You notice no one was calling Kovalev shot until Canelo decided to fight him?

I’d say I heard it quite a bit after the first Alvarez fight. Not shot. But aging / slowing down

 

No doubt, but I still won't go as far as saying Kov is shot. In my opinion, he gives all these youngsters a true test. He is no walk over, not yet!

 

No, he's not shot. Declined, yes, but not shot. I just rewatched the Yarde highlights. There's no way Canelo hits as hard as Yarde. Kova took some heavy bombs and withstood them ... if Canelo thinks he's putting SK down with one punch he's delusional. Kovalev looks a bit stiff, but he's still accurate. I noticed some heavy shots to the body from his part. Nobody has ever really worked ginger's body over. Could be interesting.

 

Just checking to see if 5 pages into this a person who didn’t call Kovalev shot/past it/declining etc etc before Canelo decided to fight him has been found.

Nope

 

We hadn't even heard of Kovalev 8 years ago. It's only his demolition of Nathan Cleverly when he first really caught public attention. Even in the second Ward fight he was still an elite fighter.

 

The smarter you work the, the harder it is to lose...this is a Buddy McGirt Kova...might make a difference ?

 

When Alvarez had him falling over the ring with 3 straight knockdowns I thought it was the end of the Krusher

 

Yes this.De Gale is the epitome of shot as he still looked poor in regaining his belt.
Seem to remember folk purring over Kovalevs boxing in the rematch.Yarde was a great win also,his experience and class won him that fight.
You’ll not hear me calling Kovalev shot if Canelo wins.

 

Think we all did GK.I didn’t see the rematch but I remember folk saying it was a real boxing masterclass from Kovalev.

 

Maybe my definition of a sot fighter differs from you and @kirk.

What I have always understood a shot fighter is in my 20+ years of following boxing is a fighter who is has peaked, has passed his prime, and has lost all the attributes to compete at the world level. Clearly that has not been evident with Koavlev.

Is he past his peak, absolutely. Is he at the tail end of his prime, possibly, is he shot, I see no evidence of that. Had he been shot he would have lost to Alvarez again, and would have lost to Yarde.

 

He is semi shot and old two of the worse combination to have as a boxer.

 

Yarde is a C level fighter at best....no great shakes beating him...look at his résumé beforehand as you appear to like those....

 

Never heard of the term semi-shot.

 

Absolutely right,how can anyone call someone shot that still competes at the top half of the division and still has a belt FFS.
In the UK we call them journeymen,meaning they were once good and can still offer experience for upcoming fighters,that's probably a polite way of calling them shot but then again I'm a polite kind of guy.
I'm sure folk expect Canelo to draw up a list from middleweight to Cruiser and pick out only those who they deem prime lol.
The size disparity in this fight with no hydration clauses loads in favour of the bigger man,however old.

 

Maybe there's semi good?