That's a very tough 1 to call, Bivol has the jab, the defence, the IQ and the chin. Kovalev has the power footwork and speed. But I do think Bivol is the better boxer so I'm saying 115-113 Bivol.
Kovalev stopped everyone he fought from 2011 to 2016 sans B-Hop and I believe he dropped everyone he fought from 2011 to late 2016. 20 fights in a row where he dropped his opponent but in his last 6 fights he only scored one KD, when he KO'd Yarde but that was more an attrition/exhaustion KD This content is protected
Bivol is more professional, better prepared mentally and won't fade in the second half unlike Kovalev.
Prime kovalev had knckout power in I think after during the 2nd pascal fight he started to show some kinks in the armor and during the chilemba fight it was obvious he wasnt the same anymore.
Bivol is becoming a bit overrated post Canelo. He’s a very good fighter, solid fundamentals, well drilled and disciplined, but prime Kov was a level above IMO
Hardest thing to guage with Bivol is where his ceiling is. His ice-cold execution of gameplan and perfect judgement of distance makes him a really interesting match up with prime Kov. So far no one has managed to really push Bivol or drag him into deep waters and out of cruise control. That's why the Beterbiev fight has to happen so we can see those two bring the best out of each other!
Yeah plus if Zurdo actually brought it instead of chickening out maybe we would have been able to further grasp where he is at the moment, not Bivol's fault though.
What is interesting about Kov's prime is 1) no one could get past his jab to test whether he was always vulnerable to the body 2) like most I'd put Kovalev's prime right around his brutal beatdown of the outmatched Nathan Cleverly. But was Clev elite? Not IMO That's where things get a bit murky with Kovalev - IMO his first elite opponent was Hopkins - who while still wily could hardly be counted as prime @49, regardless of how much of a freak he was. He then had two wins against Pascal, but then his next elite opponent was Ward, who he lost that controversial decision to, and never seemed to be the same again. So when you look at Kov's resume just as he was going in to face Cleverly, IMO Bivol would easily have been the best most skilled fighter, and would have beaten all of Kov's previous opponents. Of course none of that means that Bivol would win, but i'm just drawing attention to the fact that prime Kov never faced anyone at Bivol's level either.