What does the winner of Ward - Kovalev need to do to match Floyd/Pacquiao?

Well considering Cruiserweight looks pretty deep that'd be an achievement. That wont be enough for the boneheads on here though as they'll start mouthing off about number of divisions, failing to take into account the huge 25lb jump LHW is to Cruiser.

The fact that weight wise it's the same as a SFW going to LMW will be lost on lots of these bozos.

 

Good question. It depends on who prevails. Ward can already call himself the winner of the Super 6, Kovalev does not have the same resume. If Ward went on to beat Stevenson and then in cruiserweight got 1-2 belts, defending them and remaining undefeated in the process, he would in all probability be considered as the best fighter of this decade.

Kova is a different story, because his really outstanding win is B-Hop, and only B-Hop. If he beat Ward, then Stevenson, Beterbiev, the winner of DeGale/Jack, and he became undisputed in cruiserweight too (which would require beating the likes of Lebedev, Briedis, Dorticos, not to mention Usyk), he would still not be a three weight undisputed champ. Probably he would have to take at least one of the HW belts too.

To be honest I don't think that either of them could do it. Usyk will beat both of them.

 

It isn't a matter of just winning titles it's who you beat that matters the most.

A guy like Usyk could clean up the division and then move up and Ward /Kovalev could get some easy belts.

Ward probably gets more credit because he already cleaned up 168, so that's a 32lbs jump.

To really be legendary they would have to win and defend a heavyweight strap for a few years.

 

none. those two are just totally different being top p4p fighters. it so happened that his division and adjacent divisions are not that good at present. he can revive boxing by going the old way which is to fight as many times as possible in a year with quality wins. i presume if he can fight once a month for minimum two years then he will surely make a big impact to get that level of recognition of pac and floyd.

 

Match them in what? Rankings? Money? What?

 

The winner of this fight has a win that dumps on any win that Floyd has in his career.

 

Without any shadow of a doubt.

 

They have to Continue to fight the best fighters in their division.

 

I'd have to say that if the winner of this fight wins convincingly that it would make a push for 2nd best win of the last 30 years.

I have Pacquiaos 11 round dismantling and thrashing of Marco Antonio Barrera as the best win since 1985 when Hagler blew up Hearns.

Depending on what condition these guys show up in and how they look and who they beat after the fight it could turn out to be one of the best wins in boxing history.

 

The winner of this fight is already on a fast track to ATG status though.

 

We are not talking about ATG status, we are talking about whether either of them could become the best fighter of this decade. One big win is not going to get you there.

Yes, Pacquiao's destruction of Barrera is probably one, if not the most impressive victory of the last 30 years, but it was not his win against Barrera that qualified him as the #2 (arguably #1) fighter of the 2000's. It was the way he swept through multiple weight divisions as a seemingly unstoppable force. Whoever wins, they will need to go on to cruiserweight if aiming for the same level of greatness.

 

Fight stiff opposition for 19+ years and make the fans anticipate the fight. Get Ariza shakes, become the bad guy, and fight like Floyd/Jesus Chavez or Marquez/Pac 1.