How good is/has been Sergey Kovalev?

[geronimo]

I wanna introduce this topic: how good is Kovalev? I watch his record and i find that he beat good opponent, but not a real champion. Everyone, not so long ago, thought that he was the number one of his division. Now the things are so much different. What do you think about that?

[Ruthless-RKO]

I wanna introduce this topic: how good is Kovalev? I watch his record and i find that he beat good opponent, but not a real champion. Everyone, not so long ago, thought that he was the number one of his division. Now the things are so much different. What do you think about that?

He was arguably #1, up until he lost to Ward. At the same time though, the Orgs had some decent contenders as mandatories anyway (Beterbiev, Bivol).. So I think the division was about to open up. Having Ward vacate did exactly that.

Kovalev wasn't the top dog in a weak division, it was a division with some good names. I kinda felt sorry for him when he dropped the canvas over the weekend. I do think he got up too quick and tried to get his legs to re-activate. Maybe he should have taken his time to get up.

He arguably top 5 or if not even top 3 light-heavyweight in the world since 2000.

[DrDuke]

Kovalev was real deal for sure. He was #1 in the division for pretty long time. Yes, that was him, who was #1, cause he was able the gather all the belts lacking one, he faced the best opposition possible. He is in the top 3 list in 2000s for sure after Roy Jones and Ward. And probably he is the best Russian boxer ever.

[Mexi-Box]

He was #1 p4p. Majority had him beating Ward. He practically cleaned out LHW and dominated some very good contenders. Also, he took Pascal's soul.

Very, very good fighter that'd be competitive in any era.

[Stuarty]

Very good. Was the best LHW until Ward. He arguably beat Ward in the first fight but there's no doubt that they two fights took a lot from him. He's mid 30s and looks to be done now unfortunately. I've enjoyed watching him over the years at his brutal best.

[lazboy]

Very good. Was the best LHW until Ward. He arguably beat Ward in the first fight but there's no doubt that they two fights took a lot from him. He's mid 30s and looks to be done now unfortunately. I've enjoyed watching him over the years at his brutal best.

x 2

[dagilechia]

He was p4p top 10, ranked somewhere close to Golovkin not that long time ago, he was good. I have always seen Kov and GGG as similar calibre fighters Golovkin fights in a weaker division though.

[ElJefe]

At his best he was devastating. Frightening power and underrated boxing skills - easy to look back at wins such as Hopkins and discredit them, but its worth noting that plenty picked Bernard to win that fight, just checked the RING magazine article and 12 picked Hopkins compared to 11 for Kovalev. Legitimate top 3 p4p fighter in 2015/16. Many, including myself, believe he beat Ward in the first fight. That win would have gone down as the best of his career and one of the best in the sport in the last decade.

Haven't got round to watching the Alvarez fight so can't comment too much, although it seems as though he was in control until getting stopped. Maybe a gas tank issue, John David Jackson alluded to his fondness of vodka even during training camps, very possible that not living the life has caught up with him just as much as the aura taking a knock after the Ward defeats.

[ValMar]

Very good. Was the best LHW until Ward. He arguably beat Ward in the first fight but there's no doubt that they two fights took a lot from him. He's mid 30s and looks to be done now unfortunately. I've enjoyed watching him over the years at his brutal best.

x 2

x 3

[Ruthless-RKO]

Haven't got round to watching the Alvarez fight so can't comment too much, although it seems as though he was in control until getting stopped. Maybe a gas tank issue, John David Jackson alluded to his fondness of vodka even during training camps, very possible that not living the life has caught up with him just as much as the aura taking a knock after the Ward defeats.

Caught it in the morning. highlights in Russian commentary. Kovalev had his hands down throughout.

[Enlightened-One]

Sergey Kovalev enjoyed a pretty terrific career, but in my opinion, he’s an underachiever.

[DrDuke]

Sergey Kovalev enjoyed a pretty terrific career, but in my opinion, he’s an underachiever.

He can be an underachiever in some sense, cause he was robbed in the first Ward fight. The second fight also had controversy, but there Ward was much better, while Kovalev wasn't, so that was his problems, which he could have prevented himself. And in the first fight he did what he could do to win, but was robbed of that victory.

[Thomastearns]

Nathan Cleverly was good. Sergey Kovalev was terrifying.

He's been one of the top 4/5 most exciting and entertaining boxers of the past decade and isn't known as 'the Krusher' for nothing.

However, nobody can beat time. So it's time to quit or box more cautiously and turn into 'the Krusher Lite'.

Either way - still a great fighter.

[Enlightened-One]

Sergey Kovalev enjoyed a pretty terrific career, but in my opinion, he’s an underachiever.

He can be an underachiever in some sense, cause he was robbed in the first Ward fight. The second fight also had controversy, but there Ward was much better, while Kovalev wasn't, so that was his problems, which he could have prevented himself. And in the first fight he did what he could do to win, but was robbed of that victory.

Krusher is an underachiever because of his affiliation with HBO & Main Events hindered his choice of opponents. For instance, he received a guaranteed opportunity to face Adonis Stevenson but had to reject it, due to his exclusive contract with HBO. Instead he had to face anonymous fighters or fellow Main Events stablemates or engage in rematches that no one wanted to see.

I also believe that Kovalev’s racist bigoted antics, his drinking and also the way he insisted on training himself severely damaged his reputation, marketability and also restricted his ability to compete at his best. This limited the size of his paydays.

Like I said before though, Sergey had a very good career and there was even a point in time when I rated him above Gennady Golovkin, but I can’t help thinking that he never quite fulfilled his potential.

In terms of the Andre Ward fights, I don’t consider the first bout a “robbery”, close and controversial maybe, but certainly no “robbery”. Sergey deserved to lose the second bout. He ran out of gas, which was probably due to the way he didn’t give it his all during training.

For the record, I don’t feel happy about the way Sergey lost his title last weekend, but it happened and his time as the top dog of the 175lb-ers is surely over.

[SFW]

Kovalev was good, he cracked the top 10 p4p for sure. Though I never rated him as a complete fighter, the dimensions he had were superb. His flaws seem magnified now, and I don't think he was winning by much when Alvarez stopped him like the armchair bullshit artists think. His stamina and discipline issues cost him.

Time for people to realize, Kovalev fought a hobbled Ward the first fight Wards knee was fucked almost didn't fight. And even then Kovalev barely seemed to edge it. Ward healthy, stopped him. You can cry a river about low blows, and every other laughable excuse. This is the second time a guy who doesn't knock out anybody has brutally stopped Kovalev. I don't think there is any point where Kov was as good or complete as GGG, but he didn't seem as dedicated to improve like Golovkin. Figured he could bang out anyone with his power, didn't evolve. That cost him big time. He deserved a public humbling, and got it. Let's see how he bounces back, the Kovalev story so ain't over yet.

[Boxing Writer]

Kovalev was an excellent fighter. He gave Ward his toughest fight ever and arguably beat him in the first fight. I never was a huge fan of Kovalev because of his bully mentality, but never rooted against him either. There were rumors in the last couple of years that he started driking a lot of alcohol, so it might have shortened his career. I think it could have been caused by that tragic fight in which he killed his opponent...

[zorndeslammes]

Promoter/network nonsense made it impossible for the division to really see the best fight the best over the last 5-6 years. That's too bad, because the crop of light heavyweights we've seen is a really good one, and we've yet to see many of the best talents be properly tested even now years after turning pro (see also: Artur Beterbiev).

Kovalev was willing to fight anyone, and more often than not, he looked incredible. He obviously had tremendous fight ending power, but he also had a capacity to box in a very measured and intelligent way. He was the consumate boxer puncher. In fact, I would agree with some friends of mine who looked at his performance Saturday and saw that he was actually expanding his offensive repetiore with better body punching than he had previously shown.

Alternately, Kovalev was willing to fight anyone, and what I mean by that is he was a company man. He relied on his team to make the business moves for him to propel him forwards and get him paid, and honestly, they did him multiple disservices in order to buoy themselves. With all the talent available, that he wound up facing the likes of Nadjib Mohammedi or rematching Jean Pascal was a tragedy for a dominant fighter in his prime. Had these barriers not been as significant, it is likely he would have had a couple of losses tacked onto his record. There's just so many good fighters that he could have crossed path with like Alvarez, Ward, Stevenson, Jack, Bute and now Bivol, Gvozdyk, Browne, and Kalajdzic that at some point, he'd wear down under that pressure.

Top light heavyweight of the post-Jones era and a guy that Roy would have done his best to avoid in his prime. Like Roy, there was a massive power puncher who was considered linear champion fighting mostly subpar opposition while Kovalev (in the Roy role) collected a trio of straps on HBO. Unlike Roy, he had no body of work at 160/168 to bolster his place in the world. In heads up competition, I don't know that any light heavyweight since Michael Spinks could stand up to him for long. Holistically, Top 3 175lb fighter in my lifetime.

[jamamb]

kovalev as a good fighter for sure, was legit top 2 in the world for at least a few years. i thought he showed good boxing to go with his power and against ward actually deserved the win the first time. thats vs an atg fighter

he did have his flaws for sure though, i think especially with stamina, and he was a bit shaky with durability. still, even in his losses he was ultra competitive and hurt both the guys who beat him. but hes only lost to good fighters and had always been very much in the fights

he had a good excitign career (although steve fight not happening sucks). was elite world class , unified champ, imo beat an elite p4p fighter. his career shouldnt be sh!tted on like some people are. btw, he didnt get even half of gggs hype. i see a lot of ppl going on about 'oh, look how the guy hyped to be unbeatable has fallen', but i think hes been said for years to be dangerous but defo flawed

[IKSRTFO]

Promoter/network nonsense made it impossible for the division to really see the best fight the best over the last 5-6 years. That's too bad, because the crop of light heavyweights we've seen is a really good one, and we've yet to see many of the best talents be properly tested even now years after turning pro (see also: Artur Beterbiev).

Kovalev was willing to fight anyone, and more often than not, he looked incredible. He obviously had tremendous fight ending power, but he also had a capacity to box in a very measured and intelligent way. He was the consumate boxer puncher. In fact, I would agree with some friends of mine who looked at his performance Saturday and saw that he was actually expanding his offensive repetiore with better body punching than he had previously shown.

Alternately, Kovalev was willing to fight anyone, and what I mean by that is he was a company man. He relied on his team to make the business moves for him to propel him forwards and get him paid, and honestly, they did him multiple disservices in order to buoy themselves. With all the talent available, that he wound up facing the likes of Nadjib Mohammedi or rematching Jean Pascal was a tragedy for a dominant fighter in his prime. Had these barriers not been as significant, it is likely he would have had a couple of losses tacked onto his record. There's just so many good fighters that he could have crossed path with like Alvarez, Ward, Stevenson, Jack, Bute and now Bivol, Gvozdyk, Browne, and Kalajdzic that at some point, he'd wear down under that pressure.

Top light heavyweight of the post-Jones era and a guy that Roy would have done his best to avoid in his prime. Like Roy, there was a massive power puncher who was considered linear champion fighting mostly subpar opposition while Kovalev (in the Roy role) collected a trio of straps on HBO. Unlike Roy, he had no body of work at 160/168 to bolster his place in the world. In heads up competition, I don't know that any light heavyweight since Michael Spinks could stand up to him for long. Holistically, Top 3 175lb fighter in my lifetime.

I'm sure Antonio Tarver could stand up to Kovalev.

[IKSRTFO]

Kovalev was good, he cracked the top 10 p4p for sure. Though I never rated him as a complete fighter, the dimensions he had were superb. His flaws seem magnified now, and I don't think he was winning by much when Alvarez stopped him like the armchair bullshit artists think. His stamina and discipline issues cost him.

Time for people to realize, Kovalev fought a hobbled Ward the first fight Wards knee was fucked almost didn't fight. And even then Kovalev barely seemed to edge it. Ward healthy, stopped him. You can cry a river about low blows, and every other laughable excuse. This is the second time a guy who doesn't knock out anybody has brutally stopped Kovalev. I don't think there is any point where Kov was as good or complete as GGG, but he didn't seem as dedicated to improve like Golovkin. Figured he could bang out anyone with his power, didn't evolve. That cost him big time. He deserved a public humbling, and got it. Let's see how he bounces back, the Kovalev story so ain't over yet.

[jamamb]

alvarez won at best 2 of the 6 completed rounds before the stoppage imo, i personally thought kov was up 5-1 and dont really see whats unreasonable about that. seems kinda a strange thing to call bullsh!t at. judges actually had this one right imo

even just barely edging ward, as kov arguably did, or losing very closely, is extremely impressive. clearly not something done by someone not a good world class fighter. even the rematch was like 4-3 either way when it ended. no one else has even been 'in' title fights vs ward. yet kov dropped him and between 19 completed rounds arguably won like 10-11 of them

and there were sooooooooo many predictions that ward was gonna totally shcool and shutout kov, and ward was favoured for both fights. kov actually did better then generally expected, yet so many ppl shat on him for losing and used that as the basis to cry overrated.

[zorndeslammes]

I'm sure Antonio Tarver could stand up to Kovalev.

I'm nowhere near certain. Tarver was a good fighter, but never had to face a guy that big and strong. Eric Harding broke his jaw and Reggie Johnson sat him down. Kovalev was substantially better than both.

[Cent0089]

Destroying Cleverly and Pascal before hometown crowds is also something to admire. ew years back he was one of top boxers in world. He lost his inner fire imo

[IKSRTFO]

I'm sure Antonio Tarver could stand up to Kovalev.

I'm nowhere near certain. Tarver was a good fighter, but never had to face a guy that big and strong. Eric Harding broke his jaw and Reggie Johnson sat him down. Kovalev was substantially better than both.

Tarver still has NEVER been stopped and there's no indication that Kovalev can do it simply because "he's big, bad, and has power."

BTW, Tarver at 6'2 walking around 200+ as a light heavy would dwarf Kovalev, who supposedly is so big.

[zorndeslammes]

Tarver still has NEVER been stopped and there's no indication that Kovalev can do it simply because "he's big, bad, and has power."

Tarver has a solid chin and a lot of heart. I don't think he's so mobile as to be able to dance rings around Kovalev, and his head movement has always been just OK. Kovalev might be the hardest hitter at 175 since Moorer, and that's a markedly different level of competitor than the ones Tarver faced during not only his prime, but his post-prime. And not only does he hit hard, but he's precise and accurate with his shots (unlike Lateef Kayode, likely the winner of "strongest guy Tarver faced.")

Anyways, that's one name in 35 years. Maybe Mike McCallum, Henry Maske, or Glen Johnson could have gone distance too, but it's hard to picture any of them (IMO) earning a W.

BTW, Tarver at 6'2 walking around 200+ as a light heavy would dwarf Kovalev, who supposedly is so big.

Tarver's best wins (and a good number of his glaring losses) took place against guys who came up in weight: Reggie Johnson, Roy Jones Jr., Chad Dawson, Glen Johnson, and Bernard Hopkins.