Better win: Donaire or Kovalev?

Don’t pretend Kovalev wasn’t getting a lot of picks. Besides, you’re apparently Ukrainian so your opinion on Russian fighters is to be taken with a grain of salt.

 

Anywhere near prime Donaire would have never needed a come from behind KO to beat an old Darchinyan. Donaire fought a competitive fight and lost to Magdaleno, never would have been a thing if he was peak form. He would not have decisively lost to Frampton. Lots of people called him faded and in need of gifts to beat top guys when he fought Vetyeka. He wouldn't have been dominated and KO'd by relatively crude Walters. He would have beaten more than 1 top 10 opponent in a 5 and a half year stretch of time. Don't insult the youthful version of Donaire.

By your vision, Kovalev has been done since 2018 but Donaire has been done since 2013/14. Come on now.

 

For a fight that Canelo fans would have you believe was so close on paper, he was an overwhelming favorite going into the fight. Not by fanboys or haters, by people who bet real money. The money guys had it right from the start. Canelo fans act like this was a great upset. He did what he was expected to do against a faded former champ. Kov fought like a guy who wanted to win some rounds on the cards when everyone knew he had zero chance of getting a decision or having the gas tank to sustain the effort for 12 rounds. Clearly a guy fighting to avoid the shutout but not to win. Nonito fought like a true champion and showed his character. Kov fought like a drunken bum looking for a final payday.

 

Right. But by recent form Donaire has more left and thus the better win. Glad we sorted that out.

 

Yeah, on this particular forum (which has a disproportionately large contingent of Kovalev supporters), he got picks from his ride-or-dies like @CST80 and I that we knew full well to be at least partially wishful thinking. We both had a knot in our stomachs in the run up, especially once the secret rehydration clause was revealed but even before that. We knew the overarching narrative heading in was that Canelo had looked beefier than a Mexican cow in his previous highest climb up against Rocky Fielding, and that Kovalev had looked increasingly fragile since the Ward losses (and the personal life turmoil which followed) and had been damn near decapitated by a hyper athletic but unskilled domestic level scrub in Yarde and was going to be pushing back against Father Time with a new trainer whose specialty directly contradicts the style he fought with for most of his career.

The bookies and most people in 'the real world' outside ESB had this down as Canelo by stoppage the moment it was announced - with like 99% of those people attributing it to Kovalev being caught at the right time as well as Canelo getting the full suite of A-side benefits (no drug testing, secret rehydration clauses, etc)

 

At the time Kovalev fought them, Pascal, Cleverley and the 49 year old B-Hop were better wins than Alvarez. Did you know tat he should've gotten a draw against Isaac Chilemba? Or that he badly struggled with Isidro Prieto, the guy who Beterbiev smoked in a minute? Eleider Alvarez is just an average contender who just happened to catch Kovalev and Pascal at the right time.

And what the hell exactly makes Yarde top ten? The guy had never fought a top50 LHW before Kova(and this is no exaggeration, he literally has no win over a 175 pounder who you were to list a top 50), he has no amateur experience, and apparently doesn't belive in sparring. The only reason he got a title shot because Warren owns WBO in Europe and he and his team thought that Kovalev was done.

 

Yeah. I've heard so many people discredit Hagler beating Hearns because Hearns got laid and had a massage the night before which caused him to fight like a rock em sock em robot to his opponents' advantage.

Mayweather doesn't get any credit for beating Pacquiao. Why? Because Pacquiao fought like a mentally handicapped child. Yeahhhh, suurrrre...

Segura doesn't get credit for beating Calderon. Obviously. Calderon decided to stand his ground, therefore the win is not significant.

Ali's win over Foreman? Lame; no credit. Foreman fought like a mentally handicapped Pacquiao.

Please... Your retrospective opinions need some work there, friend.

 

1. Every publication ranked Yarde in the top ten. That is why it is fair to claim he was a top 10 ranked opponent and largely unfair to claim otherwise.

2. Wow, long way to discredit Eleider Alvarez in an attempt to discredit Kovalev in an attempt to discredit Canelo... in an attempt to build up one of your favorites, I can only assume?

 

I think Canelo's win over Kovalev is perfectly legit, and not to be dismissed...But Donaire is historically greater and more accomplished than Kovalev, period. That cinches it for me.

 

You can't make a pick and claim "wishful thinking" or "I kind of knew otherwise" or "I was trolling for the polls" or anything like that without every single correct pick meaning nothing too. Honestly, nothing bothers me more, CST does it all the time, than hearing that hot garbage. Discredit your wrong picks at the expense of discrediting all the correct ones.

Bookies, sure, all in on Canelo and they were right. But "boxing fans" were riding with Kovalev at a near 50/50 at the least.

 

He went up two weight classes to fight a 6 round fighter with no punch resistance left, who was KOed multiple times lately.

 

Opposition and results say definitively otherwise. But keep on living.

 

Who the fuck said I care obsessively about "being right" or live in dread of ever being wrong? I'm not twelve years old. I don't participate in any of the fight picking competitions, I find it kind of puerile and those who do well in them are not necessarily people that know a damn thing about the sport. Being "good" at those competitions really isn't that indicative of anything or something you can read into. The sport doesn't lend itself to prediction on a consistent basis, except with the most obvious mismatches.

 

Nonsense. Eleider was undefeated and had beaten Kovalev, Pascal, and Bute in his last three.

Yarde was fringe. The ring put him in.

 

to read the perspectives now, kovalev was just a manufactured boogeyman. beat a decayed bhop, then did jack **** afterwards except beat bums and look bad beating them