny Jacobs, Alvarez is testing himself at light heavyweight. On Saturday, he will battle Sergey "Krusher" Kovalev for the WBO world light heavyweight title at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Alvarez (52-1-2, 35 KOs), who stands just 5'8", is taking a significant risk by moving up to 175 pounds. While he showed that he can withstand some hellish punches in his two fights against Golovkin, the added weight just means that much more force and pressure, whether it's in the form of a punch or a leaning fighter in a clinch.

His introduction to the light heavyweight division comes against Kovalev (34-3-1 29 KOs), who is getting on in his years but has earned the nickname of Krusher with 29 stoppages in 38 career fights.

Kovalev, 36, appeared to be on the downslope of his career after losing to Eleider Alvarez in August 2018, but he has crafted a resurgence in 2019. He beat Alvarez by decision in a rematch and then stopped Anthony Yarde in August. A little more than two months later, he has the opportunity to get the defining win of his career against a generational talent he will tower over in the ring.

Alvarez vs. Kovalev Fight Info

When: Saturday, Nov. 2 at 9 p.m. ET

Where: MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas

Live stream: DAZN (subscription required)

TV: Sky Sports Action (UK only)

Odds: Alvarez -500 (bet $500 to win $100), Kovalev +400 (bet $100 to win $400)

Odds courtesy of Caesars and updated as of Thursday, Oct. 31 at 7 a.m. ET.

Alvarez is making a 15-pound jump in weight class, confident that his skill and technique will see him through to a victory (and presumably a few more). The 29-year-old has proved he has few, if any, weaknesses. He can counter, string combinations, take a hit, fight close or at a distance. There are several ways in which Canelo can beat Kovalev on Saturday, but he sees one of them as crucial to a victory.

According to ESPN's Dan Rafael, the Mexican superstar plans to use his trademark left hook to attack Kovalev's body, which he sees as a weakness:

"Without a doubt. It's one of the most important punches for any fighter, and not just in this fight, in all fights. But, of course, even more so with this fighter because that's a weak point that he has. So we're going to try to penetrate with the impact to the body."

Kovalev has appeared vulnerable to body punches in the past. In losses to Eleider Alvarez and Andre Ward, the Russian took incredible punishment to the midsection, although he disputes the legality of the hits he suffered in his stoppage-loss to Ward, telling Rafael they were low blows.

If Alvarez does try to set up power punches to the body, he will risk some return fire in the process. While Alvarez will have the benefit of not having to cut weight ahead of this fight, he will still face a significant size and power disadvantage between the ropes. Kovalev is four inches taller than Alvarez and has a longer reach (72 ½" to 70 ½", per BoxRec).

He will have to make this a rough, physical match to succeed, but he also can't simply walk down a great counter-puncher like Alvarez. Nor can he match his quickness. He will need to do much more than that to stymie his world-class opposition. His trainer, Buddy McGirt, believes Kovalev is skillful enough to shock the world.

"If he does what I know he can do, he's going to surprise a lot of people," McGirt said of Kovalev, per Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole. "Not me. He's not going to surprise me because I know he's going to win the fight. But I know in my heart if he does what I know he can do and he puts it all together Saturday, which I know he will do, everybody is going to be in for a shock."

Alvarez, however, doesn't face too many surprises in the ring. He prepares himself for each challenge and has an incredible team supporting him. It's why he's able to beat guys like Golovkin, Jacobs and Miguel Cotto. Saturday's bout presents a new challenge for Alvarez, but he's solved them before.