Prime RJJ vs Tonight's Kovalev

This discussion is way premature and frankly quite stupid. Someone call me when Kovalev goes up to HW and beats someone there in the top 5. Until them;

Jones Jr >>> Kovalev

 

My belief is that the key to defeat Joe Calzaghe is some serious power and the skill to deliever it. I have previously been of the opinion that a very good technician, like Andre Ward, could outbox him but after rewatching some fights I've changed my opinion. Calzaghe had too much speed, stamina, workrate and ability to adjust for that to work. He'll slap away at you at any distance for every minute of every round. Some smart ass trying to hit without getting hit wont concern him one bit.

You need to hit him so ****ing hard he starts to worry about it. He didn't seem very affected by shots from Chris Eubank, Mikkel Kessler or Jeff Lacy, so you need to be a level above that. Kovalev might be in terms of raw power, but we need to see more of him to measure it. I think it's safe to say he would be able to land, though. As a die hard fan of Roy Jones Jr, you might like to hear that I think Jones Jr in his prime had the type of style that would be particulary hard for Calzaghe to deal with.

 

What weight was his prime?
I consider a 160 pounder to small for a guy that comes in the ring 190 add to that skill and one punch power


Roy jones prime =160
SERGEY Kovalev prime = 175

 

Compared to Kovalev he is little.
If you can't take tarvers power its over against Kovalev because he will hit you no matter who you are

 

someone is getting knocked out in that one, you could make a case for either guy getting put to sleep.

 

Good post.

I agree that we need to see more of Kovalev.

Styles make fights.

He was really patient against Hopkins, but I think he wanted to showcase his skills, and he didn't have any respect for Bernard's power.

He was in complete control from the first minute of the round.

But would he have stayed as disciplined and continued to walk forward against Joe?

There's a lot of interesting questions to ask.

Could Joe have hurt Kov?

Can Kov take a hard shot?

How good's his chin?

We've seen Joe get up off the floor, and we know he had a very good chin. But could he have taken a flush shot had it landed?

Could Kov have landed flush?

Joe was a lot bigger than a lot of people seem to think.


With regards to Roy vs Joe, I think Roy would have had too much for him.

 

I think most fans of Roy's would agree that his absolute peak was when he was at SMW.

Roy himself has said that in interviews.

IMHO, it was when he was 25/26 in 94/95.

But he went to LHW at 27, and was still incredible for the most part. So he was still prime then.

Roy had one punch power at LHW.

He took out two 180 plus guys with single shots.

He may not have had Kov's power, but he had more speed, more variation, and we don't know how good Kov's chin is.

Roy had an unorthodox defence with his reflexes, but when he was prime, he was extremely hard to catch clean.

Whereas I don't think Roy would have had too much trouble finding Kov.

 

There wouldn't have been a big disparity in size.


Kov:

Height - 6ft

Reach - 72.5"

Weight on fight night - between 180 - 188.


Roy:

Height - 5'11"

Reach - 74"

Weight on fight night - at SMW, around 174. At LHW, 181-86.


I agree that I don't think Roy could have taken Kov's power, if he'd have landed flush.

But again, the big question is - could Kov have landed flush?

If Roy had hit him with something big early, would it have deterred him from coming forward?

Roy gained Ruiz's respect, who was a 226 pound HW.

He certainly had the power to put Roy to sleep, but Roy wasn't there to be hit.

Speed can offset a lot of things.

Roy had the power and the skills to have put Kov on the back foot.

We don't know how Kov would have reacted to Roy's speed, but I think it would have been too much for him.

I think that people forget just how great Roy was.

 

Fighters used to say they would jump on Roy from start to finish... Some of them almost looked shocked when they got tagged hard for the first time with speed they didn't know existed, and would freeze up like a deer in headlights...

From what I saw, when Hopkins landed clean a couple times, Kovalev seemed bothered and off balance.. That spells trouble to me against a prime Jones, who was much faster and way more powerful than any version of Hopkins, let alone at 50.

I agree with you that a dec win for Kovalev is the least likely outcome against Jones at his best.. He was on a different level of boxing, Kov would have to get him out of there.. But we need to not forget how smart Roy was, he would know that Kov could put him out with a punch, and would fight smart and make every shot count.. I can very easily see Roy catching him first.

Also, Roy's body work at his best could take the wind out of a fighter's sails.. We know he would have went after Kovalev's body, as he did with Tarver in the first fight, the best version of Tarver in my opinion.

 

That's right.

I don't mind people disagreeing with my opinions, as long as they put forward their argument, based on logic.

I think a few things are happening here.

I think that people are getting a little carried away with Kov. He's impressed me a hell of a lot, but there's still many questions that have yet to be answered.

I also think that because Roy is no longer relevant, people are forgetting just how great he was. People are looking at Kov's power and Roy's bad knockout losses, and they seem to be making their minds up, just based on that and nothing else.

You can view any of Kov's fights. While he is a great fighter in his own right, I can envisage Roy landing left hooks pretty easily. I can also envisage him scoring to the body.

Roy had power at LHW, and if Kov tasted that, we don't know how he'd react.

We know that if Kov landed flush, Roy would go, but I honestly don't think he could have connected flush.

I can envisage Roy feinting, and scoring enough to win the fight on a decision, against a frustrated Kov.

I feel that Roy's foot work and his overall speed, would just have been too much.

 

I added to my original post above, I think we are on the same page.:good

 

Mind,

I've just read your post again, after you've edited it.

You've made some great points as usual.

I agree entirely with everything you've said.

 

Seeing as you live in the U.S. and I live in England, I think that the onus is on you, to track down Doc Brown and his time machine.

 

:good


I also think too much gets made of the glass jaw... Roy could take a decent shot in his prime, Hopkins landed some good rights in the first fight, Toney caught him good, Tarver pounded him in their first fight, Ruiz landed a hard clean right ect... Roy probably never had an iron chin, but at his best could stand up to a good punch, his punch resistance certainly deteriorated since the Tarver KO. People thinking Kov just wins based on Roy's chin are ignorant, more things need to be taken into consideration.

 

Roy at 35 got kind of careless and lazy when he got knocked out by Tarver, and McGirt was able to see tendencies at that point and came up with a plan. I don't think he would be caught like that at his best against Kovalev.