I think Stevenson. Back then he was in his physical prime, not the 41 year old on his last legs gassed after 2 rounds. Can someone please provide an honest and unbiased explanation on why they did not fight each other back then?
I'd say egos. They couldn't agree on the network and location and neither side in my opinion made a good effort settling those two issues to make the fight happen. Both sides should've been welling to concede a little to get the fight signed, since it would've been a good payday for both fighters, since them not fighting pretty much stagnated the 175 division.
That reminds me, I think at one point they both switched to each others networks at the same time (Showtime and HBO I think). It's a shame because the winner would have a been a unified champion, and it would not have taken much at all to get the other belts and really become a star in boxing, a household name and most likely a PPV star.
Kovalev. It took Ward half a fight to figure out how to land on Kovalev and even then he wasn't able to do with from the outside. Stevenson wouldn't be able to counter when Kovalev has near perfect distance control.
Kovalev the better fighter who imo should be favored to win on average, Adonis has to obviously be considered a live dog though as I think its very realistic that he can stop Kova any given round.
I narrowly woud pick Stevenson. He'd probably land big through Kovalev's upright stance and never seemed to mind a dogfight.
I honestly thought it would have been a terrific fight between 2 of the best LHW at the time. Kovalev a bit more rounded and skilled but Adonis had that sneaky left that could have put Kovalev in trouble. I would have favored Jovalev but only slightly. Because of Andre Ward we were robbed of arguably the best possible match up.
Duva and Kovalev asked the WBC for a purse bid. They were granted the purse bid, and then pulled out.