Wouldn't land Roy was a different fighter before he went back down He would take the jab and that's all kovalev would land if he's lucky This content is protected Duran and Leonard before my time. I have never seen a better fighter than roy 93-03 Not pac Not mayweather Not usyk Not ward Certainly not kovalev You guys think what you like, but Roy was a on another planet than kovalev
His balance and timing with power punches was excellent. That was the first thing to go along with his gas tank.
My favourite fighter for years.. people forget his good he was. A bit like Sergio Martinez... brilliant fighter's at their peak.
Stylistically one of my favourite fighters; equally brutal and cerebral, his jab and control of distance was masterful. It's a shame his career petered out like it did but I will never forget him at his prime.
This thread isn't that outlandish imo. From 2013 until 2016 (when he was robbed against Ward and hit the bottle) he was brilliant. And id say there is an argument that as a fighting machine he was rhe best in the world, but in a ranking sense there's no way you can put him above Mayweather or Gonzalez during this period. Had he kept it together and knocked out Ward he probably would have been ranked number 1 in the world because Floyd had retired, Gonzalez had lost, ans he was as regarded as Golovkin but that name puts him above him.
Even though Kovalev was not likeable like GGG in terms of his personality, he was a tremendous talent. Its a shame how the Ward robbery derailed his career.
He beat Ward in the first and was robbed. The second fight was very even, closer than the first, before the stoppage. And many of those body shots were questionable.
Kovalev fought Ward in his country with a home ref and three home judges TWICE. Something which Roy and obviously Ward would've never have even dared contemplating doing in a dream let alone in actual real life if the roles were reversed. Ward in his own words called what Kovalev did ''doing it the hard way'' And it wasn't just Kovalev vs Ward it was very much a collective effort and when I say collective I mean Kovalev vs Ward, the ref, the judges, media members, Ward and his team trying everything they could to gain ever more advantages in their favour which included having spies in ''alcoholic'' Kovalev's camp and king snake John David Jackson doing his bit too I remember the week of the fight one of these media members, to try and unsettle Kovalev and mess with head in order to stack the deck even more in favour of the deck-stacking privileged have gloves won't travel female dog home 'warrior' Ward, as it wasn't already stacked enough in his favour as it was, quizzed Kovalev about the Roman Simakov fight ie. the fighter who tragically lost his life after facing Kovaklev, losing consciousness in the ring never to regain it. The 'reporter' then asked him about it again seconds later after Kovalev quite understandably didn't want to address it a few days before the fight. It was done quite intentionally. But all of this gets conveniently ignored by the same people who are as silent as church mice everytime a fighter from Kovalev's region of the world somehow manage to come away with an L over there almost every single time in these ''close fights which could've gone either way.'' Funny how that works, eh? And you do not wave a fight off on a foul, repeated fouls at that. The correct protocol is warn the fighter who committed the foul for doing so or deduct a point from them and to give the fighter on the receiving end of the foul 5 minutes to recover which is exactly what that corrupt snake Tony Weeks would have done if the roles were reversed and every single one of us knows it too Notice how even during the low blows sequence Ward comes in with his head? This content is protected The vast majority of fans had Kovalev winning the first fight and to pretend otherwise is very disingenuous but as I keep saying there is only one country in the world where they stack the deck with a home ref and three home judges for world title fights between a home and an away fighter and, yes, Kovalev despite being based in the US was a foreigner. And then after being robbed of all his world titles in the first fight by the home judges, quite understandably, Team Kovalev requested the appointment of NEUTRAL judges or at least some which was DENIED. God forbid their boys over there should ever have to fight on a remotely level playing field In the US Kovalev vs Ward I - US ref and three US judges Kovalev vs Ward II - US ref and three US judges Kovalev vs B-Hop - US ref and three US judges In Russia Kovalev vs Chilemba - neutral ref and judges Kovalev vs Yarde - neutral ref and judges Interesting that, eh? Not a single home ref or judge for Kovalev for his world title fights in Russia but not a single neutral one for his ones in the US vs Americans As for an actual fight between a prime Kovalev and a prime Roy. Firstly, Roy would never fight him and if he did Kovalev would knock him spark out with a jab. A flush right hand would send Roy to the shadow realm in the blink of an eye Dropping the titanium jawed Pascal with a jab. Imagine what that jab would do to Roy's glass jaw? There is absolutely no way in hell Roy remains conscious after eating a flush Kovalev shot of that I am super confident and I'm very confident he would land too This content is protected
GREAT fighters (not front runners and bullies) do not fall apart mentally. Kovalev fell apart mentally before Ward 2
He didn’t beat Ward easy. Wtf are you smoking. He lost a close fight and then got stopped in the second fight.
There were many clean body shots that broke him down, well before that final round. He didn’t want to know.