Name some 175s in history you would confidently pick to beat Kovalev

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Obviously - that's why old timers fought the best competition over 15 rounds and had about 10 fights a year. The progression we've made in this era where they fight 3 times a year in shorter fights against lesser competition proves that guys like Robinson and Armstrong were glorified journeymen.

 

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I hope he returns to the thread.

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Jones jr., Bob Foster

 

Foster is a great shout. Excellent boxer with murderous power.

 

Sergey being cautious wouldn't have got the job done in my opinion. He'd have had to have jumped on Roy and been really aggressive, trying to catch him with something big. You couldn't wait on Roy when he was in his mid 20's.

Roy would have jumped in and out of range with pot shots and flurries, scoring points.

You're right, Sergey had zero respect for Bernard's offence. In my opinion, he took the foot of the pedal, to try and prove to people that he's a good boxer, as well as a great fighter. Although Bernard was 50 and in survival mode, Sergey impressed me. But a 50 year old Bernard and at 28 year old version of Roy, are simply worlds apart.

You say Sergey always finds the mark. But again, against who?

Sergey has a lot of great attributes. But he's not more skilful, he's not a rangy southpaw, he's not really fast, he hasn't got great reflexes. Nor does he possess a longer reach, or a Hearns like jab etc. He wouldn't have presented Roy with a huge stylistic problem like a Nunn or a Liles for example. His main attribute is his huge power. Which of course would have been highly dangerous for Roy. But he'd have had to have been in a position to utilise it.

Again, Roy also had great power, a lot more speed, more variation, and he was much harder to hit.

At the end of the day, we've all got our own opinions. But I find it funny how so many people are adamant that Sergey would have beaten Roy with absolute ease, like he was nothing, when as yet, he's still unproven somewhat, with his greatest wins being against Bernard at 50, and Jean Pascal.


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Why are people saying Jones? He couldn't even beat journeyman Glen Johnson while Jones was prime. Plus he was a none puncher who shattered Jones abysmal glass jaw. Kovalev can whack.

 

Sergey could never have beaten Glen Kelly and Rick Frazier.

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I know - it's like when people pick Ali in mythical fights, completely ignoring his losses to Holmes and journeyman Berbick in his prime.

 

I think the 2007 version of Chad Dawson when he was at his best beats Kovaelv.

Also I think Michael Spinks, Bob Foster, and Archie Moore beats Kovalev too.

 

Don't forget Leon.

 

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I'd have loved to have seen Tarver and Dawson fight Sergey.

 

I was talking more about Kovalev not having respect for Pascals offense or defense, just not at all in general.

I thought he showed a lot of respect to Hopkins and was careful. Towards the end there yeah he was starting to hunt him down, but for most of the fight, I thought he was paying attention to everything and was not reckless at all.

Also, I think Kovalev is underrated as a boxer. He has great footwork and controls distance well. He uses a lot of feints and was outfeinting hopkins. He does not get sucked into traps and he can be tricky. He is not just a big punch. Hopkins would be the first to tell you this.

Sure, RJJ may be faster, but I think if Kovalev cracks him, and especially if he does it using boxing skills or unexpectedly, I think you'll see a ruffeled RJJ like we did with Griffin 1. But Kovalev can pound it out. I could be wrong... we can't know how this would go for sure.

 

With confidence?

* Michael Spinks
* Bob Foster
* Ezzard Charles
* Michael Moorer

Fighters I'd pick, but not without hesitation:

* Dwight Muhammad Qawi
* Roy Jones Jr.

50/50 Fights:

* Harold Johnson
* Billy Conn
* Matthew Saad Muhammad
* Victor Galindez