That is not a blueprint for winning rounds cleanly. It is a plan for surviving inside someone else’s terms.
Mora understands Stevenson’s problem better than most. Stevenson does not need exchanges. He does not chase damage. He controls distance, pace, and shape. Opponents are rarely hurt, but they are steadily removed from the fight they want to have. Mora’s answer reflects that reality. The advice concedes that clean answers are not available.
The tactics Mora describes are not flashy or decisive. They are slow. They require discipline. They require a fighter to stay committed to small, irritating work that may or may not be rewarded on the cards. Even when executed correctly, the plan assumes close rounds rather than clear ones.
That is the part that often gets lost.
Beating Stevenson, even in theory, depends on a fighter accepting that he will not look good doing it. He will not land the shots that draw applause. He will not control long stretches of the fight. He will spend most of the night trying to deny Stevenson comfort rather than impose his own authority.
That kind of fight is exhausting in ways that go beyond conditioning. It demands patience, restraint, and a willingness to trust judges while landing punches that do not obviously change the contest. Mora’s suggestion to target elbows and shoulders is telling. Those are not shots meant to win rounds outright. They are meant to accumulate irritation and hope for a gradual effect.
Very few fighters can stay committed to that approach for twelve rounds. Fewer still can do it without drifting back into posturing, chasing the head, or trying to force moments that Stevenson is built to avoid.
Mora’s breakdown is valuable because it does not oversell possibilities. It quietly explains why Stevenson keeps winning the same way. Even the best advice available depends on tactics that are hard to maintain, easy to abandon, and unlikely to deliver immediate reward.
If this is the clearest path to beating Stevenson, it also explains why so few have managed to follow it for long.
That is less a criticism of Lopez than it is a description of the problem in front of him.
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