Joe Calzaghe vs Sergey Kovalev

why do you need to keep putting in the last word over someone you deem worthless?

obviously not the end, but you certainly began this by creating a sad alt to troll me with.

valar morghulis.

 

Joe Calzaghe is a pressure fighter, and as such he has to be able to take what his opponent dishes out. He is extraordinary hard to beat for anyone of his own size and strength, but fighting against someone naturally bigger, such as Sergey Kovalev, is a bad match up. Even more so, since Kovalev is a power house and actually has some understanding of boxing to come with it.

We haven't seen much of Kovalev yet, so I'd favour Calzaghe to pull through with a UD, but I don't think he would look very good in the process.

 

:deal the guys definitely a basketcase.

 

Aww C'mon get real Don. Calzaghe tried to duck out of the Lacy fight claiming injury. Enzo had to kick his butt & make him fight.
Do yop honestly think Joe would ever get in the ring with Kovalev??? It would be slaughter if he did & he knows it
Calzaghe was an over rated cherry picker Bernard Hopkins scared him into retirement by threating him with a rematch in Wales :rofl:rofl:good

 

Likewise, I just don't agree. I don't buy all that, Kovalev wanted to show he could box. Sergei took a bit of criticism for not being able to KO the old man. If Kovalev KO'd or stopped Hopkins, it would have been much more electrifying, exciting, and built his hype up that much more. We didn't need to see that he can box. We wanted to see how his power would fair against the old mans chin. And trust me, if those right hands were that soft, he would have just bullrushed him and tried to get him out. He didn't though. He was cautious. You don't box cautious and restrained when facing someone that can't hurt you.

 

This comment doesn't make sense. Kovalev dropped a 105 year old Hopkins in the first round. Sure Hopkins was dropped legit, once, by Mercado in Quito Ecuador, the second looked like a trip or something. That fight took place at altitude, and in a 120 degree arena. Calzaghe likely would have been KO'd had Mercado hit him with the same punch at that altitude, and with that heat.

 

I do think that Hopkins's racist antics prior to the fight ****ed Calzaghe off. After the fight, and Joe didn't have too much trouble during it, he retired. His style was troublesome. high volume, good reflexes and an uncanny ability to (usually) avoid getting clocked. We will never know but I believe the outcome would have been the same. Joe will be a point of debate forever, i suspect.

 

Kovalev didnt appear on the scene until years after Calzaghe retired, whatever that sudden level is. Please stick to honouring your ban bet

 

It makes perfect sense if you go back and see what led to the comments.
Point is that, just because someone gets knocked down in one fight, doesnt mean they would in another.
Now as for Hopkins, Im sure if this altitude was the issue, then I expect he would have been more visibly tired, but instead Hopkins legs went, when hit clean by Mercado and no I dont think Calzaghe would have been KOd by Mercado atsch:-(. Hopkins wasnt either, but it showed when hit clean, how he was troubled

 

Calzaghes resume looks god damn legendary compared to Kovalevs whose best win is a 50 yr old Hopkins he couldn't even put away while Kovalev is in his PRIME what a monstrous puncher but I assume you look that way when you fight nobodies! Calzaghe beat Hopkins in the middle of some of his best wins while at the tail end of his career. The Hopkins that beat Tarver beats Kovalev sorry he isn't anything special....

 

Kovalev's career isn't finished yet. Look at Calzaghe's career when he was 31 for comparison.
The idea that Hopkins has slipped from being able to beat a fighter to losing every round and getting dropped whilst still remaining the unified world champion is ridiculous.

 

Good post.

Again, I respect your opinion, and I enjoyed reading it.

Off topic, do you think Hopkins could beat Adonis?


:good

 

no, at age 31, calzaghe had fought absolutely no one on the world scene who was even close to prime. His resume is lesser than ko4clevs. calzaghe had the least important title, to remain his only titleuntil he was almost finished, whilst sergey has unified and is blooming rather than packing in.


And sergey is a late starter himself.

To be fair, Calzaghe comes behind most of his british contemporaries in this respect - froch, eubank, benn, Collins all had won higher rated titles earlier than joe, and defended them more times too. On the world scale Joe must surely rate even lower in this respect, with perhaps 10-20 SMWs ahead of him at this...so my point is its no suprise to see him behind Kovalev.

Please don't hold it against me that I am pointing out that Joe is behind kovalev and many others in this respect, after all its NOT an issue I raised, I was just factually correcting the OP's post, which one other person also corrected, so its not out of place for anyone to correct it.

 

Tough question, hard for me to say. His body can't do much anymore. He looked incredibly slow and old against Kovalev, who is a straight up and down, robotic type of guy, that Hopkins wouldn't of had a problem with a few years ago, in my opinion. Hopkins also stated to the effect that he felt like the smaller guy in the ring. With Stevenson, weight wise, and strength wise, Hopkins will again feel like the smaller man in the ring. If the Hopkins from the Kovalev fight shows up,(timid, not engaging) he doesn't have a chance. But if Hopkins can pull one more youthful performance out of his body, he has a hell of a chance. Stevenson is much more flawed technically than Kovalev, and Stevenson seems to have a 7 round gas tank. So far I haven't seen anything but that left hand from Stevenson. Even at his age, it's hard to see one punch beating Hopkins. If Hopkins can stay out of trouble early, and take a round or two, I could see him outboxing Stevenson in the second half of the fight, but again, it would depend on which Hopkins showed up. He seems to pull a decent performance out of his ****, after a bad one.

 

Slappy couldn't throw a legitimate scoring punch to save his life.
Slappy retired to duck a Hopkins rematch at home in Wales. To me that was the height of cowardice & the ultimate insult to his faithful welsh fans.
He didn't have much trouble??? ROFL Bernard put him on his cowardly ass LOL