Saad Muhammad vs Kovalev

Saad does what he always does. Take a hellacious beating and somehow battles back to win in 10-12 rounds. Similar to the two Marvin Johnson fights. Marvin Johnson was a real puncher and landed frequented on Saad busting him up but Saad was a game champ.

Both are orthodox, upright mid-range bangers whose offense is predicated off the jab. Nothing particularly intricate but well schooled and hit hard especially with the straight right. I see Sergey landing a lot, he has the greater power by far but Saad’s chin in his prime was RIDUCULOUS. Saad was a dominate champ during a very talented era and beat all different styles – Conteh, Qawi, Kates, E M Mohammad, M Johnson, Parlov , Camel and Y Lopez.

Kovalev had trouble with Pascal's 30 second bursts each round, Saad will be in his face for 3 full minutes til round 15 plus Saad had a good jab, very long and committed to it when he wanted to slow the action/recover/probe for combos. Saad FTW.

 

If Kovalev beats Andre Ward which i don't think he will, than i would probably go with Sergy, but now i would pick Saad because he was more proven over time..

Kovalev was stretched all the way by a 50 yr old man, and had all he could handle with Pascal, lets see if he can sustain this pace of opposition for 3 or 4 years:huh

I like his bring it on attitude, that's for sure:deal

 

Kovalev does not have the greater power by far imo.Saad was a brutal right hand puncher and mostly wrecked the level of fighter Kovalev has built his punching rep on with ease.especially once he turned more flat footed puncher after the Gregory debatable decision.Both excellent punchers.

Sure Saad was often in wars when faced with the genuinely really good\excellent guys(though he also put on a jabbing clinic against Lopez and was in a classic chessmatch with Conteh, both fights at least as highly skilled on his part as Kovalev's outfighting), but we've already saw Kovalev fail to get the stoppage against the best he's fought...an ancient fighter with 8 round stamina and little offensive threat, but who by being technically sound and having strong survival instincts still went the distance.Still, i like to see my supposed ATG powerpunching boxer-punchers crush and destroy the level of fighter Hopkins has been in recent years, not coast to a wide decision in a largely insipid fight and leave certain question marks on mentality.

I'd imagine he'd need to go through wars to beat guys like Johnson and Lopez too, if he managed it.

Neither guy is going to comfortably outbox the other, it'll be a fight with a fair amount of shots landing even with both in boxing-mode initially...and with a good likelihood of ending up in a war after someone gets hurt and goes for it.Saad is the FAR more proven of the two in that sort of situation.

I'd put my money on him and expect a great fight.If it was the post-Lopez rematch Saad circa Sutherland, Martin and first Qawi loss i'd bet on Kovalev, but it'd still be a BIG stepup from what he's fought so far.


btw i wouldn't suddenly favour Kovalev if he beats Ward.Andre's a very good pro's pro technician in the McGirt\Watson mold and that's good enough to beast on guys like Froch....but he won't have a notable offense at 175 and won't be that physically impressive(he doesn't grab me in this respect even at 168).I think he'd be on a similar level as skilled, but less physically dominant or hard hitting boxer-punchers like Fourie and Kates were in Saad's era.

maybe that will be enough to expose as yet unseen flaws in Kovalev, maybe it won't..he's a good worthy opponent either way, but not the kind of fighter that would have THAT much bearing stylistically on a Saad matchup even if Kovalev dominates or struggles.Of course if he gets dropped a few times on way to a stoppage or wide loss you would have to imagine he wouldn' be able to take Saad's power, but i doubt that will happen.

Ultimately this is a fight that would be better speculated on after we see Kovalev against a few more solid fighters, Stevenson, Ward etc. guys like Cleverly and pascal simply don't cut it here.

 

Saad made his bones against a great era of lightheavies.

Kovalev has beaten a 50 years old man by decision.

 

Saad was one of the best right hand punchers in the division's history imo.I think his power has more often been underrated than anything else, because he's mostly famous for the Johnson\Lopez wars.When he landed that shot fully extended and flush...most fighters got ****ed up.he wasn't the best at shortening it though(so could be crowded by swarmers like Johnson) and didn't carry as much power in the left-hook.

But those were very tough guys that could recover from getting hurt multiple times and were at the peak of their game when they fought him(unlike say when they took on Spinks years later).Most famous punchers have a few fights like that anyway.

Kovalev may hit harder, i'm not sure yet, but i don't think there is a massive gap there.Both could bomb out the 2nd\t3rd tier guys quickly or turn the fights with just a few shots.

 

I don't know... I mean no disrespect to Saad but he didn't get rid of many guys very early. Kovalev is one of the rare punchers who often makes people wince and change their fight plans when they feel his power. Hate to sound like a Kovalev cheerleader but I think that he really has very special, elite power whereas I see Saad as having good and occasionally very good power.

 

I agree. Saad threw a lot of arm punches and was a slow starter. He had power but it was gradual and usually turned it on after he saw his own blood. Saad was more about drowning you in deep waters after the opponent was thoroughly exhausted from beating the tar out of him.

 

You are not sold on Saad's ability to absorb punishment and recover? I thought the Lopez and Johnson fights were more than enough evidence of this.

 

Because of a couple of high profile wars? Most of the time and certainly if allowed to fight at a medium tempo he was a pro-active boxer-puncher and could take themajority of fighters out at any time.his slow'ish feet, tendency to go to war when someone really took it too him and long range oriented offense made Johnson a tough matchup for him offensively, but those fights aren't exactly entirely indicative of his power.

Many of the fighters he faced were often stopped in mid-rounds and didn't need to be especially beaten on or worn down

 

Those high profile wars were against top opposition that is the only reason why I bring it up. Y Lopez is a very good fighter and a HOFer he just didn't win a title and Johnson was so aggressive. Saad proved so much during those fights. I have no question about his durability and for sure he is taking Kovalev's power. He might be stunned even backed up a little but he is overcoming that.

I agree with all your points, in many fights he was a calculating long range stalker (e.g Kates fight) not just the rock-em-sock-em robot. One of my fav fighters to watch, I have seen the Johnson fights so many times, never gets old. Man Saad could pour it on when a guy was hurt, just like a switch - like he was saying "now it's my turn sucker"..hahah

 

Yes, he had a ton of heart and could absorb punishment from solid guys. Kovalev has a different kind of power though (especially compared to Yaqui).

 

Saad Muhammad had ko power in either hand.

He scored early rounds one punch left hook/uppercut kos in two of his title defenses - Lottie Mwale and Louis Pergaud. He stopped Kates with essentially one straight right hand. He also finished off Marvin Johnson with the left uppercut. He was very powerful.

I can't really comment on Kovalev because, honestly, I haven't really watched much of him.

I would think prime Saad had to face tougher overall competition in his strong era, so I'll go with him.

 

Here's a nice "arm" punch from Saad in the 4th round of one of his defenses.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-okaIgY69Ow

 

See my above post with youtube link. If that shot doesn't represent elite power then you are blind. Has Kovalev ever taken out a top 10 rated guy like that?