There was potential for a real golden age there a few years ago but it never really materialised.. Kovalev, Stevenson, Beterbiev, Gvozdyk, Dawson, Bhop, Pascal, Bivol etc.. they should all have been mixing it up more.. the division was stacked.. yet Stevenson milked his easy ride til he couldn't anymore, Kovalev spent more time in an off licence than a gym, Gvozdyk just stopped boxing, Beterbiev has had more false starts than a deaf sprinter & Bivol will now probably just **** off to SMW.. Pascal fair play fights anyone & makes it a fight tho.. What a waste .. Kovalev v Stevenson would have been one for the ages.. it's still a good division , Beterbiev v Smith is a solid matchup but let's be honest he's no spring chicken anymore is he..
B-hop was past it by then, when he beat Dawson he was coming to the end, his fight with Kovalev was completely one-sided.
I agree with your assessment. My opinion is that Kovalev was the best out of the lot, but he did not live for boxing, and he got robbed against Ward and then cheated against Ward by KO to the nuts and waved off, not even a standing count. Farcical stuff. Kovalev is one bad mofo. Beterbiev is just a boring and overrated plonka. Beterbiev is already 36 and at least he will be gone in a couple of years.
kovalev milked the second stoppage. he was ripe for the picking and ward delivered a MUCH improved performance in that fight.
I'm not interested in any of that, whether Ward was better and Kovalev was worse etc. The facts are facts. Kovalev was robbed in the first bout. Kovalev was cheated in the second bout because he was "KO'd" to the nuts, waved off after an assault (not the first) to the nuts, not even given a standing count or anything bizzarelly. I'm not a fanboy like you are so I don't care who wins. I just see things as they are. And they weren't right in the first bout and they were even worse in the second. Kovalev is so much better than Ward.
He didn't beat Dawson.. & Hopkins was 'past it' for years .. he was just a bit unique & special like u, a freak who managed to hold off Father Time with well honed savvy ring craft & boxing guile.. he was old but still good enough to beat Pascal, Cloud, Shumenov etc.. Kovalev was a step too far though. I still wouldn't have minded seeing him in with the likes of Stevenson , Bute, Alvarez etc around that 2014 period, old or not. Again, Alvarez was another one I forgot , a quality fighter when he was coming through, avoided by Stevenson .. Bute was never a world beater at 175 but a solid addition to it nonetheless.. Chilemba too, solid fighter.. some excellent matchups missed.. the division was stacked from top to bottom around the mid 2010s.. boxing missed a trick there!
Agreed that Kovalev should have won the 1st, that was some real home-cookin there. But in the 2nd Kovalev was gassing by round 6 - did Ward hit him with a couple of low blows - yes, he did and should have been warned by the ref, but a lot were borderline and that fight really showed how vulnerable Kovalev was to the body; likely because his drinking was catching up with him as well no doubt, liver double assault! Anyways, even IF Kovalev hadn't been waved off at that point, AND Ward had been deducted a couple of points, Kova was still ripe for the KO there, he was all but spent.
Most likely. Nothing wrong, I think all was correct, Ward was better suitable to be punched in the face for a living in U.S than Kovalev.
This is a pathetic post. "Kovalev would've still lost" etc. That's not the point. The point is that rules exist for a reason and they were explicitly broken, along with one of the strangest refereeing decisions in my memory. Kovalev may have still lost, and he clearly hadn't prepared very well. All of his out of the ring antics seemed to have been catching up with him..... BUT that's besides the point. Regardless of all of these excuses for rule breaking and poor officiating, he should have been given a fair chance within the rules of the sport. If he was so "ripe for the KO", which he probably was, then that makes the cheating and dodgy officiating even more cowardly. Your post is just an extension of that airhead fanboy mentality.
No, I just call it as I see it. FWIW I wanted Kovalev to win that fight as I've always found Ward to be somehow smug - though I've warmed to him a bit as a pundit. The fouling in this bout was borderline, I maybe recall one CLEAR nut-punch, but the others were on the beltline mostly - which is in stark contrast to Ward vs Kessler in the Super 6, where Ward was allowed to do what he wanted with impunity. IMO Kov was feeling the body shots and was complaining about every other body shot being low. But still, even then, both Kovalev and Kessler should have rough-housed back and let Ward they wouldn't take his ****, but they didn't they looked to the ref, and that is always a bad sign. It's worse when you are in with one of these A-side divas; it's crap, but it is what it is. There is one thing I will say that I really respect about Loma, that even his harshest critics will likely concede, against Salido he realized the ref wasn't going to do jack, so he just got on with it, took matters into his own hands and just about stopped his man. THAT's what I would really have wanted to see from Kessler and Kovalev. Tbh, even Froch was slightly bitchy looking to the ref in his fight with Ward too IIRC.
Whoever wins between Plant and Canelo and unifies all the SMW belts should take on Bivol, Smith Jr, or Beterbiev next. I believe Plant has already said that he will move up to LHW once he becomes undisputed at 168, and you’ve got to assume Canelo would do the same if he wins.
Kovalevs a dbag but if they didnt rig anything against him in both ward fights he might still be holding belts. Shame what they did to him.
