BoxRec

Who wins?

Kovalev by brutal knockout

calzaghe finds a way. somehow

Kovalev would land hard several times. Calzaghe may finish the night fighting, but he'd be dropped like 3 times throughout the fight.

Kovalev getting way overrated here imo. Calzaghe would outbox him & win a UD.

Kovalev in his prime couldn't stop a 50yr old Hopkins.. No way he stops Calzaghe.

Nobody because there is no way Calzaghe would ever take the fight.

Hard fight...........Calzaghe is very overrated........don't get me wrong Calzaghe was a very good fighter but he has 1 win that sticks out mid forty yr old Hopkins. He couldn't stop a completely shot RJJ and got dropped in the fight. He did beat Kessler but it was a good scrap and we all saw Ward toy with Kessler.......thats it on his resume. Eubanks was not prime so don't mention him.

I'd like to see Kovalev in some more elite dudes before I start saying who beats who.

At the time Joe beat Hopkins we all thought he was to old. Time said we were wrong and credit to Joe for this fight. I think Calzaghe prime time would have beat Kovalev in the same fashion he beat Kessler.
I think Kovalev is a good fighter slightly overrated. Ask yourself what will Froch look like, Ward or even any prime time light heavy in the top 5 would do against him. I think he is probably the best light heavy at the moment but i don t think he will rule for a long time. Calzaghe UD wide

fergusg wrote:Calzaghe by unanimous points decision.

Kovalev's best victory on his resume came against a man close to 50 years of age, whose natural habitat was two divisions lighter... and people are proclaiming him to be the second coming of Sugar Ray Robinson!

Who is proclaiming that? The thread isn't exactly abounding with predictions in Kovalev's favor and I've never seen anyone suggest he's the second coming of Robinson....maybe you were just exaggerating for effect?

Joe was more proven and I need to see more of Sergey before feeling confident about predicting how he'd do against someone as good as JC. At this point I'd feel most comfortable going with the latter by competitive decision.

Kovalev in his prime couldn't stop a 50yr old Hopkins.. No way he stops Calzaghe.

Hopkins was highly defensive and still seems to have a good chin despite his age. While I wouldn't predict a Kovalev stoppage I can see him having more opportunities to land heavy blows given that JC would probably open himself up much more than Hopkins did and Kovalev is dangerous when attacked, dropping Hopkins and Sillakh on the counter and first hurting Boone, Clev, and Campillo in similar situations before quickly finishing. Given who dropped and hurt Joe I have little doubt that Kovalev, who is arguably a harder puncher than anyone JC faced, would be well-equipped to do the same and I wouldn't say there's 'no way' that he'd win by stoppage. On the other hand, Calzaghe showed very impressive recuperative powers and finishing him would likely be very difficult.

Kovalev destroys Calzaghe, Joe doesn't have the power to keep Sergey off of him; sure he has the speed advantage but that's about it.

I see a brutal KO within 5 rounds.

Somehow ... Kessler = Kovalev?

Kovalev has Kessler by a significant power edge and he fights much more menacing. Joe's win over Kessler gives no insight to a hypothetical Calzghe/Kovalev matchup.

KBB wrote:Kovalev destroys Calzaghe, Joe doesn't have the power to keep Sergey off of him; sure he has the speed advantage but that's about it.

I see a brutal KO within 5 rounds.

Agreed 100%. I’m not a Calzaghe hater in the least but his fans are highly delusional regarding his capabilities. He is without question an ATG at 168 but he never fought anybody of Kov’s nature and he fought at light hvy all of TWO TIMES in his career. One an extremely close nail biter to 45 yr old Bhop and a wide dec over shot to shyt RJJ. Calzaghe would NEVER take a fight of this sort. He would have been bludgeoned by the likes of Kovalov, Spinks, Foster, Braxton, Moorer etc. I was a big fan of Calzaghes and he’s a shoe in 1st ballot for the HOF but get real people.

SFW wrote:Kovalev in his prime couldn't stop a 50yr old Hopkins.. No way he stops Calzaghe.

Calzaghe got dropped vs Hopkins.. No way he doesn't get dropped vs Kovalev, most likely multiple times. Could he do enough to work his way back to a decision victory after being in a hole early? It's possible, but that's a hell of a position to be in.. especially since 175 wasn't his prime weight class. Got to go with Kovalev on this,

I don't mean to be insulting or disrespectful but some people really don't understand boxing.

For over ten years people under-rated Calzaghe and insisted he'd get beaten as soon as he faced "a name but he then went and beat Kessler, Jones and Hopkins. No excuses, no if's, no but's, the facts are there.

I accept when you watch Calzaghe fight he doesn't look infallible because he's not a defence minded fighter he does take risks but whoever he faces he finds a way to win end of story.

The most under-rated fighter of the last 25 years. Most people STILL don't realise how good he was.

joe was very quick and had a fantastic boxing brain, joe might have a few hair raising moments to get through but he out boxes kovalev and wins on points.

Ian1973 wrote:I don't mean to be insulting or disrespectful but some people really don't understand boxing.

For over ten years people under-rated Calzaghe and insisted he'd get beaten as soon as he faced "a name but he then went and beat Kessler, Jones and Hopkins. No excuses, no if's, no but's, the facts are there.

I accept when you watch Calzaghe fight he doesn't look infallible because he's not a defence minded fighter he does take risks but whoever he faces he finds a way to win end of story.

The most under-rated fighter of the last 25 years. Most people STILL don't realise how good he was.

I agree ian, it took me years to forgive after beating eubank. But in hindsight what a talent. I like kov but it thinks it's strange that so early people would predict him to have beaten a great. I'd happily change my mind in 5 years time. Joes intellect in the ring was one of greatest and he had a very good chin. He had the odd flash knockdown but typically got up and looked solid. It's a great compliment to kov that people are considering this let alone some of us having him winning.

Ian1973 wrote:I don't mean to be insulting or disrespectful but some people really don't understand boxing.

For over ten years people under-rated Calzaghe and insisted he'd get beaten as soon as he faced "a name but he then went and beat Kessler, Jones and Hopkins. No excuses, no if's, no but's, the facts are there.

I accept when you watch Calzaghe fight he doesn't look infallible because he's not a defence minded fighter he does take risks but whoever he faces he finds a way to win end of story.

The most under-rated fighter of the last 25 years. Most people STILL don't realise how good he was.

1.What exactly don't people understand?

2. When you say 'whoever he faces he finds a way to win end of story' are you implying that no one would be able to beat him?

3. Did people say he'd lose whenever he fought a 'name' or do you mean a top fighter? Because Jones may have been a name but he was well removed from his best and was widely expected to lose to JC; I'm not sure what's supposed to be impressive about that win.

crusader wrote:

Ian1973 wrote:I don't mean to be insulting or disrespectful but some people really don't understand boxing.

For over ten years people under-rated Calzaghe and insisted he'd get beaten as soon as he faced "a name but he then went and beat Kessler, Jones and Hopkins. No excuses, no if's, no but's, the facts are there.

I accept when you watch Calzaghe fight he doesn't look infallible because he's not a defence minded fighter he does take risks but whoever he faces he finds a way to win end of story.

The most under-rated fighter of the last 25 years. Most people STILL don't realise how good he was.

1.What exactly don't people understand?

2. When you say 'whoever he faces he finds a way to win end of story' are you implying that no one would be able to beat him?

3. Did people say he'd lose whenever he fought a 'name' or do you mean a top fighter? Because Jones may have been a name but he was well removed from his best and was widely expected to lose to JC; I'm not sure what's supposed to be impressive about that win.

Jones may have been expected to lose to Calzaghe but what about Hopkins, a man who was still world champion 9 years later.

No-one was able to beat him .......... end of .............. you tell me who was. whatever argument you come up with you can't win, no=one did beat him.

Outstanding fighter. Had me been American he would've been proclaimed as son of god.

Hopkins was a good win but the victory over Jones shouldn't be depicted as something impressive in my view, which it seemed to me like you were trying to do. Joe was undefeated and I'm not disputing whether anyone deserved a win over him, but I thought you worded your comment as if you meant that no fighter would be able to beat him had they fought.

I think most would agree that Joe would Sergey's best opponent, but who do people think Joe faced that was better than Sergey and would Sergey being a full-fledged LHW rather than a SMW make a difference?

Calaghe on points because of his speed

crusader wrote:Hopkins was a good win but the victory over Jones shouldn't be depicted as something impressive in my view, which it seemed to me like you were trying to do. Joe was undefeated and I'm not disputing whether anyone deserved a win over him, but I thought you worded your comment as if you meant that no fighter would be able to beat him had they fought.

I think most would agree that Joe would Sergey's best opponent, but who do people think Joe faced that was better than Sergey and would Sergey being a full-fledged LHW rather than a SMW make a difference?

Anybody is beatable , whether it's Calzaghe or Ali, or Marciano, or Mayweather it all depends on circumstances and lets be brutally honest on the scorecards of three individuals chosen to judge. No-one will ever convince me that Mayweather beat Castillo first fight (example).


Would Calzaghe (peak) have beaten Kovalev? Well, it's subjective but I believe as he always did Calzaghe would've found a way and his sheer volume of constructive punches would've seen him through.

That wa Calzaghe's biggest strength IMO. it didn't matter what his opponent did, he always found an answer, rather like Mayweather but a more attacking and less defensive version.

Ian1973 wrote:I don't mean to be insulting or disrespectful but some people really don't understand boxing.

For over ten years people under-rated Calzaghe and insisted he'd get beaten as soon as he faced "a name but he then went and beat Kessler, Jones and Hopkins. No excuses, no if's, no but's, the facts are there.

I accept when you watch Calzaghe fight he doesn't look infallible because he's not a defence minded fighter he does take risks but whoever he faces he finds a way to win end of story.

The most under-rated fighter of the last 25 years. Most people STILL don't realise how good he was.

So anybody who doesn't completely agree with you simply doesn't know sh*t about boxing, eh?

I've always been a Calzaghe fan, he was underrated, but so is Kovalev. He's been doubted every step of the way. The UK crowd called Cleverly the better boxer between the two for crying out loud(so did HBO). This site had the Hopkins fight polled at 50/50(so did the press). He went on to defeat both with ease. Now Calzaghe, who's prime weight wasn't 175, and never faced a boxer/puncher as hard hitting or anyone the size of Kovalev, is supposed to have his way with him as well? Someone getting dropped by ancient RJJ and Hopkins really doesn't have a great shot at beating someone like Kovalev, if we're honest here. Since Joe was a great fighter, he could find a way to win, but he shouldn't be favored in any sense. It's not like Joe would've fought Sergey either.

I think Calzaghe would be a horrible fight for Kovalev. The movement in and out, speed, timing, I'd say those assets are always going to pose a ton of problems for a guy like Kovalev. When you throw in Calzaghe's insane engine, this is not a great match up for Sergi. Now, someone like Ward would have a ton more success against Joe's style, because he can tie up, dictate pace better, has the speed to get off.

Calzaghe UD