Comments Thread For: Golovkin's Trainer: Kovalev is Not on GGG's Level

[HeroBando]

Anybody that even thinks for a brief moment, that GGG is on Kovalev's level is all but drinking the sweat off GGG's nutsack.

Wtf?! Ggg is not on Kovalevs level? Sounds dumb as hell, not even Kovalev would agree

[Build That Wall]

Abel Sanchez is right. In sparring he talked about GGG beating up Kovalev real good and that he knocked kovalev down.

[Boxing1836]

Kovalev has been knocked down a lot?

So far as I know, he has only been down once, against Caparello, and that was not a legit knockdown.

The draw on his record was a technical decision. He decked Grover Young in the second round and Young claimed he'd been hit on the back of the head and was unable to continue. The ref accepted that and called the fight off due to an unintentional foul.

I watched that fight on Youtube and the punch looked legit to me. Here's the link if anyone is interested in seeing it:

I was thinking of the darnell boone fight, which was a split decision instead of a draw(my bad), which a lot of people thought he lost that fight. His power defiantly helped him out in the second fight, but he can be outboxed. He is great fighter, just not as good as golovkin, who has a much much better amateur career and wasn't knocked down in the pros or amateurs, while kovalev has been knocked down in both. Just because Kovalev doesn't have as many people shook as golovkin and gets the bigger names doesn't make him better. If GGG had a Hopkins in his division he would have knocked him out

[Ray*]

Abel Sanchez is right. In sparring he talked about GGG beating up Kovalev real good and that he knocked kovalev down.

"In sparring"....... I can't split them right now In terms of the way they both set up their punches and stuff but I have Kovalev ahead of opponents. He has fought difficult style and dealt with it quite well. Let's see what happens when someone finally steps up against GGG.

[Y0@NN]

Kovalev is the more flashy of the two with the better handspeed but Golovkin is a better all around boxer imo and the less vulnerable.

[BoxingJunkie]

So Abel Sanchez has become the new Freddy Roach: A guy with a big mouth who is always critical of other fighters. Like I said in a previous post, strip Golovkin of his power and you are left with a very basic fighter who does nothing special.

I cannot wait for GGG to finally fight someone with a pulse, who can actually box (Andre Ward or Andrade both come to mind). When that day comes the GGG hype train will finally crash!!!

[T18Z]

I was thinking of the darnell boone fight, which was a split decision instead of a draw(my bad), which a lot of people thought he lost that fight. His power defiantly helped him out in the second fight, but he can be outboxed. He is great fighter, just not as good as golovkin, who has a much much better amateur career and wasn't knocked down in the pros or amateurs, while kovalev has been knocked down in both. Just because Kovalev doesn't have as many people shook as golovkin and gets the bigger names doesn't make him better. If GGG had a Hopkins in his division he would have knocked him out

Pretty much this.

Kovalev is so far a really great fighter, but people are smoking crack if they believe the Hopkins in that ring was anything but an old man on his way out who'd been fighting street merchants for his time being.

It was a good win, but I don't think he was ever a live dog in that fight, and I don't think he'd be a live dog in any fight anymore against recent good fighters.

In the end, I still see more flaws in Kovalev than GGG.

[Citizen Koba]

Ridiculous... While GGG is a bit more crisp, and fluid with his combinations, and overall a better technical boxer, Kovalev does so many subtle things that are brilliant.

Kovalev can read and react as the fgith progresses, and doesn't just get his mind "stuck on one gameplan," if you will.

The way Kovalev step-back counter punched Hopkins as Hopkins did his patented, "suck 'em in, and lunge forward with his head down throwing the straight right," that almost ALWAYS gets everybody - well that was just brilliant.


So GGG is more technically sound, but I think Kovalev is a bit trickier, rangier, and more dynamic stylistically - in the subtle things he does. So it evens out, IMO, and they are both on the same "level."


All that said - it's ****** to even debate a potential fight between the two - seeing how GGG is a smallish MW who could likely make 154 fairly healthily; while Kovalev is a HUGE 175'er, who couldn't make 168 without absolutely draining themselves dry.

Kovalev will probably actually move up to cruiser weight after (*IF) he gets Stevenson to fight him, and he clears out the division.

Certainly the two fighters are quite differnt stylistically despite both being heavy handed boxer-punchers who apply a lot of pressure.

Golovkin is more methodical and calculated - probably technically more sound, whereas it seems to me that Kovalev is more of an instinctive kind of fighter (despite showing plenty of technical polish himself) and his rangy kinda movement, control of distance and smart use of feints leads to more... IDK kinda 'open' or risky fights, but to date he's shown the kinda control and ability to both create and capitalise on openings that make him a very dangerous fighter.

IDK - (I'm getting a little drunk now) for those of a literary inclination Jack London's 'White Fang' comes to mind. In the epic dog fight sequence close to the end, Kovalev would be the swift but elusive White Fang whose deadly throat rips had made him the terror of the Klondyke* and Golovkin the 'Clinging Death' - 'Cherokee' the Bulldog - relentless and seemingly immune to punishment, constantly looking for a weakness, and having found one, never letting up.

http://london.sonoma.edu/Writings/WhiteFang/4chapter4.html

(hell, I am drunk, the story is a gripping one, but doesn't particularly do justice to either fighter - still I enjoyed reading it again - been a good few years)

Anyone who enjoys London's style might enjoy his classic boxing story 'A Piece of Steak' - a story about the fate of old boxers which resonates to this day.

http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/steak.html

Now I should probably get my drunken ass to bed though. Night.

*(deliberate mispell - Klon d i k e apparently is too offensive to make it past the 'bots)

[Cinci Champ]

i'm starting to get tired of abel sanchez. love GGG but is like with roach and manny, can't stand his trainer

i been thinking same thing im just tired of the trainers who always want to be front row center and try to steal all the attention

[big_james10]

GGG can prove his trainer correct by fighting Bernard Hopkins in his next fight. I know some dumbas..s on this site will make a comment about how "styles makes fights" especially if GGG looks bad against Hopkins or loses. However, that is total BS. Any great fighter can adapt to any style and find a way to win.

I said before the Kovalev fight that Hopkins would challenge GGG next, win or lose. I also said that GGG will not fight Hopkins under any circumstances and I stick by that statement. GGG's team is not ****** enough to risk putting him in the ring with Hopkins for various reasons. One, they know that GGG might lose and they don't want to risk it. Two, they know that, virtually every time Hopkins has a bad performance and looks like he is finished, he always comes back in his next fight with a great performance. GGG's team won't take a risk on GGG being Hopkins comeback victim.

GGG will continue to fight stiffs until the boxing fans stop buying his BS and demand that he get in the ring with a quality opponent. At that point, he will be exposed and probably KO'd.