How many still consider Kovalev the best at 175?

Not a JOT!

 

He's the man at 175. Until somebody actually beats him without controversy or he stops fighting the best he's the man.

 

Yes and no, IMO. Either man arguably won so it's not a decisive answer. And Kovalev might have more success at 175 then Ward ever will. So technically, Kovalev is no longer the man. But in the eyes of many, which is what matters more, he is. To me he's not, but he could easily retake his throne without even rematching Ward. Ward has had one good fight at 175, if he wants to remain "the" man, he needs to rematch Kovalev. Egotistical mess aside, it's in the contract.

 

Kovalev was ROBBED. He beat Ward CLEARLY. You can't even give Ward a draw.

 

Ignoring the mindless attempt above to try and make this into a Kov was robbed thread, I'll try answer the question.

Yes, despite losing to Ward, I think Krusher IS still the man. One close loss cannot undermine a strong resume built up over years. Ward will need to make and win a few more fights before he can be seen as the true LHW champion. The rematch would sway my vote to Ward should he win that too, but until then Kovalev remains the number 1 LHW but not the unrecognised champ.

 

Kovalev's still the man at 175 in my eyes. I think he should've got the nod against Ward; regardless, he's still accomplished far too much at 175 lb for one very close loss to negate. If Ward wins the rematch then he becomes the man at 175 lb.

However, the OP text states "Did Kovalev's reputation take a hit because of the decision?" and the answer is probably yes, to a certain degree. We saw that he is a top class boxer, but the aura of invincibility weakened.

 

Yeah, we need the rematch.... that will answer most questions which remain. Unless it's another controversial and close decision. Then it won't. lol

 

I said this in a post about 2 weeks ago , The Krusher is still the Man right now . Nothing changed .


We all saw what happened in that fight .


The judges said Ward beat Kovalev , the Media and the fans of boxing says otherwise .


No , Kovalev reputation did not take a hit , if anything he's even much better than we thought he was .


From my observation Kovalev is not even being treated as the loser of this fight , Its been nothing but praise for that man ever since that fight ended .

 

The decision has zero impact on how I feel about kovalev. he beat ward pretty handily in my eyes but his performance has everything to do with my view which has come to conclude that kovalev is a level or 2 below the true elite level.

I originally believed he could be an elite fighter but his struggle with ward made me understand he's simply not on that elite level. my standards are far higher than the norm on this board, in boxing fans views all together really.

Ward was begging to be beaten down BAD, he wasn't beaten to that level. if he had much better conditioning and ability to get to fighters that are just trying to survive and be competitive enough to steal some rounds, he could've had a chance to reach that level.

I believe there's some fighters at lhw who beat both kovalev and ward convincingly. lhw has the top spots currently wide open. there's few fighters in all of boxing that are true elite fighters in my eyes.

So many fighters considered atg by most fans aren't close to true elite fighters, that's how high my standards are. and we have the most overall talent in boxing right now

 

like kellerman said every close round was scored for ward, it sucks but that's what happened

 

I feel Ward and Kovalev are above the rest of the division. I also fee that Kovalev won the fight with Ward and- if Ward honors the contract- he will be given the chance to beat Ward again. However, I do not much think that: A) Ward will fight him again, or B) Kovalev can really trust a decision.

Before you read on, please note that I predicted a Ward victory by Decision. But there is no joy in celebrating a good pick when you can easily see that you were wrong.

Despite having said all of the above and despite their fight and any others they may share, the answer to the question here IMO is that KOVALEV is the force at LHW. I believe that he is the universally feared fighter in the division. No one I have heard of fears Ward in the same way and I believe Ward fears him.

We'll all see what we see. I hope everyone has a great New Year.

 

Kovalev always shared the number 1 spot with Stevenson. After the rematch the winner needs to beat Stevenson for that claim. I'm still not sure Ward or Kovalev would beat him despite his age.

 

I have said yes because I felt Kovalev won but I do think that ratings should be based on results and Ward did get the decision even if I personally didnt think he won.
It does not appear the most popular decision but I think decisions should be respected unless shown otherwise.
Ward has the right to be called champ at LHW as he got the decision but I didnt think he won