Kovalev gets underrated these days IMO. I feel like Kovalev could bust him up with the jab for a bit, but Beterbiev’s stamina and pressure wears Kovalev down through forcing him to work harder than he wants. Kovalev also could fight on the inside, so the more tired he gets, the more he’d have to deal with Beterbiev on the inside and Beterbiev clubs away at him. Obviously Beterbiev doesn’t have a granite chin and Kovalev could take him out if he’s able to hurt him at some point which is possible, but he’d need to do it early-mid rounds most likely.
They fought in amateurs. Artur got the nod then, but Kovalev always claimed He was robbed. It was pretty close to happening in Russia, on July 2016 - when some local businessman was willing to put money up. Beterbiev's promoter - Yvon Michel - admitted the offer was"very honest", so it's not like He was lowballed. I believe Artur's team felt They needed a bit more experience at the time. Looking back now, You have to favor Beterbiev. Kovalev did not like pressure, did not like it to the body and Artur showed superior recovery abilities and conditioning - which would likely be the difference. It would be a superb fight though while it lasted. I agree with @Devon that Sergey gets a bit underrated. He was very sharp boxer-puncher with underrated boxing IQ and sense of range.
Neither have what you might refer to as granite chins, but both are huge punchers and wonderful technically. Nonetheless, I really struggle to see any version of Kovalev beating Artur. Beterbiev is just an awful matchup for Kovalev, he'll be pressuring him all night, cutting off the ring, going to the body, he won't gas, he won't lose focus, and he's quite possibly a bigger puncher. He's more physical in the clinch and he closes the distance Sergey would need to keep him at the end of his jab. Beterbiev is just more versatile and more polished imo.
Thank You! I thought maybe not everyone knew the history between the two, so it will add important - or interesting - context. By the way - the 2007 Russian championships competition in Light Heavyweight division deserves a word. The amount of talent there was absurd. Winning National title in Russia at the time was probably harder than winning European title and not much easier than becoming World champion. Those were some of the guys competing for National gold: - Arture Beterbiev (Future undisputed Professional World Champion) - Sergey Kovalev (Future Professional World champion) - Egor Mekhontsev (Future Olympic, World and 2 time European champion) - Evgeny Makarenko (Former 2 time World and European champion) - Igor Mikhalikin (Future Professional European champion) That's when Artur beat Kovalev by a single point - on his way to win a Gold medal.
