Sergey Kovalev vs James Toney

Punches hurt more when you sleep in a silk bed.

 

Canelo does not lack power. He has plenty of pop and good timing to go with it.

 

Great post. One that I agree with.

Kovalev's superb distance control and long range boxing skills have never been in doubt. Neither has his power.

His dedication to his craft has been though.

When he's motivated and well trained he's the epitomy of a destructive force. When he's on his drinking binges and lacklustre in camp he's a much easier proposition on fight night. His two fights against Eidler Alvarez illustrate this perfectly. The first fight an underperforming Kovalev got stopped. The second fight he put on a boxing masterclass and took Eidler back to school. In some fights he demonstrates immense grit and durability like against Yarde. And on other occasions like against Canelo he gets 1 shotted.

So, if we're going to do best against best, then the best Kovalev beats the best Toney at 175 and I think pretty clearly so.

In real life?

Anything could happen. A good version of Toney could certainly beat a bad version of Kovalev.

 

I don't think Toney would have too much of a problem with the cold, offensive efficiency of Kovalev. I can see Toney finding an effective pattern of counter attack, early on.

A stoppage win for Toney is a result I'd bet on.

 

Kovalev 8-4

 

Toney at his best is clearly the better boxer with FAR better punch resistance than Kovalev.

Having said that, I don't count Kovalev out in this one at LHW, since Toney looked lackluster at 175 and did far better at MW, SMW, CW and his early fights at HW.

If the two met at 190, I'd pick Toney by devastating KO.

 

Kovalev was not stopped in a boxing fight until he was 34-36 years of age.

Nobody can objectively say the last two troubled years of a fighter in his mid 30s should define his career. You know very well if it was a fighter you liked you would be against such a ridiculous notion.

And regardless how you personally feel, the Ward stoppage will always be tainted and noted as controversial for a number of reasons, not just the legality of the blows but the bizarre timing of the stoppage.

I love Duran. I can admit the Buchanan stoppage was controversial even if Duran was well in control and on his way to a win. Ward can't even say he was ahead against Kovalev...

 

Kovalev UD

more activer, lengthier and faster. Toney is not walking him down. only in the higher weights he outskilled slower less skilled men. not against Kovalev!

toney was best at 160-168lbs. his awesome skills made him look good at heavyweights. but alot of his success was due to having an insane chin and defensive abilities fighting big oafs. his laziness stopped him being very high up on the ATG list

 

Toney takes him apart

 

You are a boxrec guy.In reality Toney never lost those fights.They were close yes but Toney deserved the nod.

 

I've watched them both more than once, I had Griffin 1-0-1. Even if they should've gone slightly to Toney, the point stands. Going down to the wire vs Griffin is not something which should make you prohibitive favourite over Kovalev, or any other good LHW. Griffin was good, but nowhere near that level.

 

So, questioning Kovalev's punch resistance is seen by one or two, as being a tad unfair, due to his age by the time he fought Ward?

Did Kovalev face any quality punchers, before Ward? Does Pascal (I) count?

 

Kovalev decision

The styles don't exactly favor Toney and Kovalev has a superior resume at LHW so why are so many people favoring Toney ?

Oh yeah... classic

 

Kovalev's punch resistance is fine if he comes in focused and not on an alcoholic binge. See: Yarde. Yarde may not have been the most skilful guy but the dude could punch big time. Let's remember this

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It's when he trained on vodka that he got dropped and shaken.

 

Kovalev in his prime was the #1 light heavyweight in the world. Toney was beaten by Thadzi and Griffin 2x at light heavy. Kovalev could box too with power. He'd win a decision. He wouldn't fall for Toney's traps as Toney could counter missed hooks a lot better than straight shots. Kovalev threw good straight shots and was seldom countered. Kovalev was the better jabber too. Not James best weight class. Kovalev via UD.