Somewhat inspired from the Povetkin vs Sanders thread where someone mentioned Rahman vs Sanders got me thinking well how does Povetkin do vs that Rahman, then it occurred to me he has 3 pretty glossy names that were past their best days How do you see Povetkin vs: Rahman of say the first Lewis fight Byrd of say the Vitali fight and Chagaev of say the Valuev fight
I think Rock would have def beat povetkin in those ages. Byrd, interesting matchup and a pick em. I'd probably go Byrd on this too, think he beats Chagaev honestly. Would like to see em all!
Prime Byrd was too skilled and slick for any version of Povetkin. Prime Rahman was too big and strong, he'd ko Povetkin late rounds, depending on location.
I think Povetkin is technical enough to beat a prime Byrd. He has very fast hands and a good workrate. Prime Rahman - bar landing a lucky punch - would lose a wide UD to Povetkin IMO. He got lucky vs. Lewis that's all.
He has been ranked top-10 in the world about 10 years now. He also have one of the most imperesive winning resumes in heavyweights today
Byrd would definitely beat him, too skilled and slick in his prime, he made a career of making fighters like Povetkin look bad. Rahman got lucky against Lewis, a lot of big hitting heavies would of beaten him that night. Rahman probably get's stopped late, though he would always have a punchers chance.
Byrd didn't look good against Golota and Golota is nowhere near as skilled, fast or close to in workrate as Povetkin.