I don't say Gvozdyk is a better p4p fighter than Kovalev at his peak, because Kovalev actually held 3 belts for a long time he was more accomplished. But can you say Gvozdyk's win over Stevenson better than Kovalev's wins over ancient Hopkins and Jean Pascal?
I want to say yes but I had kov winning the 1st Ward fight and I think beating Ward them was better than beating Adonis after the badly jack fight. Which he arguably lost.
No. Stevenson was 41, relatively inactive for the past several years and overrated to begin with.
So 50 y.o Hopkins is better than 41 y.o Stevenson? Or Pascal was better? Maybe Chilemba or Cleverly?
Stevenson looked ready for the taking v Badou Jack. Jack nearly had him gone a few times, but i don't think Jack truly believed he could stop him, or was always too aware of the danger of being caught himself.
The writing was on the wall for a while. Any good opponent with belief was going to beat Stevenson at this point i think.
Kovalev should have a win over Ward but didn't get the decision. Aside from that, i dunno. Was a old man Hopkins better than old man Stevenson? or Pascal better than old man Stevenson?
Hard to say.
I think loss to 32 y.o Ward by one point (114-113) is better than win over 41 y.o. Stevenson
Only wins matters. Draws and L's doesn't count. Even robberies. Even by one point. If L's matters then we can start praising some fighters like Baldomir for getting beat by Floyd, or these Phillipino bartenders that Pacquiao was facing in the beggining of his career, using that logic you can say they deserve some praise too
That's the way I look at things, if somebody disagree, fine
The same logic I use for not putting Tyson Fury in my p4p list even though I think he clearly outboxed Wilder and dominated him and no way it was a draw. But the fact is that fight was declared a draw, the same result as if that fight never happened at all to me so I can't rate him high
Kovalev has a better overall resume for now. But Gvozdyk has the best single valued win. And Gvozdyk would surpass Kova soon.
It will be harder for Gvozdyk to surpass Kovalev, since top fighters of LHW division right now are way better than they were when Kovalev was collecting his belts