Yarde has a chin and a heart. Will come again

Cleverly had no power at LHW really. He was a high output fighter. Kovalev was obviously a different fighter at the time but put today's version against Cleverly from back in the day and he'd still blitz him like he did all those years ago. Kovalev didn't have anything to fear in the way of power in that fight so it goes without saying that he was able to blitz him. If Cleverly somehow was able to endure that onslaught and was able to stick in there, Kovalev would have emptied a good chunk of his gas tank.

Yarde is a knockout artist. He hits hard and its clear that Kovalev respected his power. Just like he respected Alvarez' power and boxed conservatively in their rematch.

I'm not doubting he is on the slide, I'm just pointing out also that he's now put in two performances in 2019 that have been better than some of his previous performances in recent years. I'm not arguing against people who are saying Kovalev is on the slide, that goes without saying at his age.

But the people on this forum insisting that Kovalev is "shot" or "past it" are doing my nut in. You'll see when he fights Canelo just how "shot" he is.

 

You think the Kovalev of today would bltiz Cleverly the way he did back then? Ballacks lol He still wins the fight, but he doesn't blitz him.

I agree that he isn't shot. Still a world class fighter and Yarde gave a good account of himself really. Did much better than I thought he would.

 

Even when Yarde was getting outboxed, he was doing much better than I expected in terms of skills and boxing. He was losing rounds but a lot of them were semi competitive. He looked decent before he gassed after the 8th. Yes, he was losing clearly but I expected him to be completely out of his depth.

 

Exactly mate. He was very good imo and unfortunately punched himself out similar to Ortiz v Wilder in round 8 but he'll come again. A lot of people are glad he lost but he'll learn a hell of a lot from that and will have a good career. He showed that he was a hell of a lot better than people thought he was whether people want to admit it or not.

 

How often have people on here mentioned how his lack of boxing fundamentals will cost him? They did against a very overthehill Kovalev. He showed great heart, so big props for that. His jab is like a novice that has only been to a boxing gym a few times. How many world champions are there who cant throw at least a decent jab? Yarde will never be world class to that and a few other major flaws are sorted.

 

Fight would be over a lot sooner v Bautsi. With the accuracy of his shots he would land at will against Yarde.

 

Stupid fight to take imo. You need to build these guys till their ready. Why not wait another year or two. Meanwhile fighting guys at his level. Kovalev still decent. Where do you go from getting knocked out by someone at the end of the line tho.

Stupid fight. No ones getting out of their with the win without the correct experience tho. Warren and the trainer let him down a bit tonight.

 

He was mandatory, and he got given a huge purse to go to Russia.

 

A lot of people are pretending as if it isn’t an over the hill Kovelev in there who is 36, and doesn’t leave the clean life outside the ring.

If you are baselining Yarde’s level as if that was a prime Kovalev then you could be fooled into thinking he is world level.

But Kovalev is a shell in there.

Also at LHW you have Beterbiev Bivol and Gvozdyk. All truly elite, young and prime.
The gulf between them and Yarde is Huuuuuge.

 

Yarde would have got a British stoppage if he was at home. So close