Kovalev - has any pfp fighter declined so rapidly?

Discussion in 'World Boxing Forum' started by Eggman, Apr 7, 2020.


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  1. Eggman

    Eggman "The cream of the crop! Nobody does it better! Full Member

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    Just watched kovalev v ward 1.

    Im not discussing my score, who won etc as it’s been done to death

    he drops ward with a heavy shot.

    kovalevs jab was like a ramrod, like he a Boulder in his left glove. extremely accurate too.

    going after ward the full 12 rounds, throwing heavy and showing a great chin.

    didnt look weak and frail at the weight.

    Against Ward too, one of the best ever to lace them up. Then loses the rematch in some controversy.

    Fast forward 3 years. Ko’d by Alvarez, but avenged, but already looked like the Krusher had left the building.

    jab masterclass against green yarde but is nearly ko’d. Yarde gassed himself rather than kov ko’ing him.

    then looks like a 45 year old skeletal man against canelo and gets ko’d. If you told people in 2016 canelo would KO kovalev in 2019 they would have laughed.

    Has anyone looked so fearsome, tough and hard punching elite pfp to a chinny, weak jabbing vulnerability in around 3 years?

    Now he’s going to cruiser?? He’s a casualty waiting to happen.

    sure we have heard the rumours about his lifestyle but my word he looked an absolute ghost of himself against yarde, about 2 and something years after ward 1.
     
    Eggman, Apr 7, 2020
    Eggman, Apr 7, 2020
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  2. guncho

    guncho next champion! Full Member

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    Roy Jones after Ruiz fight comes to mind

    Chris byrd being kod by lhw i think is equal to kovalevs defeat agins canelo
     
    guncho, Apr 7, 2020
    guncho, Apr 7, 2020
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  3. navigator

    navigator "Billy Graham? He's my man." banned Full Member

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    Meldrick Taylor's sort of in that ballpark of swift decline.
     
    navigator, Apr 7, 2020
    navigator, Apr 7, 2020
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  4. George Crowcroft

    George Crowcroft Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    Wilfred Benítez was champ at 17, and shot to hell by 25.
     
    George Crowcroft, Apr 7, 2020
    George Crowcroft, Apr 7, 2020
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  5. The Funny Man 7

    The Funny Man 7 Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Unfortunately Ezzard Charles had a really steep decline. I'm not sure what he would have been rated p4p when he gave Rocky Marciano hell back to back, but a fight or two later he was struggling with much lesser fighters and loosing to Hurricane Jackson.

    But to your point, Kovalev had one of the sharpest downturns ever, along with RJJ.

    Vassily Jirov was another guy whose career took a turn for the worst. He was rated top 10 by plenty of people when he gave James Toney a fight for the ages. Soon he moves up to heavyweight, losses almost every round to Joe Mesi, then gets iced by a grossly overweight Michael Moorer, and then struggles to a sluggish draw against Orlin Norris. Not good.
     
    The Funny Man 7, Apr 7, 2020
    The Funny Man 7, Apr 7, 2020
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  6. Flo_Raiden

    Flo_Raiden Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    There’s been lots of P4P fighters that looked special but declined so suddenly. Donald Curry comes to mind.
     
    Flo_Raiden, Apr 7, 2020
    Flo_Raiden, Apr 7, 2020
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  7. Braindamage

    Braindamage Baby Face Beast Full Member

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    RJJ was the first guy that came to kind.
     
    Braindamage, Apr 7, 2020
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  8. Rock0052

    Rock0052 Loyal Member Full Member

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    I don't think it was a rapid decline at all.

    He didn't look that good vs Chilemba either heading in to Ward I, which turned out to be his last truly great performance. He's been up and down since then, but it's worth noting the dude had a hard 34 years in which he didn't take great care of himself between fights and had 10 world title fights going in to the rematch. Ward was already retired by the same age as were other (somewhat) recent P4P fighters like Hamed & Hatton..

    The other thing nobody wants to think about is he was never linked up with any of the PED guys of the era. Looking at it, his decline is really a tell tale sign for me that he wasn't goosed up on PED's (or at least, not to the level of his contemporaries) and fits with how most fighters declined historically as they aged and their performance dropped, and even plenty of ones after they proliferated boxing in the 1980's. He was never going to age like a Hopkins, Wlad, Floyd, Pac, etc anyways with his between fight discipline. It's kind of impressive he didn't fall off more dramatically, really.
     
    Last edited: Apr 7, 2020
    Rock0052, Apr 7, 2020
    Rock0052, Apr 7, 2020
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  9. Eggman

    Eggman "The cream of the crop! Nobody does it better! Full Member

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    interesting take. I remember he had somewhat of a difficult time with chilembla, even Virgil staying that ward won’t get no praise now because the blueprint is out.

    Having watched that fight then recently his yarde and canelo fight the decline is absolutely staggering so you may be right that he preferred vodka to PEDs
     
    Eggman, Apr 7, 2020
    Eggman, Apr 7, 2020
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  10. Rock0052

    Rock0052 Loyal Member Full Member

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    If it were a Punch-Out game, he'd have been golden!
     
    Rock0052, Apr 7, 2020
    Rock0052, Apr 7, 2020
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  11. George Crowcroft

    George Crowcroft Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    Charles' decline was far before the Marciano fights. He went on an immediate decline once he was leveled by Jersey Joe Walcott. It's a testimony to his greatness that he did so well vs Marciano (some ringside had him winning!). His decline afterwards is a combination of Lou Gehrig's and having such a brutal 2nd encounter with Marciano.

    Charles has such a sad story.
     
    George Crowcroft, Apr 7, 2020
    George Crowcroft, Apr 7, 2020
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  12. Serge

    Serge Ginger Dracula Staff Member

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    I've been saying since 2014-ish on here that he was declining but the drop off in the last few years has been immense. Disturbing even.
     
    Serge, Apr 7, 2020
    Serge, Apr 7, 2020
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  13. JOKER

    JOKER Froat rike butterfry, sting rike MFER! banned Full Member

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    Abner Mares.
     
    JOKER, Apr 7, 2020
    JOKER, Apr 7, 2020
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  14. 22JM

    22JM Boxing Addict Full Member

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    Morales and Vargas by the age of 28 they were shot to hell.
     
    22JM, Apr 7, 2020
    22JM, Apr 7, 2020
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  15. Eggman

    Eggman "The cream of the crop! Nobody does it better! Full Member

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    it is actually quite disturbing.

    I had to recheck the date of the ward fight because I couldn’t believe it was the at the end of 2016.
     
    Eggman, Apr 7, 2020
    Eggman, Apr 7, 2020
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