How long does Kovalev last against Calzaghe?

[daggum]

The second Kov loses and he will and very likely by KO I will be bumping this daily. You're propping him up like he's a world beater. He's a very good fighter maybe even the best in his division but let's not pretend he's better than a proven ATG.

he has 3 world title belts and destroyed 4 top 5 fighters across 3 different countries. how is he not a world beater?

[daggum]

I honestly believe Kovalev is the truth, but I think Calzaghe outboxes and outworks Kovalev. The Calzaghe from 2006-2007 vs current Kovalev who fought Agnew, Hopkins, Pascal. I think he gets outboxed. But it would have been a big fight between undefeated fighters. Let's not forget, even though Caparello got destroyed easily, he can not punch at all and he knocked down Kovalev. Agnew's awkwardness also took Kovalev off his game, Calzaghe was awkward as hell and moved very well. And Hopkins survived and avoided a Kovalev KO for 12 rounds at 50 years old, and even took some monstrous shots at the end.

Calzaghe by decision, he would be too fast, too many punches, he'll move around too, he's not a sitting duck. Calzaghe gets knocked down early out of nervousness but comes back to win with activity. Too bad it can't happen, but i'm hoping to see fights like Ward and Froch vs Kovalev even though Kov is huge.

agnew went completely defensive. obviously that's not calzaghe's game so that fight isn't relevant at all. as for calzaghe moving around well he always hovered at mid range to short range. he wasn't a hopkins type of mover who went in and out of punching range and confused opponents that way. calzaghe will be in range for kovalev all night and that equals a ko loss.

[Weebler I]

People are talking about Kovalev moving up to cruiserweight, I think he would have been too big for Calzaghe. This is a guy who in his prime weighed in at 166.5lbs for the Kessler fight.

[Spray_resistant]

I just don't see how Joe is going to remain in such close quarters and get off so many volume slaps with limited power due to his bad hands and not be the recipient of too much damage from the much bigger and hard hitting Kovalev. Kovalev can be pretty accurate and Joe very likely may not be able to get enough respect.

[gmc_rfc_06]

Lol.

Kovalev pummels Calzaghe. It's not even a close contest, he would physically dominate him and batter him to a stoppage.

Calzaghe was dropped by old Hopkins and old Jones who had long lost their power.

[#1Assassin]

kovalev would kill calzaghe. joe never fought a puncher like kovalev and his boxing ability is way overrated. he had to resort to outworking anyone with decent boxing skills, squaring up and leaving himself wide open in the process. that would spell trouble against kovalev. calzaghe did utilize angles fairly well when in "box mode" and kovalev is a straight line fighter. that buys him a few rounds, but all things considered i still dont see joe making it to the halfway point.

[mick1303]

I don't think it is fair to bring Hopkins as a common opponent and claim that because Calzaghe faced fresher version, he gets more brownie points on his resume. Let's not discount how the fights went. Joe Calzaghe won a somewhat disputed decision and got dropped in the process. Kovalev went easy on Hopkins and carried him a little. The outcome was never in doubt.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Lol.

Kovalev pummels Calzaghe. It's not even a close contest, he would physically dominate him and batter him to a stoppage.

Calzaghe was dropped by old Hopkins and old Jones who had long lost their power.

Calzaghe clearly had no respect for Hopkins or Jones' power. It's rather simple minded to use those examples. Theoretically Calzaghe then loses to any puncher

[Dirk Diggler UK]

I don't think it is fair to bring Hopkins as a common opponent and claim that because Calzaghe faced fresher version, he gets more brownie points on his resume. Let's not discount how the fights went. Joe Calzaghe won a somewhat disputed decision and got dropped in the process. Kovalev went easy on Hopkins and carried him a little. The outcome was never in doubt.

They were also 8 years apart.

[Deevel916]

I can see Calslappy winning an ugly decision on workrate alone due to his slap and move flurries.