Big Difference Between Kovalev and Golovkin

First allow me to say that I'm a huge fan of both and want them both to succeed. In fact I wouldn't even want them to fight each other cus I'd hate to see either one destroy the other. But with that said, these guys are very similar and Kovalev is in some ways just a bigger stronger version of Golovkin. By the way, Kovalev looks like he can be Golovkin's father but did you know Golovkin is actually older than him and Kovalev is younger and fresher. Kovalev is 2 inches taller, younger, has 2 inch reach advantage, is much heavier and punches harder. However to me the big difference between them is that Golovkin gets hit, alot. Show me a fight where Kovalev was getting tagged as much as Golovkin got tagged by Curtis Stevens. The point is if they fought, I see Golovkin being far more willing to get tagged just to land some punches of his own and this would be his downfall. Kovalev would annihilate Golovkin, point blank. You need to do yourself a favor and watch rewatch the Golovkin-Stevens fight with the ability to slowmo and frame-by-frame. You will see almost all of Stevens shots are rolled, or blocked with shoulders, arms, or gloves. Post-fight, Stevens even admitted in an interview that he simply couldn't hit Golovkin cleanly and therefore never could hurt him. You see, Golovkin has VERY sneaky subtle defense and it is superb, but opponents (and viewers) vastly underestimate it until they are in the ring with him. It is honestly a huge advantage for Golovkin that his defense is so underestimated.

Golovkin and Kovalev will never fight each other. They share the same boxing fundamentals -- as they emerged from the same school. Golovkin looks more relaxed during fights as he seems more gifted and, therefore, more sophisticated in terms of movement and defense... Kovalev looks more tensed and more eager to finish opponents as early as possible. I think this is something which came up after the Simakov fight -- in that fight Kovalev was relaxed, he took his time and inflicted a round-by-round punishment that resulted into tragically injuring poor Roman's brain... I think Kovalev is somehow afraid of repeating such a deadly act.

p.s. this thread is in reaction to bunch of dumb posters still talking about the sparring session and thinking Abel Sanchez's comments meant that "Golovkin dominated Kovalev" which is a joke, no where did Sanchez say that or even imply that. I think Kovalev himself said he gave GGG too much respect, and I heard he also took a knee from GGG's bodyshots. But at the end of the day we shouldn't put too much stock in sparring sessions. oh and here's compubox historical review. Golovkin is much lighter yet Kovalev throws much more Golovkin last 4 fights Average Punches thrown per round: 61.9 Avg. Connected: 26.2 Kovalev Average thrown: 73.1 Average connected: 27 Power Punch Average thrown per round Kovalev: 44.9 Golovkin: 32.6 So they land about the same amount, all that shows is that GGG is more accurate. lol yous are crazy GG gets hit constantly, his last fight he couldn't go a round without getting stopped in his tracks by a midget A midget who was a heavyweight as an amateur, turned pro at 175 and fought most of his career at 168. :pat:

nobody lasts long enough against kovalev for us to see if he gets hit much or not lol Exactly that's the point. You can't show me a single fight where Kovalev was "hit alot" because all his opponents get annihilated within 3 rounds. I read Darnell Boone dropped Kovalev in their first fight. Apparently Golovkin has had the better of Kovalev in sparring. That, to me, means more than a couple of years, a 2 inch reach advantage and 15 lbs. Froch dropped Groves in sparring too, a fight is different. Kovalev comes in to take his opponent's head off, I doubt he takes the same approach sparring GG. Nothing wrong with comparing Golovkin and Kovalev. A possibility that they will meet in the ring one day is there. GGG`s promoter Tom Loeffler answered that it could be a great fight and Kovalev is one of the names that they told HBO they would accept as a possible opponent. Look from 6:10 youtube.com/watch?v=25j-jly_K7w It would suck if HBO pushed this fight.

Yep, both posses the killerinstinct

I think Roy Jones put it well on Saturday. Kovalev isn't wasting any time in the ring. He's coming to take you out immediately. It's rare to see a guy be skillful and that aggressive. GGG is more methodical in his approach. Both guys are killers. This^^^^^^^

Nothing wrong with comparing Golovkin and Kovalev. A possibility that they will meet in the ring one day is there. GGG`s promoter Tom Loeffler answered that it could be a great fight and Kovalev is one of the names that they told HBO they would accept as a possible opponent. Look from 6:10 youtube.com/watch?v=25j-jly_K7w

Golovkin has enough power to drop or possibly finish Kovalev if he put everything into his punches. These two will never fight because of the weight difference but if Golovkin threw a haymaker and landed flush on Kovalev, he could knock him out no doubt.

Man people get so defensive about Kovalev and GGG lol. It's pretty hilarious reading through this thread. Dunno if you're talking about me, if you are you may may be right, though I am at least trying to base it on proper breakdowns and observations (i just spend too much time watching fights). I'd probably be the same about any fighter I watched too much, bit OCD. I do my best not to put down fighters I'm not actually interested in though. Mind you, thinking about this entire forum I'm struggling to think of many who aren't a little touchy 'bout their favourite fighters.

For those who say GGG was tagged pretty badly by Stevens, here is an absolutely brilliant breakdown from a professional trainer: Nice video again. I'm starting to like their breakdowns, but they stop just before the flurry that most people talk about when they think Curtis tagged Golovkin. There's a point that's kinda touched on but not really spelled out: Human beings are physiologically not really massively different, physically at their peak there probably isn't a massive difference between the 'chins' of any top end pro boxer of similar weights - a solid hook that isn't expected and is delivered with authority is likely to at least knock any guy down. The guys with steel chins are those that have done everything to ensure their opponent ain't throwing with absolute confidence and are expecting or know that something's might hit them. Better still if they're moving in such a way that even if they are hit they ain't hit flush.

Man people get so defensive about Kovalev and GGG lol. It's pretty hilarious reading through this thread.

He got hit so bad in the Stevens fight he was hit with some things that NO top level fighter is hit with, namely entire COMBINATIONS of shots. I think Stevens landed like a 3 punch combo all on Golovkin's face, every punch landing. Weren't As bad as it looked 30 seconds from the end of rnd 4. (that was the bit where Stevens backing GGG up for a few seconds and landed the shot that snapped GGGs head back a bit. It got everyone excited - Stevens comes off the ropes with a left-right combo which seems to catch Gena a liitle - then as he backs off Stevens snaps a left through as well. Watching the replay on the break shows that the first combo doesn't hit his chin at all, he pulls back just enough for the left, then twists to block the right on his shoulder, but seems to realise he's left himself a bit open and starts backing up. He catches a fraction of the final left on his glove as well but it's clean enough, just without much force cos GGGs already moving back and sees it coming. His only response is to give Stevens a baneful sorta look like he's gonna pay for it. I do take your point about comparing Kovalev to GGG, but GGG has a lot of defensive and tactical subtleties to his game (such as how he never ever let's Stevens get him near the ropes and keeps getting into a kinda bustle and turning him around so that it's always Stevens who ends up on the ropes instead). Kovalev has yet to take a lot of damage because his offense is so very very good, and is probably a better finisher and naturally more aggressive fighter. Furthermore his timing and range are suberb. I'm not even going to compare them head to head, but I think down the line, if someone can somehow get through to the later rounds (and I don't see anyone who could right now with the exception of maybe Ward) Kovalev may be the more vulnerable. Anyway I'm just happy to have two real quality high action fighters who are fighting every few months.

For those who say GGG was tagged pretty badly by Stevens, here is an absolutely brilliant breakdown from a professional trainer:

Ah there she goes. Bout 3 quarters down. http://kovalboxer.com/en/interview/text/182--l-r.html Like I say, means nothing... but anyway. FWIW Kovalev says he was just starting camp after a holiday in Russia and GGG was fight ready.

This is a nice one, in English. http://kovalboxer.com/en/interview/text/82--l-r-.html I'm still looking for the GGG spar one cos' I'm having to translate as well but I think I remember reading it around the same time as this so it's probably somewhere nearby.

Apparently Golovkin has had the better of Kovalev in sparring. That, to me, means more than a couple of years, a 2 inch reach advantage and 15 lbs.

Thank you for the scholarly analysis. Where did you hear Kovalev took a knee in sparring, can you cite this allegation? Kovalboxer.com website. There's a lot of good biographical information on his life and career. Though you'll have to trawl through quite a lot of interviews some in Russian (I have to google translate) some in English. I'll try to dig it out for you. Some nice anecdotes from his early life as well. When he was 11 or so was robbed at knifepoint by a group of older teenagers. He waited 3 years (whilst he learned to box) then took revenge on them (though he's no more specific). More recently he got his car stuck in a snowdrift then had to fight off a gang of about 8-10 guys when he went to a nearby Kiosk for a drink and they got aggressive asking him for money. He says he only figured out afterwards he shoulda just given them the money to help him outta the drift... Also mentioned that he used to have friends who worked in big hotels parking cars and used to let him take the guests' fast cars out. Anyways he did confirm the sparring event, though kinda seems a bit annoyed being asked about it, like - what the hell does it matter, sparring is sparring and says that they gave each other good workouts. The fact that it came out seems to be part of the fallout from some Kazakh fans (who also read Russian interviews) after he criticised Shumenov, also accusing him of racism etc. Hold up....

He got hit clean plenty of times against Stevens. He got hit so bad in the Stevens fight he was hit with some things that NO top level fighter is hit with, namely entire COMBINATIONS of shots. I think Stevens landed like a 3 punch combo all on Golovkin's face, every punch landing.

Again like you, I'm a big fan of both fighters, FWIW I do see GGG as the more cerebral fighter, and over the rounds has shown the ability to control the ring quite completely. With Kovalev we simply don't get to see that much of his boxing ability since he finishes so early, but we can talk about his footwork and mobility, accuracy, volume and combinations. What I tend to think is that Golovkin is more methodical, probably takes fewer risks and also uses less energy - though Kovalevs stamina is so far yet to be tested. There is confirmation from Kovalev that GGG made him take a knee form a bodyshot during sparring but the tales of Kovalev being tentative may simply represent either Kovalev experimenting with a more defensive style or simply not wanting to put anything too heavy on his friend (the two were quite close at the Summit and have spent time with each others families). The punch stats from compubox do show that Kovalev throws more (during the briefer time he's in action) though as is mentioned elsewhere GGG is currently only a fraction of a percent behind FMJ as the second most accurate puncher in the sport though throwing at massively higher volume. http://compuboxonline.com/gennady-golovkin-2013-stats/ (actually I'm assuming your stats are prior to GGG - Stevens, where Golovkin threw and landed a lot, as well as getting in 8 of his 21 rounds as these Stats show GGG thowing more). Curiously, the Compubox stats actually underestimate Kovalevs average #punches / rnd quite significantly due to the number of partial rounds he has relative to full ones (in the last 6 fights for instance Boxrec would average the number of punches he woulda thrown over 17 rnds - 51mins when he's only actually fought for 39.3 mins - 13 rnds. Over these 6 fights you could multiply by about 1.3) Thank you for the scholarly analysis. Where did you hear Kovalev took a knee in sparring, can you cite this allegation?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgKewRdoOgE Interesting analysis. Thanks for the share.