I think at this point that Kov has established himself as the second best lightheavy in the last 25 years, behind only Jones. In other words, I'd have taken him to beat DM. How does he stack up against the likes of Spinks, Qawi, Saad, EMM, Galindez, Johnson, and Lopez? Btw, if Kov beats Ward next year, he definitely makes a healthy leap into the all time 175 lists.
Well, yes, Jones and Kov are the only two special talents 175 has had since the Golden Era. DM and Hill were good fighters, but I think Kov would have stopped DM and would have had Hill running all night long.
Spinks jinx KO Qawi would knock him into Rahway prison Saad would struggle mightily early and would pull a miracle comeback similar to the Seahawks against the Pack Kovalev would be huge against EMM, and I'd definitely favor him if EMM got fat I could see him beating Galindez, Johnson, and Lopez
The late 40s. early 50s was even better IMO or at WORST, dead even What's Kov weigh on fight nights? He'd be pretty frigging big compared to these dudes
Kov isn't a particularly huge lightheavy. Sat night he came in only weighing 183, which isn't bad. It's not like he's a cruiser draining himself down to 175. He's a natural lightheavy and would be a lightheavy in any era. If anything, Spinks was a naturally bigger guy than Kov.
Charles, Moore, Bivins, Marshall, Harold Johnson The second tier of Maxim, Mills, Bob Murphy Crazy era
I'm not sure I'd take Saad over Kov given how easy to hit Saad was. Granted, he could take a lot of punishment, but Kov isn't the type of guy you let hit you at will.
As good as they all were, it's a bit premature to be saying all these guys beat Kovalev IMO. The guy can flat out fight and hits like a truck. Strikes me as modern fighter cynicism.
Is this the same guy who dropped rounds to and came out marked up against Jean pascal? These guys are quite allot better than that leap amateur
Spinks lost rounds and was hurt early by Jim McDonald. Now, I for one think the overall talent pool in the 80s was deeper, but for Christ sake, don't act like the 80s lightheavys were all virtuoso's who never dropped rounds.
I'll have to re-watch the fight, but I'm pretty sure I only had Asscal winning 1 round. It wasn't much of a competitive fight. Pascal hung tough, but Kov was in command the ENTIRE fight, then stopped him.
I could see Asscal winning a few rounds off Saad early-on, before getting worn down and starched eventually.
problem is that Kovalev has not fought anyone....He beat a 49 year old and smaller hopkins....for me i need to see him beat someone like Stevenson...no?