Sergey Kovalev highlights

You Kovalev fan boys are a funny lot.

 

I think Kovalev is talented, and he obviously has crippling power which, based on the evidence so far, might be freakishly elite. That's his key asset, bar none. But he does do a lot of other things very well. He's not especially quick of feet or handspeed, but he is pretty fast. He's shown a good ability to cut the distance, and he can commit to his punches extremely well, has an ability to throw punches in bunches accurately, and he has an amazing ability when it comes to shifting his for maximum impact. He's definitely no 1-dimensional plodder the way many erroneously claim.

He does have flaws, though. And the questions about his competition to this point are valid (that changes after the Hopkins fight whatever the outcome, even if he loses).

Can a better boxer than any he's faced so far exploit his flaws? Can Kovalev continue looking as dominantly invincible as he has in recent fights as he continues stepping up in class?

We're going to know the answers to those questions after he faces Hopkins, or we're at least going to have better and more complete information to draw from when it comes to evaluating how good Kovalev really is.

I definitely think the guy has a lot of talent, and he carries serious punching power. Maybe he does walk through the likes of guys like Hopkins, Stevenson, Ward, Froch, etc. I'm not sold yet, though. If anyone can exploit this guy's weaknesses, it's someone like Hopkins. B-Hops is usually pretty wise at picking opponents these days. He understands his own limitations better than anyone, and when he is actively CHASING a fight - there is usually good reason for it. This isn't like the Dawson scenario, where Hopkins appeared to be steering around him for a few years. Hopkins had to face Dawson when he did. He didn't need to fight Kovalev. He CHOSE this. Something I'm surprised more Kovalev fans aren't praising him with genuine admiration for. He could have easily avoided this fight. Instead he targeted it at zero hour. Maybe's he's overestimating himself this time, or maybe he's underestimating Kovalev, or both. But Hopkins usually has a pretty damn good idea of what he's doing when assessing a future foe.

Anyway, for what it's worth, I will say this is the most fired up I have been about the announcement of a big fight in 4 or 5 years. I'm really looking forward to it, and think all the answers we need will reveal themselves sometime in the first 2 rounds of the contest.

I'm pulling for Hopkins myself, but if Kovalev batters him and overwhelms him with power - it will be viewed by me as his biggest feat to date, bar none.

May the best man win that night!

:smoke