True or false: Sergey Kovalev could hold his own against any Light heavy in history?

[boliodogs]

Not to say beat them all, but is he on that top level where he could make it a close highly competitive fight with any Light heavy in history.

If no, state who could outbox or beat him easily.

I voted yes. When you have his punching power combined with boxing smarts, a great left jab and killer instinct you have a very dangerous light heavyweight. He might get to fight Ward and Stevenson and they are two very good light heavyweights of today. Sweet dreams, Pascal.

[JJRod]

Too early to tell.
There were some great light hw.

Roy Jones, Michael Spinx, Ezzard Charles, Evander Holyfield, all would be heavy favorites against him IMO.

[Boxingwizard]

I don't even think he beats a prime Chad Dawson, let alone top light heavweights in history such as Michael Spinks, Bob Foster, RJJ, Archie Moore, Bernard Hopkins in his prime, etc. He hits hard but he doesn't have the best defense and his chin is suspect, I mean got knocked down by Blake Caparello.

[GOD-FR33]

No...

False. False. False. It's too early to tell. I am a huge SK fan but that's pushing it. Evander Holyfield, Michael Moore, Ezzard Charles, Dwight Muhammad Qwali, and Michael Spinks would all beat him at this point. He is going to KO Pascal AGAIN. Then it's on to Ward or Stevenson. I think he has a good chance to beat both, especially Stevenson! Ward is a 60/40 fight in his favor. We have to see how Ward handles 175lbs. He's one of my favorite in boxing today but let's not get too far ahead.

[GOD-FR33]

One more...

Oh! I forgot Bob Foster as well! He is one of the biggest P4P punchers in boxing history. Right up there with Foreman, Julian Jackson, and Mike Tyson.

[Citizen Koba]

We just can't say. Utterly pointless trying to compare fighters from different eras. My personal take is that the elite guys from any era could probably hang together, but there's those that'll tell you boxers from the past were incomparably better (or, some folks will say, worse) than those of today.

Yeah. I don't see any reason to think Kovalev wouldn't be a least a threat to any light heavy of the past. I challenge anyone to prove otherwise....

[Robbie Barrett]

What will the people who think he can hold his own against anyone say if Ward dominates him, that he was shot?

[SN!PER]

Good to see there aren't too many Elroys in this thread so far.

[Foreign Soil]

I don't even think he beats a prime Chad Dawson, let alone top light heavweights in history such as Michael Spinks, Bob Foster, RJJ, Archie Moore, Bernard Hopkins in his prime, etc. He hits hard but he doesn't have the best defense and his chin is suspect, I mean got knocked down by Blake Caparello.

LOL... Kovalev doesn't beat Dawson, who was a sitting duck to right hands throughout his career eh? Dawson struggled with old fighters like Glencoffe.. but yeah, Sergey couldn't handle dat. Reality check, Chad gets torn apart by Sergey. Terrible match up for "Bad" Chad. Dawson doesn't even have Kovalev's boxing IQ, but the prejudice continues.

Just like the HW division, the LHWs are traditionally American so it hurts too much to admit a foreigner could compete with them.

[soul_survivor]

Most definitely!

The guy has proven himself to be THE GUY of his generation, with the possible exception of Stevenson and has not only beaten all comers but shown himself to be a level above. Of course, he isn't such a good fighter on the back foot and superior light heavies such as Spinks and Foster would really make him work hard but in terms of holding his own, he'd do it against just about anybody.