Kovalev in Other Era's.

:nut, Get real Wlad would beat Kovalev to a pulp..

The only guy with a remote chance of beating Wlad is Wilder but even he would be a live underdog..

 

I am not disagreeing (though i dont give wilder any more chance than anyone else). But, the reality is that one day, Wlad will get old, and it will probably come without warning. Put another way, I am sure that Kovalev would beat Lennox Lewis, and he would probably start to feel confident against Vitali Klitchsko. I think he would have a decent chance of beating Wilder (though i doubt he wins 10 fights out of 10).

 

I would like to know how you think he would go right now in the heavyweight division. Do you think he is the biggest threat out there to Wlad?

History shows that the light heavy champ more often than not will beat an aging alltime great. I think Wlad is probably still good enough, but i would give Kovalev as good a chance as anyone of beating Wlad, and i think i would give him 50 50 or better chance against any other fighter around that i can think of off hand. Though i suppose i do give him the benefit of the doubt in a few unproven areas.

I agree that Kovlev has no shot vs Wlad. Kovalev can box and punch. His accuracy, shot selection and timing is excellent!

 

I have not seen a whole lot of him yet but he is reasonably impressive. This era's Michael Moorer?
I give him no chance against Wlad...different ballgame at heavyweight. I don't see him beating the upper tier guys since he is giving up a lot of size and I don't know how his power would translate when he hits a 230-pounder.

As to earlier eras, well naturally the closer we get to guys his own size the better chance he has.
His best chance would come against fighters
pre-1960.

That all said I'm still not entirely sold on him yet. He's good and he hits like a truck. He has solid but not spectacular fundamentals.

 

Wilder is poor. Wlad would kill him.

 

You sure?

 

Let me make sure I understand, you're talking about Wlad Klitschko, right?

Is there another Wlad I'm not aware of in boxing, because, you know, "his greatest threat" was decked by Darnell Boone?

 

You remember he just went 12 with a blown-up middleweight who was in jail when Regan was president, right?

Ok, he beats Jennings 2/5, Glaskov 3/5, Takam 2/5 and gets whipped soundly by the other 6. Against Fury, Povetkin or Wilder he gets carried out of the ring on a stretcher in 2 rounds.

 

So going off the boxrec list, you say he beats 2 of the top 10 in the world, Including number 5.

I have always said that the light heavyweight championship is usually worth about a no 5 ranking. Sometimes a little better sometimes a little worse. Historic results generally support this. Glad to see that you agree with me.

 

I am pretty sure. I always like the older fighters and the champion fighters to maintain their form much longer. In fact, i think that James Jeffries, for example, would have beat several top 10 fighters in the world when he came back to fight Jack Johnson.

Lennox Lewis is 50 years old and been out of the sport for 10 years. I am not sure whether or not he has kept himself in decent shape but at best, i am sure his condition has been ordinary. If he takes 12 months to get in shape, with warmup fights, and has the desire, then i suppose you could give him an outside chance of beating Kovalev. Book it in 2-3 months and he has only the punchers chance. Book it right now, and, of course, he has virtually zero chance (size advantage or not).

 

Kovalev is the real deal, the fight with Hopkins cemented that. Not only did he knock Hopkins down, but he completely shut him out and took away all of Bhops weapons.

To me hes already cemented himself as one of the most dangerous LHWs ever and hes on his way to ATGness.

As long as he keeps his head screwed on. He seems like a good bloke.

 

I wanted to say one thing about the Wlad thing (even though like every one else, i give him no chance). But do not forget history.

Gene Tunney was a good light heavy (some say he just finished a losing series with Greb but that is a different story) vs Dempsey who was considered an ATG. No one gave him a chance. Tunney beat him.

Braddock was a pretty ordinary light heavy (not even world champ) pitted against an unstoppable giant in Braddock. No one gave Braddock a chance. He won.

Ezzard Charles was a great light heavy, no one gave him a chance agaisnt Joe Louis an aging all time great (maybe the greatest) champion. He beat him.

Leon Spinks was Light heavyweight gold medalist fighting an ATG in Ali(again maybe the greatest ever), who was aging but was still beating most of the heavys around. Leon Spinks beat him even though no one gave him a chance.

Michael Spinks was a light heavyweight champion. He fought Larry Holmes, an ATG heavyweight champ, who competed well into the giant ridden 90s era. Spinks beat him twice despite no one giving him a chance.

Michael Moorer was a light heavy champ (sort of) fighting Holyfield who was the best fighter in the world. Moorer beat him.

There is no doubt that Wlad will lose to other fighters soon. Age catches eery one sooner or later, usually by surprise.

History suggests that a good light heavyweight champion can be the man to dethrone the All time great champion. It has happened to better fighters than Wlad. That is all i am saying

 

That's fair enough. I think he needs to campaign at the heavier weight first to make a believer of many though.
But we will see. I don't think he has expressed any interest in fighting at heavy (yet) or has he?

 

I dont think the 50's would be fair to him because his experience level is not on par with the Charles, Moores, Johnson,etc. He has the power to fight anyone but the Pascal fight showed me he can be hit and shook up and confused so in fairness I would give him sometime to mature before we can make a decision there.

One thing we know if certain guys can surprise us if they have the will and confidence to win. Kov could fight Vlad and get blown out or he could be a very difficult opponent for him if he can impose his will and style....In my opinion he would have to try and land something against Vlad and fight a Spinks type of sporadic attack to keep Vlad off balance and confused but its not easily done.

 

It was 40 years ago when heavyweights were 210 lbs.