BoxRec

Well i am not talking about is nest opponent but earlier today I compare both Stevenson and Kovalev's record and i was impress on how quick we were calling Adonis a chicken and adulate Krusher. If we look in the past 5 fight I think Stevenson faced better opposition in General. You can make a case for B-Hop but he wasn t there to win and just got beaten by Dawson! So i d like to ear you

You can look at just their last 5, but also consider that Stevenson had that many bouts over a period in which Kovalev fought 8 times (it's better to look at date ranges because it accounts for differences in activity). IMO Kovalev clearly has an edge over Stevenson in both quantity and quality of opposition, and while I've ordered the fighters based on quality, note that the worst guys on Stevenson's list have been his most recent opponents, with the Fonfara bout coming 2 years ago and the Bellew fight almost 3.

Kovalev

Hopkins (Try to dismisss him, but he was top 3, a unified champ, and still handily beating guys like Cloud and Shumenov. Kov is the one who put him in the shell.)
Pascal x2 (Pascal not in good form for the rematch, but outclassed Bute two fights before the initial encounter. Also beat Dawson)
Chilemba (I thought he outscored Bellew in their first fight, though he clearly lost the second. Like many others I had him beating Alvarez)
Sillakh (The guys from here down are fairly meh)
Caparello
Agnew
Mohhamedi

Stevenson
Fonfara (Was coming off a rickety, down on the cards stoppage of Campillo and didn't look too dangerous, but subsquently proved he belonged near the top)
Bellew (At LHW a solid top 10 fighter, though below the upper-tier of contenders/champs)
Bika (The name might look good, but he fought dreadfully in his previous bout, was moving up, and hadn't won in two years)
Sukhotsky (meh)
Karpency (meh)

That said, I do consider Stevenson underrated. His power is top-tier and he possesses good basic boxing skill that he doesn't get much credit for; in the build up to the Williams fight I've seen people describe him as a slugger who will come for a shootout, but that's not him at all. His opposition is solid overall, but he's stagnated over the last few years.

Kovalev is grossly overrated around here.

I think Stevenson starches him in brutal fashion.

Stevenson is getting a regular duck treatment, no harder than any other duck. He ducked all top LHWs: Kovalev, Beterbiev, Pascal, the list continues.

Nope

The guy has made a career out of ducking. He's got a decent resume, Fonfara and Bellew for example are two solid wins. But the fact he blatantly ducked Kovalev (and let's be honest. There are no two ways about it, it was blatant) as well as possibly ducking Pascal and Beterbiev means he deserves all the stick he gets.

There's an interview on youtube where a guy asks him "Will you face Kovalev?" and he says some crap like "the fans don't want me to fight Kovalev, they want me to fight Froch".

tigermoth87 wrote:Nope

The guy has made a career out of ducking. He's got a decent resume, Fonfara and Bellew for example are two solid wins. But the fact he blatantly ducked Kovalev (and let's be honest. There are no two ways about it, it was blatant) as well as possibly ducking Pascal and Beterbiev means he deserves all the stick he gets.

There's an interview on youtube where a guy asks him "Will you face Kovalev?" and he says some crap like "the fans don't want me to fight Kovalev, they want me to fight Froch".

Basically this.

Aduckis Chickenson. It fits.

Will never fight Ward or Kovalev. Hell he won't fight Beterbiev either. I'm sure he's dying to fight Joe Smith Jr after Williams tho.

Oh yeah... forgot about Stevenson. That ducking pimp retired yet? He had an ok career, won a world title then beat Bellew. Good for him.

Disgusting how he's made a good living for himself for what he done in the past. Should still be locked up.

tigermoth87 wrote:Nope

The guy has made a career out of ducking. He's got a decent resume, Fonfara and Bellew for example are two solid wins. But the fact he blatantly ducked Kovalev (and let's be honest.

Unfortunately, you’re wrong!

Sergey Kovalev and Main Events actually turned down a guaranteed opportunity to fight Adonis Stevenson for his WBC title at a time where there were no political hurdles preventing the bout from taking place.

Just to clear the idea, i m not a fan of Stevenson but my point is just to analyze Kovalev and him with the same eye.
Pascal has never won vs any elite fighter except Dawson who took 9 rounds off before he put pascal in deep trouble.
Adonis had a couple of free fight so did Kovalev.
Both have poir resume and it s hard to establish a favorite between those 2. Ward will dominate Krusher

Cloutov wrote:Just to clear the idea, i m not a fan of Stevenson but my point is just to analyze Kovalev and him with the same eye.
Pascal has never won vs any elite fighter except Dawson who took 9 rounds off before he put pascal in deep trouble.
Adonis had a couple of free fight so did Kovalev.
Both have poir resume and it s hard to establish a favorite between those 2. Ward will dominate Krusher

It seems to me like you're trying dismiss Kovalev's opposition. You wrote off Hopkins, but like I mention he was still easily beating guys like Cloud (one of Stevenson's best wins) and Shumenov. He was consensus top 3 at the time Kovalev faced him and many were picking him to win, but Kovalev had a very good gameplan, hurt him early, and thus forced him into a shell that he was afraid to venture out of.

As for Pascal, he was handily outboxing Dawson for most of their bout, with Dawson clearly struggling against a fighter who could match him for speed and accurately counter his own attacks, which he didn't face against guys like Tarver, Johnson, and Adamek. Dawson had one notably good round in that fight, but Pascal has been rocked many times but only stopped by one opponent, and I highly doubt the winner would've been different had the fight not been stopped as it was. Even if Pascal has only beaten one elite opponent, that's still one more than anyone in Stevenson's last 5 has beaten, and of course his last three have been Sukhotsky, Bika, and Karpency, with his best opponents in his last 5 coming 2 and 3 years ago now.

And Ward may handily beat Kovalev, but at least Kovalev is taking a fight with an excellent opponent rather than feasting on the leftovers of Gabriel Campillo (Williams) and Nathan Cleverly (Karpency), incidentally guys he already destroyed. If Kovalev clearly loses to Ward it in no way suggests that Stevenson is the better fighter.

He get's so much heat because he constantly ran his mouth about Kovalev and when the time came he signed with Al. Then he continued to run his mouth. Good fighter though.

Enlightened-One wrote:

tigermoth87 wrote:Nope

The guy has made a career out of ducking. He's got a decent resume, Fonfara and Bellew for example are two solid wins. But the fact he blatantly ducked Kovalev (and let's be honest.

Unfortunately, you’re wrong!

Sergey Kovalev and Main Events actually turned down a guaranteed opportunity to fight Adonis Stevenson for his WBC title at a time where there were no political hurdles preventing the bout from taking place.

Ha-ha-ha. Now you are pushing crap in this thread. Chickenson had all opportunities to face Kovalev before the pimp ran to Haymon. He ran to Haymon exactly to get protected from Kovalev, as Sergey only fights on HBO. Yes, Duva messed up getting Kovalev into the purse bid situation, but they were offering Stevenson 50/50 fight on HBO which he wouldn't even discuss.

boxing_rocks wrote:Ha-ha-ha. Now you are pushing crap in this thread. Chickenson had all opportunities to face Kovalev before the pimp ran to Haymon.

Let me explain the reason for my previous statement with a list of irrefutable facts, shall we?

• Kathy Duva announced that Sergey Kovalev’s contract with HBO had expired and was negotiating its renewal
• Around the same time as the HBO contract expiry announcement, Kathy Duva also claimed that the Kovalev-Mohammedi fight could be televised by any network and was open to purse bids
• Kathy Duva passionately lobbied for Sergey Kovalev to be made the mandatory challenger for Adonis Stevenson's WBC belt
• The WBC agreed to make Sergey Kovalev the mandatory challenger to Adonis Stevenson's world title
• The WBC ordered negotiations for the bout and also set a purse bid date
• Adonis Stevenson's promoter and manager had committed themselves to participating in the WBC’s purse bid, because they were armed with Al Haymon’s money
• Kathy Duva criticised the brevity of the purse bid date
• The WBC conceded to Duva’s demands and agreed to extend the deadline by six weeks
• Main Events (Kathy Duva) decided against participating in the WBC’s purse bid, because she claimed that Kovalev was contractually-tied to HBO
• Main Events officially announced the renewal of Sergey Kovalev’s contract with HBO
• Kathy Duva then claimed that Kovalev would only ever be allowed to fight Stevenson if it was televised by HBO

Certain media sources and Team Stevenson believed that Kathy Duva orchestrated the entire situation to help negotiate the renewal of Kovalev’s contract with HBO, because if you look at the timelines, she must have been negotiating with that TV network before and after the WBC’s announcement of the purse bid deadline(s).

Therefore, Sergey Kovalev and Main Events actually turned down a guaranteed opportunity to fight Adonis Stevenson for his WBC title at a time where there were no political hurdles preventing the bout from taking place.

I don't think so. He's managed to keep his name out of the light in a pretty rich division.

I don't think I've ever seen a mildly intelligent poster suggest he's the best LH, or that he'd beat any of the top guys.

punchoutsb wrote:I don't think so. He's managed to keep his name out of the light in a pretty rich division.

I don't think I've ever seen a mildly intelligent poster suggest he's the best LH, or that he'd beat any of the top guys.

I think you are wrong he is for sure top 3 of the division and stand a puncher chance vs anyone. He beat some decent guy and yes he should fight Kovalev but Both are fighting sub competition and somehow, one is getting away with it.

It's not the same at all. Stevenson's last solid opponent was Fonfara over 2 years ago, and since then Kovalev has fought Hopkins (consensus top 3), Pascal x2 (generally ranked in the top 5 the first time), and Chilemba (near the bottom of the top 10 or just outside it; many had him beating Alvarez shortly before and Bellew in their first fight).

Since Fonfara, Stevenson has fought a guy who was nearly shutout by Cornelius White, a faded Bika who looked horrible in getting routed by Dirrell 1 fight prior, and Tommy 'I couldn't win a round against Clev' Karpency. None of these guys were even as good as Chilemba at 175, and it's a sign of how weak Stevenson's opposition has been that Thomas Williams Jr., stopped and literally reduced to tears 4 bouts ago by shopworn Gabriel Campillo, is arguably his best opponent in 2 years.

Enlightened-One wrote:

boxing_rocks wrote:Ha-ha-ha. Now you are pushing crap in this thread. Chickenson had all opportunities to face Kovalev before the pimp ran to Haymon.

Let me explain the reason for my previous statement with a list of irrefutable facts, shall we?

• Kathy Duva announced that Sergey Kovalev’s contract with HBO had expired and was negotiating its renewal
• Around the same time as the HBO contract expiry announcement, Kathy Duva also claimed that the Kovalev-Mohammedi fight could be televised by any network and was open to purse bids
• Kathy Duva passionately lobbied for Sergey Kovalev to be made the mandatory challenger for Adonis Stevenson's WBC belt
• The WBC agreed to make Sergey Kovalev the mandatory challenger to Adonis Stevenson's world title
• The WBC ordered negotiations for the bout and also set a purse bid date
• Adonis Stevenson's promoter and manager had committed themselves to participating in the WBC’s purse bid, because they were armed with Al Haymon’s money
• Kathy Duva criticised the brevity of the purse bid date
• The WBC conceded to Duva’s demands and agreed to extend the deadline by six weeks
• Main Events (Kathy Duva) decided against participating in the WBC’s purse bid, because she claimed that Kovalev was contractually-tied to HBO
• Main Events officially announced the renewal of Sergey Kovalev’s contract with HBO
• Kathy Duva then claimed that Kovalev would only ever be allowed to fight Stevenson if it was televised by HBO

Certain media sources and Team Stevenson believed that Kathy Duva orchestrated the entire situation to help negotiate the renewal of Kovalev’s contract with HBO, because if you look at the timelines, she must have been negotiating with that TV network before and after the WBC’s announcement of the purse bid deadline(s).

Therefore, Sergey Kovalev and Main Events actually turned down a guaranteed opportunity to fight Adonis Stevenson for his WBC title at a time where there were no political hurdles preventing the bout from taking place.

Fight Stevenson on which network? Kovalev/Duva were in negotiations with HBO, and Sergey would take a fight on Showtime? Kovalev and many other fighters from former Soviet Union are not of the pimp kind. Most of them are grateful for what they have and loyal and will not switch their managers/promoters/networks for a few extra bucks.

Stevenson "ducked" Kovalev first, then Kovalev "ducked" Stevenson twice in a row.

For some weird reason, the majority of this board only remembers Stevenson's offense.

BAD INTENTIONS wrote:Stevenson "ducked" Kovalev first, then Kovalev "ducked" Stevenson twice in a row.

For some weird reason, the majority of this board only remembers Stevenson's offense.

"Some weird reason"??? Are you that dumb or just pretending? Stevenson had no reasons to duck. Kovalev can't fight off HBO and Stevenson is refusing to fight on HBO.

BAD INTENTIONS wrote:Stevenson "ducked" Kovalev first, then Kovalev "ducked" Stevenson twice in a row.

For some weird reason, the majority of this board only remembers Stevenson's offense.

Stevenson strictly fights no hopers and has priced himself out vs not only Kovalev, but Hopkins, Pascal, even Fonfara rematch, basically any live body. So there's that weird reason

boxing_rocks wrote:Fight Stevenson on which network? Kovalev/Duva were in negotiations with HBO, and Sergey would take a fight on Showtime? Kovalev and many other fighters from former Soviet Union are not of the pimp kind. Most of them are grateful for what they have and loyal and will not switch their managers/promoters/networks for a few extra bucks.

I don’t really understand the nature of your post, because what you've just stated does not concur with reality.

Each and every single one of the bullet-pointed statements detailed in my previous post in this thread can be supported by interview transcripts and YouTube videos, because I’m merely reflecting the events that actually took place the real world.

You then try to put some sort of fictional mythical spin on things by citing the integrity of "former Soviet Union" fighters as weak justification, whereby they’re "grateful" and "loyal", whilst refusing to sell their souls for "a few extra bucks", really? Is that the best you can do?

Seriously, is that your excuse for the dodgy shenanigans that Kathy Duva pulled?

Main Events used the potential threat of Kovalev competing in a marquee fight on Showtime as a negotiation ploy to help renew Sergey’s contract with HBO in order to gain “a few extra bucks”. And it’s Krusher’s exclusive contract with HBO that is now one of the main stumbling blocks preventing the Stevenson bout from taking place.

Enlightened-One wrote: You then try to put some sort of fictional mythical spin on things by citing the integrity of "former Soviet Union" fighters as weak justification, whereby they’re "grateful" and "loyal", whilst refusing to sell their souls for "a few extra bucks", really? Is that the best you can do?

Yep, you are not capable to digest that. Kovalev is grateful to HBO for making him a star and does not want to jump networks for a few extra bucks.

Enlightened-One wrote:

boxing_rocks wrote:Fight Stevenson on which network? Kovalev/Duva were in negotiations with HBO, and Sergey would take a fight on Showtime? Kovalev and many other fighters from former Soviet Union are not of the pimp kind. Most of them are grateful for what they have and loyal and will not switch their managers/promoters/networks for a few extra bucks.

I don’t really understand the nature of your post, because what you've just stated does not concur with reality.

Each and every single one of the bullet-pointed statements detailed in my previous post in this thread can be supported by interview transcripts and YouTube videos, because I’m merely reflecting the events that actually took place the real world.

You then try to put some sort of fictional mythical spin on things by citing the integrity of "former Soviet Union" fighters as weak justification, whereby they’re "grateful" and "loyal", whilst refusing to sell their souls for "a few extra bucks", really? Is that the best you can do?

Seriously, is that your excuse for the dodgy shenanigans that Kathy Duva pulled?

Main Events used the potential threat of Kovalev competing in a marquee fight on Showtime as a negotiation ploy to help renew Sergey’s contract with HBO in order to gain “a few extra bucks”. And it’s Krusher’s exclusive contract with HBO that is now one of the main stumbling blocks preventing the Stevenson bout from taking place.

Hi Rover!