It's hard for me to declare Kovalev as an out-and-out underdog versus any cruiserweight. But is cruiserweight money as good as light heavyweight money? You have to admit the cruiserweight division tends to be boxing's equivalent to a "bargain bin".
Kovalev has some fights at 201 in the amateurs so I would not rule out the possibility. More realistically Beterbiev will be a CW in about a year, he is having serious issues making LHW.
I think he may be able to get to the top 10 and a world title shot but I don't he'd win because he could lose some of his power in a higher division as many other fighters have, and his chin is clearly not granite IMO.
I think we should have a new division to 190 lbs. Because there are boxer that are too big to 175 lbs and is too small for 200lbs. The difference is litle big between 175 and 200....
They don't need new divisions just switch some of the req weights. Mw -165 SMW - 175 LHW - 185 Cruiser - 200
LHW -> CW and CW -> HW are the hardest jumps because the weight difference is huge. It's really unclear how he would fare. Tarver did well but he was freakishly tall at LHW to begin with and probably on PEDs.