I think kovalev was better. But his chin is pretty much average, if not bad, so beterbiev definitely has a shot at winning this
To be fair, Beterbiev isn't iron chinned himself. But I agree with you. Prime Kov is the favorite here, with Beterbiev a very live dog.
We've seen Beterbiev vs one massive puncher, and he was down. But at the same time, we've seen him vs a good puncher and he walked right through him. It's hard to tell just how big a puncher Johnson is just because he hasn't fought anybody. Beterbiev's chin will likely be a polarising topic for a long time. Most people think it's either glass, or granite. His entire game is umtested, but he could prove to his everything he needs to before retiring and make a fuck tonne of money while doing so. Say he fights Smith Jr. and stops him in a frantic brawl. He'll have proved his chin and heart (again, imo), and then if he beats Bivol afterward to become undisputed, he'd have shown he can deal with an elite level out-boxer; showing intangibles vs a difficult style. Then say he defends against Canelo before retiring, and he wins that in a dominant fashion, he'll show an ability to deal with a massive star, and show his mindset is much more animalistic than the likes of Kovalev and GGG. He'd show how hard he hits by stopping two granite chins - arguably three - and if he can out-muscle Canelo, he'll show how strong he is. Obviously it's unlikely the situation plays out like this, but the only reason it's unlikely is because the fights aren't likely to get made. If those three fights happened, say one this year and two next, are those winning results for Beterbiev unlikely? Not IMO. I know it wouldn't make for an all-time great resume, but it'd give us an accurate reading on him head-to-head. If anything, it'd create the opposite problem where we don't know where his ceiling is.
