I'll try to keep this one relatively concise for a change. Dmitry Bivol got badly rocked twice by Joe Smith Jr. in a fight he otherwise dominated. Also was badly rocked by Jean Pascal, in a fight he otherwise dominated. Although, talking about featherfisted. Bivol can't crack an egg, not even 2 thoroughly tenderized by Kovalev and Gvozdyk eggs. Artur Beterbiev struggled to stop Koelling, and was seconds away from being KO'd by Callum Johnson. Then looked like a skill less flailing maniac against Hot Rod Kaladzjic, and genuinely dreadfully bad Oleksandr Gvozdyk looked like absolute ass against Mehdi Amar, and seemed to gas badly late and get rocked a few times in the 11th and 12th. Yet none of them got the **** Kovalev got for being hurt by a legit puncher, having one bad round, then coming back in dominant fashion, taking the fight back over, pushing the pace and stopping his man brutally with a ****ing jab. Also, as stated before, Yarde had more power than most of Sergey's recent opposition, yet he took the power to the body and head, and didn't go down, showed mental toughness and grit and fought his way through it. So, Anthony Yarde as one note as he might be, is he really any worse then Joe Smith Jr or Mehdi Amar, who Bivol and Gvozdyk dominated but had a few scary moments against? Is he a little better? Callum Johnson and Jean Pascal are both technically superior, but Yarde has more power than Pascal, and Johnson lost his **** and fought like a macho balls out stark raving lunatic against Beterbiev, not like the solid fighter with a punishing jab and good fundamentals that he is. So he reduced himself to the level of Yarde. So it still kind of evens out. Now look, I don't think Yarde is some next level world beater, but we also don't really know just how good or bad he really is. Who knows, he might go out and KO'd a Marcus Browne, Badou Jack or Buatsi next time out. Skill wise, he's not appalling, but especially with his idiot of a trainer, he's nothing special, but he's clearly tough as nails and we know he's got power based on how quickly he'd KO'd a few guys that in some cases, had never been stopped before. So just based on that, he'll probably pose a few issues for guys that aren't next level technicians. He's basically a Light Heavyweight Lemieux. Also... Kovalev is one fight removed from shutting out a top tier fighter like Eleider Alvarez, a fighter who stopped him and had never lost before. He took the man's 0. It's not because Alvarez had the wrong strategy, Kovalev just out thought and negated everything this top boxer with a solid skillset brought to the table the second time around. He was one step ahead from beginning to end. This is an Alvarez who was coming off of destroying Bute, something Jack and DeGale couldn't do, and schooling Pascal (who went on to beat the crap out of Marcus Browne) about as well as Bivol did. With the exception of the 8th round in the Yarde match, these are two DOMINANT wins from the Krusher. Something many seem to not be processing, because they're judging him by a different standard and placing far greater expectations on him than they are the other 3 Eastern European monsters, who have had equally problematic performances as of late that one could easily over analyze and find big faults with. So...being fair minded and taking all of this into consideration, does it change any of your opinions about Kovalev's performance? What really was all that worrying? He had 1, maybe two bad rounds. No worse than the other young guns in their recent outings.
One other observation, could Kovalev have recovered as well in the Ward and Alvarez matches had he had Jedi Master Kovalev Whisperer Buddy McGirt in his corner? After all, he looked about as done as he did in the Ward match against Yarde. He'd have probably held a lot more, weathered the storm, and that second wnd, has it always been there and we just hadn't got a chance to see it?
Kovalev is clearly in a bad space. At his height there were Kovalev vs Marciano threads and some people were picking Kovalev. His late inconsistency shows that there's something not right on the home front. He showed some skills and true grit against Yarde but I think Kova from 5 years ago would have ripped him a new one. If a fighter catches him on a bad night they have a chance of getting a scalp that they have no business getting. There's a reason a bottom-feeding pair of vultures like Oscar and Canelo want the Kovalev fight and it's got nothing about "trying for greatness".
Was he not P4P one of the strongest punchers, with top boxing skills as well, unanimously, as of just a couple years ago? Even if faded to a large degree (it must be moreso than results indicate; losing to Ward no biggie at all and splitting with Eleider), that is something it is not as though it didn't happen.
Probably it's exaggerated. But people feel less intimidated because they've seen he can be taken late and become sloppy and they've seen him hurt. It wasn't apparent at the time of Cleverly, say, but if Cleverly had survived until the second half, he might have exposed a stamina vulnerability like Ward did. Even Ward almost got taken out early of course. If that right hand had been extended, perhaps Kov would still be undefeated. Anyway, I don't think McGirt adds anything, he just inherited a pre-made middleaged champion. Kov's skills were built in his twenties and all McGirt does is say 'use your boxing'. Anyone here could do that. If that trainer gets Canelo money it's the luckiest thing ever seen in the sport. It's very different to the Davison/Fury situation because Davison really did turn Tyson from an obese suicide watcher into what we see now. If anything it's Duva that care-takes Kov's behaviour and she's pretty crap at it, providing Snake Jackson of all people as a PR stunt to try to silence 'KKKovalev' critics. But in general there's clearly a cold war against Kov from the American boxing portal, so there's probably a lot of mind games going on where they're trying to demoralise him and tell him he's done etc., because they want him done and they want him out the sport.
I think he is a very good fighter, he was just over hyped to begin with. What he has achieved in his career to date is very decent, most boxers don’t achieve anywhere near what he has.
Beterbiev could have ended the Koelling fight at any time. He was coming off a year lay off and wanted the rounds to shake the rust off. Bivol - i just dont get the hype at all.....
I thought he would get dominated by Ward but Kovalev proved me wrong. He may not have any special tricks but his 1-2 combos and power variation and excellent footwork and distance turned me into a believer. He is on the slide though. Yarde is below Pascal and 3 years ago Kovalev wiped Pascal out.
It think he's past it, and losing his right hand, but Kovalev at his prime peak was greater than the rest of the current light heavies IMO, which is why he can still do well. Though Gvodzyk might be close.
Even a faded Kovalev is a dangerous and difficult fight for anyone Still hope to see him in with the other big players in the division
I don't think so.. he's still got alot in the tank, and is a serious threat to any fighter in or around his division.
@ about 50-60% Yarde had no business lasting as long as he did and nearly closing the show. a prime Krusher would have had him out of there inside a few rounds without breaking a sweat. Right hand wasn't working for him like it did at his peak.
But like I said, what about the struggles of Bivol, Beterbiev and Gvozdyk. Why weren't they able to get guys out of there that they should have, and no one cared? Why the double standard here for poor Krusher? Not directed at you by the way, just rhetorically speaking.
In decline but still dangerous. However Beterbiev KOs him early & Bivol would school him in a 12 round shut out.
Also, that has everything to do with McGirt telling him to box and not go for the kill. Kovalev is now as cautious as Money May.
