Which 175ers in history would you comfortably favour over Sergey Kovalev?

Your handle shows you are a bastion of objectivity in this thread

 

Maybe Kovalev can deal with Conn's attributes, maybe he can't. I just don't get why people are so confident that he can't.

 

Qawi would be a nightmare for Kovalev

 

I've seen about 5 of Kovalev's fights,he is good but I don't see greatness,that's best measured by whom you beat.
Ward is a natural super middle who has had a total of 2 fights at175lbs ,both against nobodies,what will beating him prove? That he is too big for him?
Kovalev hasn't beat him yet,neither him or the other best lhvy out there Stevenson ,if and when he does we can evaluate him properly
Foster beat a 38 years old Tiger? How old was Hopkins? 50?atsch

Great is the most mis-used adjective when describing fighters.
As far as I'm concerned the jury is still out on the Russian .

 

Greatness can be measured on what you see, who you beat, and how you beat them. So and so has great speed. So and so has great power. So and so has great timing.

Kovalev has great power. Among the best ever at 175. His timing to me is excellent. And he blasts out his competition ( Which will be better in the future ) in style of the greats.

Ward is a super middle. Okay, then what is Di@k Tiger??? A short natural middle ( Age 38 for the Foster fight ) and that's Foster's best title win at light heavy! Yet another double standard...

I would Kovalev beating an undefeated and prime Ward is better than Foster beating an older and much shorter Tiger.:deal

Ward, by the way, says he want's to fight above 175 someday.

 

Bottom line ,there is no one on Kovalev's resume to justify ranking him with, let alone above the names mentioned.
Foster beat Quarry,Fourie,Finnegan,Rondon,Tiger.

 

Spot on.

 

More like read between the lines, and stop trying to have it both ways.

These guys were not special outside of Tiger who was old!

Rondon took a nose dive post-Foster, he was shot.

Also, Foster beat a hyped Quarry, and Finnegan at age 34, which is an age Kovalev has not reached yet.

Foster had his hands full vs Finnegan! A guy on the level of the type Kovalev has dominated.

Greatness can also be judged on who you struggle with, and in Kovalev's case the answer is none, and if he does it will be vs. a hall of fame level opponent.

 

As I've said before, give Kovalev some time to prove himself seasoned enough to be in the company of the lightheavy elite...and none of the guys he's fought so far, including Hopkins matches the elite.

 

Kovalev doesn't do anything special but his basic fundamentals are exceptional.

Its unknown if he'd even beat Stevenson. As it stands , his resume is seriously wanting and that doesn't look like changing any time soon. He doesn't even have a potential opponent to face in this weak 175 division.
He had to fight the incredibly average Pascal twice.

Don't see how he should be ranked so highly based off the average level of comp he has beaten so far.

 

Finnegan was better than all but 2 of Kovalev's opponents , and he would have given a 50 years old Hopkins more than enough trouble. Kovalev has beaten an old man, and a guy Froch beat at super middle.
Tiger won his next 3 fights after being destroyed by Foster.

 

Ward


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So would Saad Muhammad. The volume and chin of a prime Saad won't give up. Sergey has that power but Saad fought just as murderous punchers plus arguably way more agile boxers like John Conteh and Eddie Mustapha.

Add the fact that Saad is just as tall and long, (Saad actually has 3 inch reach advantage) and uses a straight jab plus a booming right hand. I don't see Sergey having any advantage here. And if things get messey as they usually did with Saad, Saad goes to the trenches as one of the best brawlers ever. Sergey's offense is heavily reliant off the jab, would be interesting to see how he handles being taken out of his comfort zone. Bad match up for Sergey. The 175 ATG's are so deep its a big call at this stage in Sergey's career to be anointing him.

 

I completely agree. Against the true elite ATG that lack of creativity and agility won't serve him well. Stylistically, Kovalev always reminds me of a much quicker of feet and tightened up version of Kelly Pavlik. Both guys hit like a truck with the straight right but offensively everything is off the jab, upright stance with mid range, textbook combos. No knock against them, great fighters who are fun to watch, just an observation.

If you can take away their jab, its a HUGE disruption to their offense. They prefer to measure with the jab and bust guys up from just outside the pocket with straight punches. That's their whole game plan with not much time invested in a plan B because their power is usually enough to trouble an opponent.