I think there are definitely fighters from 175 who would beat Haye that blows out his achilles in the 5th round. All they would have to do is survive the first 4 rounds. Kovalev has the defense to survive the storm and needless to say he would DESTROY a one legged Haye in the 6th round. GGG would murder a one legged Haye too. Just shows you how pillow fisted Bellew is that he couldn't put out a guy who was basically a human heavy bag out.
Bellew was ahead, 3:2 or even 4:1 in round 6. And he fought with a broken hand since round 2. From his first counterattack I knew he will win this fight. As you could see on my threads days before the fight, I already favoured him. You just don't stay inactive for 5 years, fight a few bums and suddenly fight a real champ. A LHW still, but a champ who isn't afraid and knows how to punch back.
kovalev's boxing ability and how far out he fights would definitely give haye problems, haye has kind of turned into a slugger
Bellew clearly lost all the rounds from round 2 until the injury. He did absolutely nothing other than survive. He didn't answer Haye's jabs to the body. Those are point-scoring punches even if they don't do anything. I can't see how you can score those rounds for Bellew when Haye landed like millions of jabs.
y You're right, Bellew did nothing, so the fact he survived till' round 6 is just sad, everything after that... well, that disappointment still overwhelms me.
The comments in this thread are quite amazing really. You've never seen Kovalev at Cruiser or HW yet are picking him over Haye. Did last night teach nobody anything about making picks?
Haye obviously has either a leg or a foot problem that cuts down his mobility. So it is an unfair fight.
Bellew is one lucky SOB really. He's a champ because Drozd had an injury and couldn't defend his belt against Makabu. Makabu put Bellew on his arse but blew it, so he becaume a champ. Went on to defend his belt Wilder style against Flores instead of his mando and then got lucky with Haye. He's extremely good at surviving and using the cards he has, but a real champ... not in my book.
True, he used to be very illusive and we've seen what happens when Kovalev doesn't land. Question was about Haye from last nigh though... If Bellew could land nearly everything from round 6 onward, Kovalev wouldn't have any problems to end that "fight".