Kovalev

[lefty]

With this destructive victory in mind, can we maybe say Cleverly is a little bit better than most of us give him credit for?

I mean it was plainly obvious that Cleverly fought the wrong fight from the off against Kovalev, but after witnessing this I think he did well to last as long as he did!

Kovalev is a beast!

I think to be fair it was more to do with the fact that Cleverly has a good chin whereas Sillakh's is terrible.

[youngrell]

With this destructive victory in mind, can we maybe say Cleverly is a little bit better than most of us give him credit for?

I mean it was plainly obvious that Cleverly fought the wrong fight from the off against Kovalev, but after witnessing this I think he did well to last as long as he did!

Kovalev is a beast!

I think to be fair it was more to do with the fact that Cleverly has a good chin whereas Sillakh's is terrible.

I understand that, but he wiped out Campillo quicker too.

[lefty]

With this destructive victory in mind, can we maybe say Cleverly is a little bit better than most of us give him credit for?

I mean it was plainly obvious that Cleverly fought the wrong fight from the off against Kovalev, but after witnessing this I think he did well to last as long as he did!

Kovalev is a beast!

I think to be fair it was more to do with the fact that Cleverly has a good chin whereas Sillakh's is terrible.

I understand that, but he wiped out Campillo quicker too.

Campillo can be caught cold aswell. Cloud had him hurt badly in the first couple of rounds too. Kovalev just doesnt give you a chance to recover once he has you hurt.

[youngrell]

Yeah, I know. I was merely pointing out that in hindsight Cleverly did no worse than other top 10 guys and it's quite possible that he's by no means finished.

I'd still like to see him with a new trainer. Not sure Cruiser is ideal for him, though.

[TheLeprechaun]

The good thing is, Ward always seems to want to be seen as the best so if he moves to 175 it looks like he would have to get past Kovalev to get that recognition. I think by the time Ward is up there, there will be no hiding from the fact that Sergey is 'the man' and noone would take Ward's claim to be number 1 at 175 seriously until he beats the man.

That wouldn't happen in my view, Kovalev by KO in 9 after Ward goes into survival mode having no way to win the fight!

Kovalev has to prove he can take a punch. He was playing second fiddle to the likes of korobov as an amateur and got stopped by korobov as well.

Stevenson is more than good enough to land that straight left on kovalev, who stands quite upright. Stevenson ks more than capable of knocking him out imo.

[TheLeprechaun]

Sillakh was looking absolutely fantastic. Really superb movement and looked to have fast hands. Kovalev just half caught him with a clipping shot and the fight was as good as over.

There's a good video on YouTube breaking down the fight. It shows that while Sillakh looks great bouncing around the ring, he's basically still fighting in an amateur style, wasting a lot of energy.

A lot of people said Sillakh outboxed Kovalev for the first round, but as this guy points out SK basically spends the first round getting his timing to set up the trap and then springs it in the second round.

It looked to me like sillakh was the more skilled of the two and won the first round with ease. Kovalev caught him round the back of the head as sillack was coming into the punch, which totally discombobulated him. If sillack had a good chin, that fight was very interesting. Hopkins or ward would be interesting fights for kovalev. My perusal of kovalev so far is that he is limited but carries natural power that makes him look better than he is. Stevenson might totally outbox him to be honest. But kovalev is always dangerous

[jessi]

Kovalev v stevonson is the fight of 2014 !

[jessi]

Kovalev v stevonson is the fight of 2014 !

I dont mean the best fight as it could be over in seconds but the fight for me every boxing fan wants most !

[crusader]

Sillakh was looking absolutely fantastic. Really superb movement and looked to have fast hands. Kovalev just half caught him with a clipping shot and the fight was as good as over.

There's a good video on YouTube breaking down the fight. It shows that while Sillakh looks great bouncing around the ring, he's basically still fighting in an amateur style, wasting a lot of energy.

A lot of people said Sillakh outboxed Kovalev for the first round, but as this guy points out SK basically spends the first round getting his timing to set up the trap and then springs it in the second round.

It looked to me like sillakh was the more skilled of the two and won the first round with ease. Kovalev caught him round the back of the head as sillack was coming into the punch, which totally discombobulated him. If sillack had a good chin, that fight was very interesting. Hopkins or ward would be interesting fights for kovalev. My perusal of kovalev so far is that he is limited but carries natural power that makes him look better than he is. Stevenson might totally outbox him to be honest. But kovalev is always dangerous

Sillakh was bouncing around a lot in the first and Kovalev missed widely a few times, but in terms of what actually landed I thought they were on close to even terms in the first; I think it was more of a case of Sillakh being able to fight his fight even though he didn't necessarily do much significant work.

Based on what happened in the second it seemed like it didn't take Kovalev long to get his timing down.

[Autobarn]

I'm still not totally sold on him. He can seriously whack for sure but in terms of "boxing" I need more convincing.

lebedev springs to mind. lethal early (v alexeev & maccarinelli), but if he can't put you away he plods. as in lebedev-huck and lebedev-jones (admittedly, brave showing and he landed big shots all night).

we have to see him go some more rounds but those were great showings vs cleverly and campillo.

[JC]

There's an interview with Darnell Boone on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc4LvkIwH2U) where he says Kovalev is better Stevenson and Ward. He also says Kovalev is a harder more accurate puncher than Stevenson with better all round skills.

He's obviously fought and dropped all three

Stevenson (won TKO 2, lost KO 6)
Kovalev (lost SD, lost TKO 2)
Ward (Lost UD6)

Although to be fair to Ward, he fought Boone in his 7th fight. So Boone might be basing his opinion on that version of Ward vs Kovalev in his 17th fight.

Doesn't mean he right of course, but still an interesting insight.

[lefty]

There's an interview with Darnell Boone on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc4LvkIwH2U) where he says Kovalev is better Stevenson and Ward. He also says Kovalev is a harder more accurate puncher than Stevenson with better all round skills.

He's obviously fought and dropped all three

Stevenson (won TKO 2, lost KO 6)
Kovalev (lost SD, lost TKO 2)
Ward (Lost UD6)

Although to be fair to Ward, he fought Boone in his 7th fight. So Boone might be basing his opinion on that version of Ward vs Kovalev in his 17th fight.

Doesn't mean he right of course, but still an interesting insight.

I wouldnt take too much of what Boone has said on face value. Im pretty sure there has been guys that have faced a similar bunch of opponents and said something along the same lines and then when the people have fought they've been proven to be wrong. I remember him talking shit about Stevenson going into their rematch saying he was no better than when he fought him the first time and then Stevenson pretty much beat the crap out of him before stopping him in the 6th. Now im not saying Kovalev wont beat Stevenson but whilst some people like myself are probably underrating Kovalev somewhat, I think people do the same with Stevenson. I think Bellew for he was gonna be a lot easier to land on than he is and so on.

[JC]

There's an interview with Darnell Boone on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc4LvkIwH2U) where he says Kovalev is better Stevenson and Ward. He also says Kovalev is a harder more accurate puncher than Stevenson with better all round skills.

He's obviously fought and dropped all three

Stevenson (won TKO 2, lost KO 6)
Kovalev (lost SD, lost TKO 2)
Ward (Lost UD6)

Although to be fair to Ward, he fought Boone in his 7th fight. So Boone might be basing his opinion on that version of Ward vs Kovalev in his 17th fight.

Doesn't mean he right of course, but still an interesting insight.

I wouldnt take too much of what Boone has said on face value. Im pretty sure there has been guys that have faced a similar bunch of opponents and said something along the same lines and then when the people have fought they've been proven to be wrong. I remember him talking poo about Stevenson going into their rematch saying he was no better than when he fought him the first time and then Stevenson pretty much beat the crap out of him before stopping him in the 6th. Now im not saying Kovalev wont beat Stevenson but whilst some people like myself are probably underrating Kovalev somewhat, I think people do the same with Stevenson. I think Bellew for he was gonna be a lot easier to land on than he is and so on.

I certainly wouldn't take it as a guide to who's going to win if they fight, but I'm enjoying the build up of this rivalry. This is just something else to throw in the pot. There are gyms stories from Abel Sanchez saying Kovalev was scared of GGG's power in sparring too. All fun stuff.

[lefty]

There's an interview with Darnell Boone on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc4LvkIwH2U) where he says Kovalev is better Stevenson and Ward. He also says Kovalev is a harder more accurate puncher than Stevenson with better all round skills.

He's obviously fought and dropped all three

Stevenson (won TKO 2, lost KO 6)
Kovalev (lost SD, lost TKO 2)
Ward (Lost UD6)

Although to be fair to Ward, he fought Boone in his 7th fight. So Boone might be basing his opinion on that version of Ward vs Kovalev in his 17th fight.

Doesn't mean he right of course, but still an interesting insight.

I wouldnt take too much of what Boone has said on face value. Im pretty sure there has been guys that have faced a similar bunch of opponents and said something along the same lines and then when the people have fought they've been proven to be wrong. I remember him talking poo about Stevenson going into their rematch saying he was no better than when he fought him the first time and then Stevenson pretty much beat the crap out of him before stopping him in the 6th. Now im not saying Kovalev wont beat Stevenson but whilst some people like myself are probably underrating Kovalev somewhat, I think people do the same with Stevenson. I think Bellew for he was gonna be a lot easier to land on than he is and so on.

I certainly wouldn't take it as a guide to who's going to win if they fight, but I'm enjoying the build up of this rivalry. This is just something else to throw in the pot. There are gyms stories from Abel Sanchez saying Kovalev was scared of GGG's power in sparring too. All fun stuff.

No idea if it's true or not but I read somewhere that GGG dropped Kovalev is sparring and yeah like you say he was fearful of him.

[Spud]

Some on here and other conversations I've had - say Stevenson v Kovalev will be a tremendous fight.

I think far too many people are shooting their load far too quickly with regards Stevenson. Dont know why but I fail to see what the fuss is about - I say Kovalev sparks him and early.

[reggaereggae]

Some on here and other conversations I've had - say Stevenson v Kovalev will be a tremendous fight.

I think far too many people are shooting their load far too quickly with regards Stevenson. Dont know why but I fail to see what the fuss is about - I say Kovalev sparks him and early.

Yes, I think Kovalev is so much more measured and harder punching. Kovalev Ko 5