Comments Thread For: Sergey Kovalev-Vyacheslav Shabranskyy: Post-Fight Report Card

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

Sergey Kovalev isn't back. He never went anywhere. About half the people reading this probably were in the camp that thought he won the first fight with Andre Ward. The stoppage finish of the rematch can obscure how close the fight was through the rounds before it. Losing to a great fighter doesn't make one less.
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[Tatabanya]

Impressive performance, but Shabranskyy is still not a valid enough test to establish the actual post-Ward level of Kovalev.

[Boxing Logic]

Impressive performance, but Shabranskyy is still not a valid enough test to establish the actual post-Ward level of Kovalev.

Exactly. How soon we forget, Kovalev was dominant early vs Ward as well, especially in the first fight, and even almost as much as in the 2nd fight, which gets obscured because of the corrupt scorecards in that fight (again) and the corrupt or racist or who knows what ref.

It's seeing how the gas tank holds up rounds 4 through 8 or 9 that will determine whether Kovalev is still elite. Even if he gasses after 8 rounds, he is skilled and powerful enough, and has the jab to win rounds even when he's tired, that 8 rounds of gas should be enough for him to beat almost anyone. He beat Ward with only3 rounds of gas so that should tell you something. 8 rounds of gas is going to allow Kovalev to either knockout/knockdown and/or win 5-7 of those rounds against almost anyone, and then all he would need to do is steal 1 more round while fatigued of the last 4, which he can do with his jab like he did against Ward while fatigued.

But, he may still gas again after 3 rounds. We dont know. He is 34. Its great that LHW is hot now, but a lot of these fights should have happened when he was 27, 28, 29, 30, or 31 at the latest. 32 and up is past prime for almost everyone, even if some are able to hide it by facing the right opponents, or having the right styles to spoil fights with referees who help them out, so they dont need to rely on prime athleticism to win. But the decline is still there.

Boxing fans deserve the best product, and fans of all fighters deserve to know who would win when both fighters are at their best, not when one is in his mid-thirties. Most of all, so do the boxers themselves. You can tell true champs like GGG and Kovalev and Lomachenko were dying to see how great they could become and what sort of legacies they could create within boxing's storied history, but all the duckers in boxing, and the culture within the LDBC that supports and excuses duckers, have prevented them from achieving half of what they could have to this point. Lomachenko, due to being younger and not being as big a puncher, has been the least affected by this, but even he has been as well, losing another half year of his career in 2017 fighting meaningless fights against Sosa and Marriaga. Kovalev, if he's not already past his prime at 34 (let's face it, whether it's only slightly, or it's major like it appeared in his last three fights before this, he is, to one extent or another), only has 1-2 years of his prime left, so 12 to 24 months, and he just had another 4 months of the few he has left to forge a lasting legacy wasted against Shabbransky because no one else would accept the fight. This as well as referees penalizing holding and not being corrupt are the #1 things that need to change in boxing for it to become a mainstream sport again.

So, did Kovalev look better? Yes. Do I assume his stamina would not have been as big a problem in this fight had it gone on? Yes. But it's still not proven. He looked dynamic in the first 2 rounds vs Ward as well. It's the stamina more than anything that will determine Kovalev's career from here on out. Kovalev's biggest strength is that he is a puncher, but if you have no energy and your muscles become fatigued, then both your speed and power leave you, and what do you have left? Thats why it's so incredible Kovalev was able to beat Ward the first fight after gassing so early, but maybe that just shows Andre Ward is overrated. If Kovalev had done that against a puncher, he would have been in a much more dangerous situation.

[JimmyD729]

Shabransky may not be a world beater, but he’s the type of fighter that would’ve went 12 boring rounds with Andre Ward in a sluggish, clinch-filled fight where Andre gets wobbled once midway through the fight

[thack]

Kov did what he had to do ........but I wish I hadn't stayed up!

[Sadiqkingofko]

Shabransky may not be a world beater, but he’s the type of fighter that would’ve went 12 boring rounds with Andre Ward in a sluggish, clinch-filled fight where Andre gets wobbled once midway through the fight

?????

Barrera destroyed Sharbansky and I'm pretty sure so would Ward, Sharbansky is a D Level fighter at best

[jmrf4435]

Sergey Kovalev isn't back. He never went anywhere. About half the people reading this probably were in the camp that thought he won the first fight with Andre Ward. The stoppage finish of the rematch can obscure how close the fight was through the rounds before it. Losing to a great fighter doesn't make one less.
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Good article. Simply stating "he lost 2 fights in a row" doesn't tell the whole story at all. He was robbed blind in the first fight

[MDPopescu]

Cliff Rold: Sergey Kovalev isn’t back. He never went anywhere.

Impressive performance, but Shabranskyy is still not a valid enough test to establish the actual post-Ward level of Kovalev.

Exactly. How soon we forget, Kovalev was dominant early vs Ward ...

?????

Barrera destroyed Sharbansky and I'm pretty sure so would Ward, Sharbansky is a D Level fighter at best

... Yes... Kovaliov isn't back yet... I remember Pavlik, whom I liked -- but who never came back...

[davidw9785]

Good article. Simply stating "he lost 2 fights in a row" doesn't tell the whole story at all. He was robbed blind in the first fight

Yeah, that is what gets under my skin. He won the first fight by at least a round or two. It's not right that the challenger can walk in and pick up rounds he didn't even win.

And then in the second fight... there was a lot of weird things going on. Yes Ward is good, but he also charges with his head to get inside. Nothing about those two fights sits right. I know this thread isn't about Kovalev-Ward II, but that fight still pisses me off.

Head butter:


Low blows:

[MDPopescu]

Yeah, that is what gets under my skin. He won the first fight by at least a round or two. It's not right that the challenger can walk in and pick up rounds he didn't even win.

And then in the second fight... there was a lot of weird things going on. Yes Ward is good, but he also charges with his head to get inside. Nothing about those two fights sits right. I know this thread isn't about Kovalev-Ward II, but that fight still pisses me off.

Head butter:


Low blows:

of course... but, but.....