Kovalevs past prime fights are more entertaining than his prime fights

I agree, good post.


I personally hope he retires, I don't want to see him hurt, damaged or go out with a complete whimper.

One thing you brought up which hasn't really been talked about that much as far as I can see is the loss of punch power.

Normally, or it's said.. power is the last thing to go on a fighter and so if that's gone then I don't see how Kovalev competes at the highest level much longer.

 

Yeah..

It was actually quite sad for me watching that fight, Kovalev of old would have destroyed Yarde but he looked old, slow, less powerful.

They were saying on the commentary and others said "experience" won him the fight and it did because there wasn't much else he had left.

The jab worked well at times but I didn't see power, strength, that sharpness, Kovalev made Yarde look far better than he is and that will be shown clearly if Yarde fights another world champion.

 

I agree. Excellent post by the OP.

 

I know, I'm British and it was genuinely embarrassing to hear the commentary go shoulder deep in Yarde, but to be fair and honest Sky do the same, Conor Benn will throw the odd "world class" combination against a journeyman, the scoring on Sky blows my mind most of the time.

Nope, they didn't say anything about the state of Kovalev to be honest, they had to make him sound great to sell the fight, to make excuses if Yarde was embarrassed and mainly somYarde has enough room to come back after a "brave effort against the main man in the division".

So they will use this to try and sell Yarde again, I don't see it lasting very long, The problem they are going to have is.. if they are trying to say Kovalev was still great then Yarde can hardly go back to journeymen and unknowns.

Yarde will get a "gimme" after this because he was knocked out and most fighters have one of those to blow off the cobwebs and rebuild a little bit of confidence.

But what happens after that? They won't go back to domestic level, they already believe they are above if so they won't fight Buatsi for example, so they will have a hard job selling Yarde Vs Unknown Latvian because "Nobody wants to fight him now" when many top fighters will happily take a Yarde fight.

 

Kovalev really isn’t far off what he was in his prime. Doesn’t look to have lost much speed, power or reflexes. Although he’s slightly past his physical prime, his ring IQ and experience will be better than ever after 2 fights each with Ward and Alvarez. I’m sure he learned a lot about himself in those fights, and is a more intelligent fighter for them. His boxing is as good as it’s ever been, not sure why people feel the need to make constant excuses for him. He’s still the best LHW in the world.

 

You are the same guy, who claimed that AJ and Fury defeated prime Wlad lol

 

I agree but I still hate that we didn’t get to see prime Stevenson vs Kovalev.. the fireworks in that fight would have been ridiculous.. But one guy too the Ottke rout (Adonis) and the other fought everybody (Kovalev)

 

Enter Clenelo.

 

they are more competitive i agree

 

The same guy who also said that Canelo would destroy Beterbiev.

 

Pastprime or not he's still the Number #1 Ranked Active Light Heavy weight in the world across the board, whether You like it or not.

#13 ranked Artur beterbiev can't hold a candle to Kovalev.
The baby Bivol needs to prove himself too.