Kovalev was and is a front runner. If he is at the head of the pack he will look unbeatable. If someone takes his confidence from him, he cannot self-motivate and he will spiral downwards. He looked amazing in Ward 1 and 2 despite the losses - his skills and timing were A-grade, yet feed him a few C-level fights on his comeback and he quickly slipped back into bad training habits and imploded. By the way, despite the inactivity, I still feel that Beterbiev is the man at 175lbs. If anyone gets into a slug match with him they will not make it out of the fight.
Damn that division is getting so cool! I think Gvozdyk would be first, then Beterbiev and finally Alvarez.
I'm a big fan of Gvozdyk and think hes incredibly skilled and gifted, but hes missing something, in the same way Liam Williams is missing something. Its intangible just cant pinpoint it. Otherwise hes as close to unbeatable as any fighter right now. I think Beterbiev is the guy to expose that something, he or Alvarez. The Nail would wreck any version of Kovalev I think, just all wrong for him.