If Griffin had been a tad more durable with a shade more power I might have picked him with real confidence, he was a very smart, cute and well-schooled guy and a skilled ring General. Futch and he could well have devised a way for him to slip Kovalev's long range artillery and hustle him at mid/close range, mixed up with clever movement and sharp countering to keep Sergey outside of his rangy textbook comfort zone. But I tend to see Kovalev hurting and finishing him more often than not, be it fast and early or after a protracted struggle to come to grips with Griffin 's slightly unorthodox style. Good matchup, more the type I like to see Kovalev in rather than against the greatest in the division's history who he'd mainly fall short against imo.
Griffin would probbably so well for about two or three rounds before progressively getting the crap beaten out of him and stopped in the mid rounds. Andre Ward may not be a pretty fighter but he was elite and had everything to do with Kovalev looking bad.
I wouldn't say he looked bad against Ward especially the first time when he was robbed blind. As for the result of this one, Kovelav mid round stoppage when behind on PTS.
