Why is Stevenson so underrated?

[Earl-Hickey]

I am not that impressed by him.

Dawson was always overrated, his best performances have all been against old men who just don't have the workrate to avoid being outpointed by him, he never knocked any of them out, he just outboxed them due to age.

Dawson was utterly destroyed by Andre Ward, beaten up, by a guy who isn't a puncher, couldn't even hurt Allen Green. Stevenson hit him on the chin early and got him out of there, it is what it is.

-----------------------------------

Tavoris Cloud, not a very good fighter, just a limited plodding ****er... I thought everyone knew this, he beat a worn out old Clinton Woods who turned up for a payday, and just got schooled by a old as **** hopkins.

-----------------------

"Bellew is going to outbox him"

Said no-one ever.

Bellew is a british domestic level fighter, and Stevenson didn't even look that good against him, and actually WAS hurt once or twice by "the bomber" who frankly is anything but.


Stevenson has very solid power, but he's not brilliant defensivley, has a weak chin (boone clobbered him bad, bellew wobbled him) has unproven stamina etc.

He's decent but not fantastic.

And for the Danny Garcia argument, he was a little underrated but lets not act like he's the second coming of Robinson here. Judah gave him a good argument as did Morales in the first fight.

Matthyse was in against a guy with a good chin, ok boxing and good power himself, when you add in that Garcia was a lot naturally bigger than him, then it's not a surprising result. Garcia should really be at 147 and is prospering in an age where the guys around him are not all that good. These aren't prime miguel cotto's and Kostya tzsyu's hes in there with, they are old zab judah's.

[NearHypnos]

This^^^^. So much of it.


End thread

[bojangles1987]

It depends on what you think of him. Most of my own criticism for the man is because people are severely overrating what he did this year. I agree that he is arguably the best light heavyweight in the world, and would never even think of counting him out against either Hopkins or Kovalev.

[MDPopescu]

Very one dimensional imo. paw's with the jab and throws the straight left, has no right hand.

I think Hopkins, Ward and Kovalev beat him badly.

Right.
Adonis shows good defense, though...
But all that he has is his straight left...

Kovalev shows mobile power and excellent balance -- he hits hard with both hands and uses all kinds of punches... (So far, nobody tried to fight him from the inside...)

[Weebler I]

Bellew is a british domestic level fighter, and Stevenson didn't even look that good against him, and actually WAS hurt once or twice by "the bomber" who frankly is anything but.

I noticed that too. Adonis possibly doesn't have the greatest chin.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Who said Bellew was going to outbox him?

Lets face it, he has one win. He caught Glass Jawson cold in the first round. I'm impressed but still not entirely convinced

[kiaba360]

I haven't seen anyone who doesn't think he's a top 5 LHW, he's rated properly. You're talking about the fan's perception of his skill-set, which is a different topic imo.

[Tom Cruise]

I think Kovalev beats him but i thought it was funny how much **** Stevenson got for the Bellew fight.

"he's one dimensional..." eeer his 1 dimension was working perfectly, why did he need to do anything else? His straight left was consistently landing to body and head and it was only a matter of time before he ended it. He was fighting a pretty average fighter who was showing no ambition and he finished him in 6 rounds. Hardly a bad performance imo.

It really is a shame about his past. He has such a fun style but the stuff I read about him makes it impossible for me to be a fan. Doesnt mean im going to ignore the things he's doing in the ring though.

I dont think Kovalev would have an easy night with him either. If theres one thing the Cloud and Bellew fights proved its that Stevenson is more comfortable on the back foot. Kovalev is primarily a front foot fighter and he could struggle pressuring with Stevensons movement and the fact that bombs are coming back at him.

[VatoMulatto]

A lot of people Think he's just a ****er but he's overall a good boxer and fights very nicely on the backfoot.

[MPX309]

I think he's really good. . . . He has good reflexes but as others have mentioned is too one dimensional.

@Tom Cruise, yes the one dimension worked against Bellew, but what people are saying is that it's not gonna work against everyone, It's effective atm, and why should he change? but eventually he's gonna come up against someone whose mastered a way to counter it, and it is predictable. . . will he have other tricks up his sleeve though? I'd like to hope so . . . But he's starting to be taken seriously now, Hopefully there'll be someone who can whip up a good bout with him soon.

Completely ducking Sergey after his last match hasn't done him any favours with me, I so wanted to see him step upto Kellerman when he poised that question but he fell

But he is exciting to watch and I'll be checking out more of him in the future.