Nathan Cleverly vs. Sergey Kovalev: Who Wins?

[Arsene Knows]

Okay, who cares about anyone else he fought? Kovalev doesn't even have a résumé yet, he's building that NOW. Campillo WAS his step up, top 5 LHW, and he got obliterated.... That put Kovalev in position to fight a top 25 LHW to fight for a mandatory shot at a title. He won, now he's going to step up again and fight Hopkins or cleverly.

No ones claiming he has an ATG résumé or that he aleady cleaned the division. He's had 21 fights..... He stepped up sooner then guys like Hopkins, GGG, Etc has.... Everyone has to start somewhere. He is currently in the process of building his résumé.

That's fine. His resume doesn't justify the online hype is all Im saying. He may very well turn out to be the real deal. Im not sold yet.

[King_]

That's fine. His resume doesn't justify the online hype is all Im saying. He may very well turn out to be the real deal. Im not sold yet.

Fair enough. To each his own. We'll see how he pans out in a year or so.

But the bottom line was Campillo was his first real step up, he was a top 5 LHW, he got destroyed and that put Kovlaev in position to fight for his first title. Calling him a future ATG who will break Marcianos title defense record is jumping the gun a bit... But hyping him up to beat Clev or Hopkins is not that farfetched. He's not getting the chance to choose between two title fights because he's an overhyped bum who is going to be easy work for either guy. He looks to be the real deal. Whether or not he wins a title is yet to be seen, but we will find out soon enough.

[gmc_rfc_06]

Both untested, could go either way.

One could be exposed, it could be excellent...I really don't know. It's hard to get a read on guys who haven't really fought anybody.

[Regeza]

Sometimes guys with styles like Cleverly can stifle a puncher and out box him, but I don't see it here. All I can think of is the Bellew fight and how much better Kovalev is.

[Citizen Koba]

That's fine. His resume doesn't justify the online hype is all Im saying. He may very well turn out to be the real deal. Im not sold yet.

He ain't even getting that much online hype though. There's a few people who are very vocal in their appreciation of him, but even a lot of boxing fans will barely have heard of him cos of the lack of interest in LHW. Kovalev has only had a decent promoter for 2 fights. Prior to that he was basically taking what he could get just to pay for food, board and training. The reason he's getting the attention and the title shots is 'cos he keeps getting the big KOs.

Incidentally the White KO seems to be widely denigrated, but White was a 16(15)-0 contender B4 the George loss (where he was basically caught cold and sprained/fractured an ankle) and has won everything since. Before the Kovalev fight White was WBO #5 IBF #2 and WBC #8 even boxrec had him at #9 (not that that counts for FA). I myself woulda put him around 9-12 but the point is he was certainly should not be seen as a walkover.