if you could get the alcoholic on point for the fight, i favor him. arthur is too static for kovalevs long range missiles. but if arthur can get past the long 1-2, he folds him.
Artur wins 10 out of 10 times, imo. If Kovalev lacked the physicality to withstand Beterbiev, but made up for it with chin and toughness, or if he lacked the toughness but made up the difference with chin and physicality, or if he lacked the chin but made up for it with extreme toughness, I could a case to be made for it being a competitive fight. But Kovalev lacks all of these traits in amounts necessary to deal with Beterbiev. Chin, toughness and/or physicality are essential to be effective against Artur for more than 6 rounds. Beterbiev would absolutely break Kova, and I rate a prime Kova very highly. Kovalev vs Bivol is an excellent fight however. I am not sure how I see that one going.
depends which version Kovalevs prime was really short it's easy to say beterbiev because recency bias.
I said long ago that if there was a round robin tournament between the four Soviet horseman of the apocalypse Beterbiev, Kovalev, Bivol and Gvozdyk none of them would go 4-0. They all have excellent skills, they're all tough, and they can all punch albeit some are better than others in those areas. But Kovalev and Beterbiev have the advantage of truly devastating power, like being two of the hardest punching LHWs of all time and easily being top 5 hardest punchers P4P when they are/were active. Gvozdyk would be the next most powerful but his power is not in their league. Bivol might not score many stoppages but he can punch too. Kovalev is probably the best combination of scary power and boxing skills and his jab is one of the best and most powerful I've ever seen This content is protected But he's also the least clean living Beterbiev would be the one I would favour to go 4-0 if one of them did I'd say he and Kovalev would be the top 2 simply because they possess freakish power
Look at Kovalev here. He hurts Pascal badly with a series of vicious bombs but slips over himself shortly after. He then proceeds to get into a conversation with someone sitting ringside and I'm guessing about them thinking he'd been dropped but then he points at Pascal telling them to look at the state he's in. He's laughing when he does so. It's hilarious and borderline evil This content is protected
I know it's revisionist history now, but one would have to make Artur the favourite given Kovalev was susceptible to the body, and Beterbiev WOULD find it. Later Betebiev stoppage, not unlike Gvodzyk IMO
Prime Kovalev would win by KO 5-6. And this is the reason why Beterbiev’s team refused to fight Kovalev in 2015. Beterbiev has been knocked down not skilled boxers more than once, but with the prime Kovalev it would have ended with a KO. https://www.*******.com/beterbievs-promoter-explains-move-pass-on-kovalev--94316
Kovalev is being underrated by some due to his fast and hard fall from grace. Prior to that he was truly the “Krusher”, had ATG power and excellent all around boxing skills.. I think it’s around a 50/50 fight.
It's a horrible style matchup for Kovalev. Kovalev struggled to keep Andre Ward off of him. Ward exposed how vulnerable he is to the body. I don't see Kovalev lasting against Beterbiev. A better matchup for Kovalev is Bivol IMO.