Cornelius White lost to two guys: Sergey Kovalev last Friday, and Don George in 2011. George knocked him down three times in the first round for a TKO. He was interviewed by World Boxing News, and mentioned Stevenson hits like a heavyweight... says he was hurt for a month after Stevenson TKO'ed him in the 12th. I know Rodriguez held back a little in their fight -wise of him- but he still got decent power shots in, with no effect whatsoever on George. We know Stevenson's chin is suspect, so please disregard that in the poll; who do you guys think hits the hardest? Say one of Kovalev's monster right crosses vs one of Stevenson's monster overhand lefts (they look like left hooks but I feel he sits so low when he throws them, they qualify as overhands). :bbb
What's your frame of reference IB? The Campillo fight? Last Friday? I mean, Cloud dropped Campillo and George was quicker to drop White... how about Stevenson vs Pryor Jr? Did you give him credit for the Dawson punch? I'd agree Stevenson's ring generalship and offensive approach are not complex one bit, but Sugar Hill seems to come up with decent game plans - Stevenson was able to recap every second of the Dawson round, and describe why he did/feinted/threw this or that based on what he had worked on in camp. John David Jackson has a great boxing mind, don't get me wrong. I'm just thinking Stevenson might improve a bit still, where as Kovalev has pretty much peaked - JDJ says he's not trying to change anything in his style, he just gives him the odd piece of advice on how the opponent looks in the ring as the fight goes on.
It's hard to tell, doubtful anyone here has taken a punch from one, much less both guys. That's why your Don George argument makes little sense, he's never fought Kovalev. All George tells us is that Stevenson doesn't punch as hard as Francisco Sierra.
Kovalev is a combination puncher, he doesn't normally throw his entire body into single shots. But when he does, I think he probably hits harder than Stevenson. I think people a little too impressed by Stevenson's KO of Dawson right now.
The Don George interview is not an argument. Did it come off as justification for the fact that Stevenson could hit harder than Kovalev? Not my intent, and doesn't read that way either. It's just another perspective that hasn't been talked about on here. Agreed he's much more versatile in terms of combinations... it just seems guys stop wanting to throw more than a jab after they get tagged. When Stevenson started throwing body shots on Savage, you could see the same effect... when Savage did try one last combo, that was when Stevenson connected with a counter uppercut. What makes you think people are 'too' impressed with the KO? We all know Dawson had the wrong game plan, little respect for Stevenson's power and was 'dry' at that point. That tempers it a bit. You know that's not what I meant. Kovalev fought a lot of cans, as did Stevenson. Nevermind then, I won't give a sh1t if you don't.
Going into this fight, Dawson had been dropped numerous times by Ward and Miranda. He had been stopped by Ward in a fight in which he looked clearly weight-drained. The weight swings might have permanently damaged him. Anyway, I wasn't surprised when he was KO'd by Stevenson. But it doesn't really say that much about Stevenson's power. Also, most of Stevenson's KOs have been of guys at 168, not 175.
Miranda, you mean in sparring? Atrocious camp, atrocious fight, atrocious decision altogether to obey Shaw who actually told him to call out Ward AT 168 after he beat BHop - "I was told to say that, to call him out". Dawson's a mental midget, almost the same as Dirrell. So yeah, like I said in my previous post the Dawson KO is not all glory. Give Stevenson a chance, he JUST moved up to 175... if Steward believed in his punching ability as hard as he did, I think he can drop Cloud in his next fight.
He sparred with Miranda preparing for the Ward fight and Miranda knocked him down two weeks before the fight.
