Just checked and it was the other way round, It was for Ward's SMW title. I didn't count that when I was checking. Couldn't find anything on Denis to say that he wasn't lineal
Grachiev beat Erdei in a ten rounder so it would be nontitle and Erdei retired lineal. If you count it, then Ward weighed 170 for Rodriguez so that bout was contested at 175 for Rodriguez's lineal title and Ward's 168 title. Shows how useless lineage is today.
It's a pain in the ass to track, and when guys like Grachev, Williams Jr and Erdei all are lineal without even having a major title
Virgil Hill has to be in there. Doesn't he have like 20 title defenses at light heavyweight? Hill was not exciting, but he would have easily beaten Canelo last night.
He’s simply NOT beating Saad or Conn. Saad would just outlast him and Conn would box rings around him.
He would beaten him. He had a jab and legs and that counter hook. Beat a lot of good big guys in the 1980s including Stewart, Czyz, Tate,Tiozzo, Maske. 20 defenses. I don't see Canelo beating him. Today social media helps people build guys up. Kovalev had an exciting style, but he was always overrated a bit.
Maske is the only one of those guys who probably was a better 175. I didn’t even make a pick. But he would never have an easy night with Canelo.
Canelo beating Fielding and this Kovalev does not tell me he would beat Hill. Who boxed better than Kovalev and had a longer reach. It might not be easy, but it would have been a 12 round UD.
I really wasn't impressed by Kovalev last night. Trying to win the fight by TOUCHING Canelo all night long, he hardly threw any power punches. If that was Buddy McGirt's strategy than it was the wrong one. Also Kovalev has shown himself to be a bit of a glass cannon. Once he gets hurt he has no survival tactics, last night it didn't matter because he got his lights turned out.
That and where was his accuracy? He had minimal accuracy in there. He was not even being a good shoe shiner. his hands looked about as accurate as Scott Ledoux. and fought about as smart. Made Canelo's defense look a lot better than it really is.
How would you rate Canelo's defense? It looks extremely good to me. Good to see a modern fighter adept at both slipping and blocking punches and he can counter too.