If you took the Kovalev from the Cleverly or Sillakh fights when he was probably at his physical peak and Chad Dawson from the Adamek fight in what I thought was his best performance, how would the fight go and who would take it?
Dawson would probably be ahead like 6-3 and then get stopped between rounds 9-12. He faded in the Adamek fight, and Adamek didn't apply pressure nearly so well as Kovalev. I do think he could outbox Kovalev to some extent, but he was a very good fighter yet just short of elite.
Kovalev in his prime barely lost a round. His defense was way too good to be down on the cards to Dawson.
He didn't do that against anyone of Dawson's caliber. I think he'd get a KO eventually, but he would lose the boxing match to the quicker, longer southpaw (4" reach advantage).
And Dawson has never come close to beating somebody of Kovalevs caliber. You dont just land on Kovalev. His defense was spectacular.
2007 Chad Dawson didn't have much a resume then, other than Adamek. Wasn't until his 4 fights w/ Tarver and Johnson people upped him. Other than those two guys, and Hopkins, Dawson didn't really beat many top level guys. Would put my money on Kov. Feel like he just wanted it more.
You don't think Bob Foster or Michael Spinks could beat Kovalev ? Hell Dwight Muhammad Qawi would just be all wrong for him. I'd give Moorer a decent chance too. He was a big LHW and a powerful one at that
I'm all over this one. Very interesting match-up IMO. Kovalev received more admiration and is probably rates higher over all for most, but I just don't get why. Dawson's wins over Hopkins and Tarver eclipse Kovalev's official wins, then he has Adamek and Johnson (2x) on top of those. I suppose if you were to include the manner of losses into the ratings it becomes closer; with Dawson getting levelled in a round vs Stevenson, and losing quite wide to Pascal; but even still, Kovalev's loss in the rematch to Ward, to Canelo and to Storm are all quite bad if we're being critical. Even with an official win over Ward, I'd still have Chad higher. My ****ing God, I hate that name. That said, I reckon Kovalev would've won. Kovalev's jab had massive force behind it, but he was also adept at taking half-steps and shuffling into position, gradually closing distance and setting himself up. If he can do it vs Andre Ward, then I'm happy saying he can do it to Chad Dawson. He'd feed his cross down the centre and one of them will stop Dawson. Although from what I remember, Kovalev's experience with southpaws is fairly limited, and the one I can remember him, he got dropped in.
