Kovalev vs the heavyweights

Are there any you would give him a chance against?
This subject requires some imagination but there's been precedence for light heavys fighting and beating heavyweights (as you all know).

When people like Greb were were beating heavyweights there wasn't the same weight disparity as there would be now for Kovalev due to the era of the super heavyweight, or not in all cases but, as in Greb's and other fighters of bygone era's, the skill won out in the end. Greb being more of a natural middle gives it even more substance.

Just using him as an example whereas Tunney , Charles, Moore, Foster, and many others have gone there. Roy Jones did it not long ago even if it was just for the one fight.

I think Kovalev is good enough to pick up some wins there and think his power may carry.
Anyone agree, have ideas of who he could beat or am I talking nonsense?

(I'm not comparing Kovalev to any of the other fighters by the way, only in weight)

No, too small

He isn't a particularly big LHW and his power will be ineffective at HW and doesn't have the athletic abilities of someone like haye, RJJ to beat guys weighing around 240lbs.

Hes a huge Light Heavy! He has to work very hard to stay there. And with Cruiser still a graveyard its very possible.

Ward will be his career defining fight though. He needs to do well or he will never be a star. Nobody recovers their image after a shut out.

I just think his power seems huge and might carry. He's a good boxer too and underrated in that department. He'd easily outbox most heavys not named wlad.

I'd agree he is too small and will always be but I think he'd compete with the heavys purely through his skill and power. Povetkin struggled with Huck and there isn't a massive weight difference there.

I know it's not going to happen but what a fight Huck/Kovalev would be !!!

Never know, could happen in a few years time, stranger things have happened.

But really, the fight the whole of boxing wants to see is Kovalev / Stevenson.

I only wish fans would boycott Stevenson's fights from now on. This is the biggest duck in boxing.

Kovalev is as much to blame as Stevenson and I for one wouldn't want Stevenson to give the racist Kovalev the payday.

You clearly forgetting Stevenson switched network to scupper the fight.

I'm actually starting to think you are a bit of a cretin Hammersmith.

I didn't realise Kovalev's monkey jibes were racist. I thought it was more to do with Stevenson's simian appearance. But thanks for putting me straight.

Stevenson is a scumbag himself and has called out Kovalev this morning. Still the same issues over the fight not happening so it's unlikely to happen. Kovalev hopefully has the Ward fight so he doesn't need Stevenson. Ward is a tougher prospect, Stevenson would be ko'd early.

Yeah Hammersmith, like Stevenson is a real paragon of virtue:picard:

It's beautiful to see the pimp humiliated off Kovy.

Can't handle anyone disagreeing with you I see, time for you to grow I think.

Kovalev to blame for the fight not happening.....


Maybe time for you to follow another sport hammer.

Typical childish response, both of them are to blame, Kovalev had the chance to sign a deal with Showtime but extended his deal with HBO. The shameful racial goading was hardly going to make Stevenson want the fight either so yes they are both equally to blame.

Was hardly going to make Kovalev want the fight.....


I think you'll find he called out Kovalev this morning on Twitter...


Though of course, now he knows the fight can't happen, the reason being his move to showtime, the pimp's getting all brave.

And I just have to ask how anyone in their right mind can blame Kovalev.

The fight was in place, months of negotiations, team Stevenson had given their word to Kathy Duva. And just when it's on the brink of being signed, Stevenson makes the one move which'll scupper the fight.

You spend a lot of time on here hammer. Not in Broadmoor are you by any chance? Because you come across as seriously deranged at times.

Right, you are one weird person to take a boxing forum so seriously and it does not make your point any more valid.

Stevenson signed with Haymon because that is where the money is and it is a completely understandable position to take, Kovalev was given a similar opportunity this year but turned the chance down. You seem to be struggling to comprehend that i'm blaming the pair of them equally and not just Kovalev, you may wish to ignore the racial slur but I doubt Stevenson will.

At this point you'll point to Stevenson being a pimp but that was not a personal attack on Kovalev so is irrelevant to a proposed fight.

Herman Jaeger wrote:Was hardly going to make Kovalev want the fight.....


I think you'll find he called out Kovalev this morning on Twitter...


Though of course, now he knows the fight can't happen, the reason being his move to showtime, the pimp's getting all brave.

That's exactly it, he's become brave knowing that the fight isn't going to happen due to the networks. I don't think the fight will ever be big enough for the networks to come together a la May V Pac but that's not to say it's not a huge fight.
Very close to being the biggest fight in the sport but it probably wouldn't make the huge money that it would take. It's a shame because Stevenson is getting on so it would need to happen soon to be competitive for me as Kovalevs getting better.

Nothing to really add, but I remember just after the photo came out, Adonis Stevenson posted something on his Facebook page like "Now we know the real Kovalev" or something. Someone commented something like "Kovalev's a f*g", and Stevenson replies "let's not lower ourselves to his level"... The thought of a convicted pimp having the moral high ground made me chuckle.

Stevenson doesnt seem to want to take on any top light heavyweight. He milked the build up towards a kovalev fight and then ran when the fight was set to be made. Kovalev has been cleaning the division out.

Have to be huge cretin to apportion any blame to Kovalev in this instance hammer.

Are you going to withdraw that and concede you are in the wrong?


But somehow showing some humility is not in your nature, I feel. So I won't hold my breath.


Answer this, why did team Stevenson give their word to Duva.


To me, this is clearly the second best in the world deviously trying to maximise their earnings by cheating the fans and the sport. Genuinely disgusted in this instance.

Stevenson turned down Hopkins then Kovalev agreed to fight him.

I know people will say Hopkins is a bad fight but he would have gotten Stevenson a better payday than his recent fights.

Stevenson has signed up for a load of easy defences while kovalev takes care of the division. Laughable that anyone could blame kovalev who clearly wants to tear stevenson a new one while stevenson waffles about money. The stunt stevenson pulled on hbo is damaging for boxing because hbo had invested in him and kovalev to build the fight up only for stevenson to pull a fast one when the moment arrived. Hard to blame networks for not investing when they run the risk of fighters milking them and then doing a runner.

There level of opposition is practically the same but being Eastern European I suppose Kovalev gets a free pass on here, seems to be a common theme on here.

Hopkins=Dawson
Cleverley=Bellew
Pascal=Fonfara
Sillakh=Cloud
Caparello=Sukhotsky
Agnew=Bika

Not sure how that constitutes one of them clearing out the division while the other takes easy defences.

Back to the point of the discussion as Herman has managed to make it descend to a new low on here.

History has told us two things; 175lb punchers like Foster do not step up with distinction nor does there power carry up with them so would not expect Kovalev to do any differently against an admittedly lower class of opponent. The Light Heavyweights who did step up and prove themselves at Heavyweight tend to be remembered for their speed and skill like Charles, Tunney, Moorer or Spinks, Kovalev does not possess the talent of any of those.

After stevenson did a runner kovalev took on hopkins and pascal who were two next highest ranked guys in the division. Hes also been accumulating the rest of the titles. Cleaning out the division. Stevenson dodged kovalev and pretty much any orher top light heavyweight to bank his safe defences. Its pretty obvious what went down.

It's abundantly obvious what went down seeing as Kovalev has just taken the easiest of easy defences against Mohammedi nor has he at any point beaten the divisions consensus number on like Stevenson has.

Desperate stuff. Talking to a wall would yield better results.

Just can accept when you're wrong can you hammer?

Am I surprised?


No I'm not.....


And to say Stevenson isn't milking with easy defences is even more proof of your short-sightedness. He turned down Hopkins and Pascal. Must be pure coincidence that he keeps missing out on his main rivals. Shall we blame Bernard and Jean for those too?

You are clueless hammer. Mohamedi was a mandatory, who agreed to step aside for Kovy's last two fights.

After stevenson ran kovalev couldnt have faced anyone higher ranked than hopkins and pascal. He unified 3 of 4 main titles and had a mandatory defence.

Herman Jaeger wrote:Just can accept when you're wrong can you hammer?

Am I surprised?


No I'm not.....


And to say Stevenson isn't milking with easy defences is even more proof of your short-sightedness. He turned down Hopkins and Pascal. Must be pure coincidence that he keeps missing out on his main rivals. Shall we blame Bernard and Jean for those too?

You are clueless hammer. Mohamedi was a mandatory, who agreed to step aside for Kovy's last two fights.

catchweight wrote:Desperate stuff. Talking to a wall would yield better results.

Based on what not accepting that Kovalev is beyond fault and that the disgusting t-shirt jibe means he deserves absolutely no leeway, with the exception of Hopkins his recent opposition is no different to that of Stevenson. You quickly realise why Stevenson jumped ship to Showtime when you compare his recent purses to that of Kovalev on HBO.

$500k for Kovalev against Hopkins
$3mil for Stevenson against Bika

Waffle. Stevenson ducked the fight to take soft defences. Kovalov went on and fought the best available. Deal with it and stop spouting drivel.

He changed networks to make more money, that is pretty damn simple even for you to understand.

He turned down what would have been his biggest purse against kovalov in order to take on soft defenfes. You are the clown blaming kovalev equally for this. Hbo did very well by stevenson. He milked them until it came to crunch time after hbo had built his profile up. The kovalev fight was hugely anticipated and he didnt fancy it. Kovalev proved his mettle by going on and taking care of the other top names while stevenson banked his safe money.

Stevenson got money for facing Fonfara on Showtime than he would have done facing Kovalev on HBO; Kovalev could have followed him to Showtime but decided to stay with HBO. It largely boils down to who you believe; you, Herman and Haz seem take anything the Eastern European say as gospel but personally I do not and judging by the money Haymon has at his disposal I tend to believe his fighters when it comes to money.

I reckon you are the one who has issues with eastern european fighters. It boils down to you talking Poopie. Stevenson ducked the fight to go off and make easy money. Kovalev didnt duck the fight and went off and fought the next toughest opponents available. Its simple.

HBO set the fight up to follow Stevenson's fight with Bellew and had both Stevenson and Kovalev on the same bill. Common tactic to build interest for the next fight. Stevenson then ran away. It was as basic as that. Stevenson and everyone else knew that fight was next but he got out of it. He knows he'll be ko'd if he ever fights Kovalev so he did what he had to do to prolong his earnings.

Hammersmith harrier wrote:Right, you are one weird person to take a boxing forum so seriously and it does not make your point any more valid.

Stevenson signed with Haymon because that is where the money is and it is a completely understandable position to take, Kovalev was given a similar opportunity this year but turned the chance down. You seem to be struggling to comprehend that i'm blaming the pair of them equally and not just Kovalev, you may wish to ignore the racial slur but I doubt Stevenson will.

At this point you'll point to Stevenson being a pimp but that was not a personal attack on Kovalev so is irrelevant to a proposed fight.

Surely this would make Stevenson actually WANT to fight him more, to put him in his place? I really don't like it when there's double standards. In my opinion, Stevenson is a convicted pimp, Kovalev appears to be a racist bar steward. Neither are particularly good role models. As for the boxing, Stevenson has certainly been taking it easy in my book. What else was Kovalev supposed to do? he's done exactly as he should. The guys appears to have a decent pair: took on Hopkins, then Pascal (neither of whom are pushovers) then he's taken care of his WBO mandatory.

Judging by his recent exploits, I am fully expecting Nicky Piper to be announced as Stevenson's next opponent...

Wouldnt mind seeing him at cruiser against then likes of huck. Would be an indicator of how his power fairs moving up before any attempt at heavy

Hammersmith harrier wrote:Kovalev is as much to blame as Stevenson and I for one wouldn't want Stevenson to give the racist Kovalev the payday.

The racist (questionable) or the hooker-beating pimp.......not much moral high ground to be had then.

Hope Super-duck gets his comuppence (sp?) eventually.....

Whilst Stevenson isn't a favourite by a long shot and has taken the easier path, it was Kov that pulled out of the last ordered purse bids.

http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/12692849/sergey-kovalev-bails-adonis-stevenson-purse-bid-order

Both as bad as each other

Ok, Gator.....

Derbymanc wrote:Whilst Stevenson isn't a favourite by a long shot and has taken the easier path, it was Kov that pulled out of the last ordered purse bids.

http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/12692849/sergey-kovalev-bails-adonis-stevenson-purse-bid-order

Both as bad as each other

Michel was right to want the highest purse for his fighter and that is with Showtime but Kovalev can't fight anywhere other than HBO. After all the initial ducking from Stevenson, nothing's changed. The fight could have been made on HBO but wasn't because Stevenson left. The fight can still only happen there because Kovalev is contracted there. Kovalev hasn't moved because he cant.

Duva caused a lot of hassle and finger pointing and wasted time but there's no ducking there. Kovalev would fight him anytime. You can tell he actually hates Stevenson 'POS'.

The fight will never happen though. Stevenson will lose soon and all interest will be gone.

Not actually true, his contract with HBO had expired before the Mohammedi fight and he chose to extend it rather than enter into negotiations. Stevenson moved to Showtime as they offered him more money for the Fonfara fight an offer which HBO declined to match.

People seriously asking Kov to switch network to get the fight done?

And show the same level of disloyalty as the pimp?

Ridiculous. What a complete sh1t Stevenson is.

I've just deleted a comment on that should see the poster banned. I don't particularly want to ban anyone, but I'd appreciate if you could all engage your brains before posting.

Rowley wrote:I've just deleted a comment on that should see the poster banned. I don't particularly want to ban anyone,  but I'd appreciate if you could all engage your brains before posting.

Depressingly - I think they do.

As I said they're both as bad as each other. They've had a few opportunities to make this fight and both have made excuses and it's not been made. As with Manny/Mayweather, who you support will colour your view as to who's to blame.

What

Totally unfeasible to expect Kovalev to ditch network. Duva has a good relationship with HBO too. Walk away from that just for a devious pimp.

Bottom line, Kovalev is going to make a fortune with or without Stevenson while dominating the division with an iron hand.

Stevenson will continue to call himself the best light-heavy in the world, while miraculously being unable to secure a fight with one of his main rivals. His purses will drop, the attendances at his fights will dwindle as everyone wakes up to the truth.

Kovalev is entirely blameless imo.

Herman Jaeger wrote:Totally unfeasible to expect Kovalev to ditch network. Duva has a good relationship with HBO too. Walk away from that just for a devious pimp.

Bottom line, Kovalev is going to make a fortune with or without Stevenson while dominating the division with an iron hand.

Stevenson will continue to call himself the best light-heavy in the world, while miraculously being unable to secure a fight with one of his main rivals. His purses will drop, the attendances at his fights will dwindle as everyone wakes up to the truth.

Kovalev is entirely blameless imo.

Totally agree with this . I'm a Kovalev fan before Stevenson but I wouldn't leave that cloud my judgement.

Anyone think Kovalev competes with the heavyweights?