well, why not? wasn't he undefeated with all ko victories as a lightheavyweight? yes, he eventually went to heavyweight, and i'm pretty sure he could check any lightheavyweight chin. sidenote: is kovalev heavyweight champion material?
Moorer was kinda the Kovalev of his day. Made 10 defenses of his LH title and was quite a vicious fighter at that weight. Initially just as exciting at heavyweight such as in the shootout with Bert Cooper but soon settled down and boxed more as he realized he couldn't blast everyone out at Heavyweight like he did at LH. PS. I think Kovalev might do well at Cruiserweight but I will be surprised if he could move succcessfully all the way to Heavyweight especially since he's already in his 30s.
good points. i can't see kovalev going to heavyweight.. and he does not have to do that, by the way. he just needs to fight stevenson and clean up that division.
The onus on why Kovalev has NOT fought Stevenson is simply because Stevenson is avoiding Sergey like the plague. Sergey would have a chance with any LH of the past, not necessarily on who he has fought, but what he BRINGS into the ring...
ok, I admit I could be wrong, however, without seeing footage of the older generation champs I would put Foster or Spinks on the line against any dudes from any era. Spinks was good and seems to get overlooked, maybe because Tyson flattened him. Spinks was a tricky awkward super fast sneaky guy to fight that could of potentially beat any LHW from any ear IMO.
i think that Conn, loughran and Johnson are probably the only three whose position are shaky, although i must confess, i dont rate foster very highly, but that is perhaps a little unfair and hypocritical of me, because my reasons are based more on film than achievements. Film is much more unreliable than achievements. There is no way in the world that somebody could watch two fighters (not knowing who they (or their opponents were) and then pick the winner of their fight based solely on this film, could be as successful as someone who looks at the records of the two fighters and their opponents and compares them. Film means very little in fight predictions. I think that the 3 reserves, who are best placed to compete with the 3 guys you mentioned are: Harry Greb - He might (or might not) be the no 1 middleweight, but he was also as good as anyone, record wise, at around 175. I think he deserves a shot. Tommy Burns - Bit of a dark horse here, but he is the only person (outside Fitzsimmons) to win a world heavyweight championship at 175 or less. I think that means something. And some of his wins (even though he had some losses at the weight) were pretty impressive even if the likes of Hart and co were heavier than 175. Roy Jones - He did seem invincible for a long time and (being hypocritical again) he certainly looks quicker than any other light heavy i can remember on film. It is ironical that his rating goes up based on film, because technically with he is quite flawed stylistically, just like Fitzsimmons and others on the list. i think the above three would be chances to make the top 10, but can see why you went with the others.