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

Exactly.

Ali would do f-all in the modern era for 3 reasons:

1- Stricter PED testing
2- He had a glass heart
3- Much tougher competition and not just American domestic hype jobs

deal:deal

 

We'll have to agree to disagree.

At this moment in time, I'd pick Andre to beat him. If Sergey beats him, I'll be extremely impressed.

Andre needs to get his a$$ in gear now though. Is the Barrera fight official yet?

 

And his egregious loss to Antonio Inoki. The loser couldn't even beat a Japanese wrestler.

 

:good

 

:good

As great as Ali was, he could never have beaten the likes of Wilder and Stiverne.

 

:rofl

 

As of three days ago no I don't think the fight has been finalized. Ward issues.

What I think will happen is if Ward makes it to Kovalev and Kovalev wins, people will say that Ward was too inactive or his skills eroded. I doubt Kovalev will get credit.

 

Because they're fighting another top athlete. They set the pace to each other. Just like in training you can go sparring for days, but it doesn't translate to having the same endurance in the real fight.

He would bully them easily.

Boxing is a sport, all the sports have progressed and boxing can't be an exception. Boxing is not chess, it involves a lot of strenght and endurance and athletes today are stronger, faster and better in all aspects.

 

No. He would have beaten those protected journeymen.

I was talking more about the likes of Joshua, Chisora, Haye and Fury.

 

LHW is stacked with some terrific fighters.

I don't know how he'd be able to handle Foster's power. That guy was a true 1 punch KO artist and he had freakish height and length at the weight class. In a way, he was kind of like a Tommy Hearns of the WW division, a powerful freak of nature (saying that in the nicest way possible.)

I also think Ezzard Charles and Archie Moore would be too strong for him.

For me, those 3 guys were the best LHW's in history (also Tunney, but I don't know how someone with a style from the 20's would fare against a monster like Kovalev.)

Some mentioned Michael Moorer on here which is a nice selection as well. He was a hell of a fighter at 175 lbs, but I don't know if I'd favor him outright against the Krusher. That fight is close to 50/50 for me, maybe 60/40 towards Moorer.

Kovalev is one of the best fighters in the world right now and he's steamrolling through his competition. It's going to take a special fighter to beat him, someone like Ward (which I also think is a 50/50 fight.)

Someone mentioned a prime Chad Dawson before. I might have to agree with that also; Chad was one of the best fighters pound for pound around 2007/2008. He was a very talented, complete fighter at that stage in his career. It's kind of sad to see what's happened to him ever since he went down to SMW to fight Ward. Talk about downward spiral.

 

Sports have progressed and athletes these days are generally bigger and stronger then those in the past. The reason boxing is an anomaly is that guys from the old days fought the top contenders in (at least) 15 round fights and had around 10 fights a year.

It's all well and good being a superior athlete but they don't compete to the same standard as the old-timers. Maybe they could - but I can't automatically place them on a pedestal because they haven't proven it.

 

Hopefully it's signed soon.

If Ward has two tune up bouts and he looks good, then if he was to lose, they shouldn't be any excuses. Sergey would deserve full credit. But I want him to have at least 2 tune ups. I wouldn't even mind it if they didn't fight until next year, as long as they definitely fight.

 

Kovalev's greatest asset is that he never gets ahead of himself. Him and Golovkin never jump the gun and are always thinking before they punch. That was also a large part of Mayweathers success.

I have begun to develop the feeling that Usyk will eventually be upset sometime in the future because of his tendency to get lazy during fights. He arguably has more skills than Golovkin and Kovalev but I can see him losing before them because of this reason.

 

'73 Foreman would have a field day with this current crop.

 

Not sure if they can beat Kovalev, but these are my top 175 guys :smoke

• Bob Foster
• Michael Spinks
• Michael Moorer