Comments Thread For: Kovalev: There Should Be '1' Champ at 175 - I'm Just a Belt-holder

[My Low Place]

Two concepts that I think are rubbish: the idea of pound for pound best and "lineal" champs. One is purely speculative and the other not, but neither actually means you are the best. The WBSS is about as close to definitively knowing who is the legitimate best in a weight class.

lineal is rubbish lol
but the ibf letting a top guy face an unknown number 2 guy to claim a champ is legit? i call BS..

[landotter]

Barrera is no easy fight, why are people looking past him?
Barrera gave Andre Ward a hell of a hard time and tbh If people say Canelo Vs. GGG could have gone either way... well I hate to break it to you Barrera could have easily have won that fight with Ward as well.

Barrera did not fight that well against Ward-, who won convincingly. He put in effort and had a few moments, but he never threatened or command the ring. Ward won going away.

Which is fine. Ward is a first ballot Hall of Fame fighter. I think this fight with Bivol is HUGE for Barrera. Win it, and you have a title in a great division and are building a great career. Lose, and you are degraded to maybe B+ level and it gets harder to get those paydays.

[landotter]

Have no qualms about what Kovalev says here. Willing to give him a chance to prove himself post Ward. If he leaves Ward in the past, I can judge him going forward.

[PBR Streetgang]

lineal is rubbish lol
but the ibf letting a top guy face an unknown number 2 guy to claim a champ is legit? i call BS..

Nah, that was a joke too. I don't put stock in belts, but that doesn't mean I have to think lineal means a damn either.

[TheThirdEye]

The Lineal Champion Adonis Stevenson will become the Undisputed Champion.

On Saturday night from the Theater at Madison Square Garden, Sergey Kovalev makes his 2018 debut as he faces Igor Mikhalkin in defense of his WBO light heavyweight title. The "Krusher'' won that belt on November 25th as he knocked out Vyacheslav Shabranskyy in two rounds.
[Click Here To Read More]

Did Sergey Kovalev fought Dmitry Bivol: NO
Did Sergey Kovalev fought Anthony Yarde: NO
Did Sergey Kovalev fought Marcus Browne: NO
Did Sergey Kovalev fought Artur Beterbiev: NO
Did Sergey Kovalev fought Sullivan Barrera: NO
Did Sergey Kovalev fought Badou Jack: NO
Did Sergey Kovalev fought Oleksandr Gvozdyk: NO
Did Sergey Kovalev fought Adonis Stevenson: NO
Did Dmitry Bivol fought Anthony Yarde: NO
Did Dmitry Bivol fought Marcus Browne: NO
Did Dmitry Bivol fought Artur Beterbiev: NO
Did Dmitry Bivol fought Sullivan Barrera: Tonight
Did Dmitry Bivol fought Badou Jack: NO
Did Dmitry Bivol fought Oleksandr Gvozdyk: NO
Did Dmitry Bivol fought Adonis Stevenson: NO
Did Anthony Yarde fought Marcus Browne: NO
Did Anthony Yarde fought Artur Beterbiev: NO
Did Anthony Yarde fought Sullivan Barrera: NO
Did Anthony Yarde fought Badou Jack: NO
Did Anthony Yarde fought Oleksandr Gvozdyk: NO
Did Anthony Yarde fought Adonis Stevenson: NO
Did Marcus Browne fought Artur Beterbiev: NO
Did Marcus Browne fought Sullivan Barrera: NO
Did Marcus Browne fought Badou Jack: NO
Did Marcus Browne fought Oleksandr Gvozdyk: NO
Did Marcus Browne fought Adonis Stevenson: NO
Did Artur Beterbiev fought Sullivan Barrera: NO
Did Artur Beterbiev fought Badou Jack: NO
Did Artur Beterbiev fought Oleksandr Gvozdyk: NO
Did Artur Beterbiev fought Adonis Stevenson: NO
Did Sullivan Barrera fought Badou Jack: NO
Did Sullivan Barrera fought Oleksandr Gvozdyk: NO
Did Sullivan Barrera fought Adonis Stevenson: NO
Did Badou Jack fought Oleksandr Gvozdyk: NO
Did Badou Jack fought Adonis Stevenson: In the making
Did Oleksandr Gvozdyk fought Adonis Stevenson: NO

Hypothetically, there's a combination of 36 different possibles bouts between the top level challengers. The first 2 fights are setup for tonight and May 19, the outcome of both fights will reduce the possible combination to 20 different fights "for belts unification". Utopically, the losers of the main bouts should face each other so that the winners of this second group can have the chance to recover against the Undisputed champion.

I guess Sergey Kovalev is right, saying he's a belt holder. According the fact that tonight he's fighting soft puncher Igor Mikhalkin. While leaving the real show to Dmitry Bivol and Sullivan Barrera, which are the ones starting this LHW competition.

[Factual Voice]

after turning down lineage a total of 4 times I dont know if i believe you kov..
honestly after failing to fight for lineage 4 times I reserve this right to think that kovalev is just looking to beat bivol early and hoping u can claim to have a "better resume" in comparison to whoever is on the top bc u stylistically dont match up well with them in ring...

so u're doing the resume vs resume isntead of fighter vs fighter in ring..

and honestly your resume sucks...as u have never beaten a prime top fighter or anyone who went on to do anything special.

You are a pathetic fool if you believe any of the BS you spew but you are just another propaganda LBDC shill.

Stevenson has ducked the best and hasn't had to fight a top mandatory since 2013. HBO all but made the Kovalev Stevenson fight but Stevenson jumped to Showtime using an excuse of 100,000k as the sticking point! Such rubbish.

Then Kovalev demanded to become the WBC mando since he won the diamond belt vs pascal and Stevenson rejected a 50-50 split so they can go to a purse bid to block Kovalev from fighting him, due to the fact Kovalev would be in breach of contract to fight on PBC, which Haymon used to block the fight.

Duva pulled out instead of getting sued by HBO because Stevenson refused to fight on HBO. Just a joke people support and defend this type of cowardice and corruption, but of course when it's in your DNA and culture to think this way, it is not surprising. Culture of cowards.

[NC Uppercut]

That would be a potentially insane tournament if you could get all the top players, but I seriously doubt they could pull it off there. Maybe 2 or 3 top guys would go, but I think it would more closely resemble the 168 tourney than 200. Just for kicks, if nobody turned it down, it could look something like this:

Kovalev
Stevenson
Gvozdyk
Bivol
Beterbiev
Jack
Barrera
Ward

With guys like Alvarez, Yarde, Browne and Smith as extras. Wowza, that's a scary group of names

All but the retired Ward. Holy Shlt that is a roster worth watching with baited breath. Please let it happen!!!!!

[Boxing Logic]

Did Sergey Kovalev fought Dmitry Bivol: NO
Did Sergey Kovalev fought Anthony Yarde: NO
Did Sergey Kovalev fought Marcus Browne: NO
Did Sergey Kovalev fought Artur Beterbiev: NO
Did Sergey Kovalev fought Sullivan Barrera: NO
Did Sergey Kovalev fought Badou Jack: NO
Did Sergey Kovalev fought Oleksandr Gvozdyk: NO
Did Sergey Kovalev fought Adonis Stevenson: NO
Did Dmitry Bivol fought Anthony Yarde: NO
Did Dmitry Bivol fought Marcus Browne: NO
Did Dmitry Bivol fought Artur Beterbiev: NO
Did Dmitry Bivol fought Sullivan Barrera: Tonight
Did Dmitry Bivol fought Badou Jack: NO
Did Dmitry Bivol fought Oleksandr Gvozdyk: NO
Did Dmitry Bivol fought Adonis Stevenson: NO
Did Anthony Yarde fought Marcus Browne: NO
Did Anthony Yarde fought Artur Beterbiev: NO
Did Anthony Yarde fought Sullivan Barrera: NO
Did Anthony Yarde fought Badou Jack: NO
Did Anthony Yarde fought Oleksandr Gvozdyk: NO
Did Anthony Yarde fought Adonis Stevenson: NO
Did Marcus Browne fought Artur Beterbiev: NO
Did Marcus Browne fought Sullivan Barrera: NO
Did Marcus Browne fought Badou Jack: NO
Did Marcus Browne fought Oleksandr Gvozdyk: NO
Did Marcus Browne fought Adonis Stevenson: NO
Did Artur Beterbiev fought Sullivan Barrera: NO
Did Artur Beterbiev fought Badou Jack: NO
Did Artur Beterbiev fought Oleksandr Gvozdyk: NO
Did Artur Beterbiev fought Adonis Stevenson: NO
Did Sullivan Barrera fought Badou Jack: NO
Did Sullivan Barrera fought Oleksandr Gvozdyk: NO
Did Sullivan Barrera fought Adonis Stevenson: NO
Did Badou Jack fought Oleksandr Gvozdyk: NO
Did Badou Jack fought Adonis Stevenson: In the making
Did Oleksandr Gvozdyk fought Adonis Stevenson: NO

Hypothetically, there's a combination of 36 different possibles bouts between the top level challengers. The first 2 fights are setup for tonight and May 19, the outcome of both fights will reduce the possible combination to 20 different fights "for belts unification". Utopically, the losers of the main bouts should face each other so that the winners of this second group can have the chance to recover against the Undisputed champion.

I guess Sergey Kovalev is right, saying he's a belt holder. According the fact that tonight he's fighting soft puncher Igor Mikhalkin. While leaving the real show to Dmitry Bivol and Sullivan Barrera, which are the ones starting this LHW competition.

Great post, at least listing the potential fights. I have been saying this for years, that the talent in boxing right now (due to PEDS imo) is at least athletically, amazing, and there is enough to literally have 2-3 A-level fights EVERY WEEK for the entire year. Boxing could be the #1 sport in the US and the world again if only they made the fights. Instead of making only 2 or 5 out of 50 possible top matchups in a division over 5 year periods, even if they just made 20, 25, just half of them, in every division, there would be great meaningful fights every single weekend all year long, the momentum would start to grow at an insane pace, and boxing would come back to the mainstream. But as long as we are still only getting 2 out of 38 or whatever you said, and as long even those few that we do get usually end in early stoppages, robberies, or other corrupt controversial circumstances, then boxing will never be what it could.

But, the matchups exist. They just have to be made.

[My Low Place]

Nah, that was a joke too. I don't put stock in belts, but that doesn't mean I have to think lineal means a damn either.

well before last year u respected nothing iin boxing bc we didnt have a WBSS...

[PBR Streetgang]

well before last year u respected nothing iin boxing bc we didnt have a WBSS...

First you build strawman arguments and now you put words in my mouth. I respect quite a bit in boxing, first and foremost the fighters. I don't like anyone calling a fighter a bum unless that fighter takes a dive.

Despite you crusading for Adonis, he makes it difficult for me to respect him. How long ago did he defeat Dawson, Cloud and Bellew? Since then he's sat on his belt and fought who exactly? You can talk all about politics as to why he didn't face Kovalev, but who did he fight otherwise? Karpency, Bika, Fonfara, Top Dog Williams, and Sukhotsky? Real murderers row for a champ. At least Kovalev fought Hopkins and Ward. Ward fought Barerra and Kovalev, Gvozdyk has fought better opposition too. Pascal was willing to fight a lot more fighters than Adonis. Your champ prefers fights against the less than elite and there are enough good fighters out there he could have fought. Good for him for taking a fight against Jack (who is coming up in weight), hopefully Jack will knock his ass out because I know Jack will be open to fighting the appropriate level of competition.