Now that Kovalev looks finished, just how good was he?

Yeah, getting legit KOed once doesn't undo all of his previous accomplishments. Hopkins got KOed, too. I guess he was never any good either?

 

The math is hard to crack for anyone to make top ten ever in any division, but particularly for an original weight class- even if we make the starting point 1900, it's 2018 now. On average, that's one guy every (nearly) dozen years. Kovalev (in all likelihood) wouldn't make that cutoff for me, but he was a great fighter nonetheless.

 

He is not top 10 but he is elite and hof worthy. It’s a real shame the judges didn’t back him in the Ward fight. He held all the belts and went into his opponents back yard - and basically was the better fighter no need to go over that again.
With that win under his belt- to go with Pascal 2x, Hopkins, Cleverly, Campillo I think he would be hof lock. And he did it the hard way, no big promoter, on the road etc.
that “loss” took his fire and he is an old 35. But he still has power wouldn’t mind seeing him go on but maybe that is selfish of me.
Very good career.

 

Well the majority of people had him beating Andre Ward. And he was already slipping by that fight.

Just because Mayweather and Hopkins can retain 95 percent of their prime into their mid 30s doesnt mean that everybody else can. Kovalev like most fighters at 35 looks like an old fighter. He fought old last night. Not trying to make an excuse rather observations. Hes legitimately old.

 

Good fighter but no hof! I still think that old stevenson puts him in a coma!

 

I think Kovalev is one of those guys who will likely be better regarded in a H2H sense than historically. But, even then, I think some second tier guys like Eddie Mustapha Muhammad, Dwight Muhammad Qawi, Dariusz Michalczewski, and Michael Moorer match up pretty well against Krusher. Wouldn't rule out lesser known titleholders like Erdei, either.

 

Here’s the thing. The ref did a good job. If he would’ve stopped the fight after the second KD. Kovalev would’ve used it as another excuse to blame the system thus making the Kovalev train continue to roll along with you ship rats still on board. But no, ref made him fight even though Kov wanted to quit after the second KD, so now we’re here with you ship rats officially off the bandwagon onto the next one. You guys are exposed badly. Just stop.

 

1.Ezzard Charles
2.Archie Moore
3.Gene Tunney
4.Harry Greb
5.Tommy Loughran
6.Michael Spinks
7.Billy Conn
8.Harold Johnson
9.Roy Jones Jr.
10.Bob Foster
11.Jimmy Bivins
12.Tommy Gibbons
13.John Henry Lewis
14.Matthew Saad Muhammad
15.Lloyd Marshall
16.Victor Galindez
17.Kid Norfolk

There's a lot I don't know about light heavyweight history but maybe he fits in around top 20. All the guys I've listed so far have better CVs than him.

 

Alvarez has a better resume than Kovalev does. and he can go forward as a champ.

 

that's exactly what happened to me too, second knockout, Kovalev would have said he'd have won and enough idiots here would agree. "Kovalev robbed 3 times"

 

add alvarez to the list. as he has a better "cv"

 

ps no Calzaghe?