Sergey kovalev - overrated?

[bojangles1987]

will cleverly gain anyone's respect once he beats kovalev

He should. Kovalev is clearly one of the best light heavyweights in the world.

[King_]

will cleverly gain anyone's respect once he beats kovalev

Absolutely. 100%. Cleverly has already earned respect for simply voluntarily defending his title against A dangerous deserving top 5 contender. THIS is what title defenses should be.

A win against Kovalev would be a huge statement for Cleverly and you'd be crazy to not have him top 3 in the division afterward (IMO) and people can't say it's because of hype or him defending his paper belt against bums anymore; he would have defeated a legit top 5 contender. Of course you'll have those idiots who'll say "Kovalev got exposed. Another euro hype job bum exposed" - aka the same people who were calling for GGG to fight Macklin and once GGG made it look easy, Macklin was a bum and GGG needs to step up. These people are idiots and don't know boxing. No, if cleverly bears Kovalev, Kovalev isn't a bum... Cleverly is just THAT good, just like GGG is THAT good.


With all that being said, this is the biggest fight and best opponent for each of these guys thus far in their careers- I think cleverly is definitely a top 5 LHW despite his weak "résumé" , but I think Kovalev will stop him. JDJ and sergey will probably have th mindset that they need the KO and I think his pressure will crack Clev and he'll win. IF cleverly can survive the early onslaught, it'll be interesting to see how Kovalevs stamina and chin hold up for 12 potential rounds (his biggest unknowns, more so then his defense IMO) Kovalev hasn't faced a fighter who will throw as many punches as Cleverly is going to.

[Evil Abed]

I think Kovalev KO'd Cleverly in 6. Nathan will be in survival mode most of the fight.

[Evil Abed]

[HughJass]

if kovalev wins i'll be the first to admit that he is the better fighter , but it just ain't happening. he's there to be hit and clevs style of fighting is a nightmare , we will see if kovalev can go a full paced hard 12 rounds as we know nathan can and we will also see if clevs chin is "overrated"

[dan_cov]

Hes an offensive machine - Great jab, moves well, puts his combinations together very well but yeah he has no upper body movement at all. It does concern me. I am not as certain as most seem to be that he walks through Cleverly. A part of thinks he can and will, another makes me think Cleverly can survive the early onslaught and break him down.

I haven't seen the fight but his draw with Darnell Boone concerns me as well even though he drilled him in the rematch.

[Light_Speed]

He's a mobile offensive fighter with decent handspeed, good combination punching and tremendous power, like a less polished Pacquiao with no head movement. His trainer John David Jackson needs to work on improving his defense, he can do like Wlad and use his feet and distance control as his defense. That being I said I see him destroying Cleverly. A Stevenson/Kovalev fight would be very interesting.

[Evil Abed]

if kovalev wins i'll be the first to admit that he is the better fighter , but it just ain't happening. he's there to be hit and clevs style of fighting is a nightmare , we will see if kovalev can go a full paced hard 12 rounds as we know nathan can and we will also see if clevs chin is "overrated"

I think Clevs chin is a tad overrated. Its solid but not iron. He felts Bellews shots and he was hurt by Alesky Kuziemski.

Kovalev obviously hits much harder than both men.

[HughJass]

Hes an offensive machine - Great jab, moves well, puts his combinations together very well but yeah he has no upper body movement at all. It does concern me though I am not as certain as most seem to be he walks through Cleverly. A part of thinks he can and will, another makes me think Cleverly can survive the early onslaught and break him down.

I haven't seen the fight but his draw with Darnell Boone concerns me as well even though he drilled him in the rematch.

that's the key to this fight dan , if clev can survive from 1-5 then he takes it. his workrate in those later rounds is really what catches the eye , i hope clev doesn't get involved in a tear up though like he normally does ,but he says he will respect this kovalev's power so i fully expect him to fight a smart and sensible fight up until he thinks that kovalev's wilting and not fancying it.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

He's certainly overrated on here. I can envisage a Lacy style back-pedalling from a lot of people on here if Clev beats him.