Sergey Kovalev vs. Joe Calzalghe at 175

[Sid-Knee]

Cleverly's win over Bellew is arguably better than anybody Joe beat. He also hits harder than Hopkins, RJJ, Mitchell, etc. a bunch of guys that have dropped/hurt Calzaghe. He's also a better boxer than Robin Reid who arguably beat Calzaghe. If they fought it'd be 50-50, I'd probably favor the larger Cleverly.

Calzaghe's resume was very weak, look at what Kovalev did to Hopkins & Pascal, what a green Andre Ward did to Kessler & Froch.

I've seen practically all of Ward's fights and he was breezing through guys at SMW. LHW on the other hand was a different animal.

Bellew is a better win than anything on Joe's resume??

You're mentally ill aren't you? Haha, go and take your medicine, you're starting to lose the plot.

[Cutthroat]

Calzaghe had a great chin, WTF are you talking about?

Comparing Cleverly to Calzaghe? Stop posting immediately, you're coming off as the village idiot.

Calzaghe fought Eubank, Kessler, Mitchell, Sheika, Lacy, Brewer, Jones, Reid who all could punch so you're chatting some serious ****.

A great chin doesn't get you dropped multiple times lmao, I don't think you've ever seen Joe fight.




Calzaghe never fought any true power punchers in his career, it's backed up by facts, he doesn't have a single win over a guy with a KO ratio above 70%.

[Cutthroat]

Bellew is a better win than anything on Joe's resume??

You're mentally ill aren't you? Haha, go and take your medicine, you're starting to lose the plot.

Joe's best win is a controversial decision to a 44 year old Hopkins, after that it's Kessler who was destroyed by a pre-prime Andre Ward and Froch in their rematch. Ward even schooled Froch with a broken hand.

Bellew has gone all the way up to cruiser and HW, he's better than practically anybody Joe ever beat.

Ward is flat out better than Joe and we saw how much he struggled with Kovalev.

[Mindgames]

Cleverly was never the same after what Kovalev did to him, it's not a coincidence Jean Pascal retired 2 years after fighting Kovalev either.

Eubank was a terrible win, he hadn't fought at SMW in 2 years and was scheduled to fight at cruiser before he took the fight on 11 days notice. There are a plethora of fighters that would've beaten Eubank that night and stopped him.

Hopkins was the same fighter that fought Calzaghe, he was a career middleweight, not SMW, he struggled mightily at LHW.

You think Robin Reid is anywhere near Kovalev level? Or somehow far lesser punchers could put him down while Kovalev couldn't?

Nothing in Cleverlys career justifies saying he was as good as Calzaghe, its as simple as that. Eubank went on two have two great fights with Thompson, a big powerful cruiserweight. He says he walked into the ring at 13 4,hes natural weight for the entire time he was at 168.Nobody at 168 ever stopped Eubank a man with an iron chin and huge experience, and who was one of the tougest uk boxers ever. Remember Calzaghe beat him clearly, but theres no shame in not stopping him. Theres no plethora of fighters who wouldve stopped him, certainly not Cleverly, who never stopped a decent name. Theres quite a difference between the Hopkins who fought JC, who then went on to beat Pavlic and Pascal easily, and the 50 year old who took Kovalev 12.Count the years for starters. People get knocked down by lesser punchers but beat bigger punchers. Fury went down against lesser men, but was never hurt by Wlad. Kovalev has no heart, he couldnt stop Chilemba or 50 year old Bhop but stops a man who was never stopped yeah? Funny how when you rated Bellew a better win than Calzaghes whole career you forgot that lightheavy Tony was getting knocked down by Ajisafe and Mckenzie, domestic level fighters. Hmmm. Selective remembering.

[Mindgames]

Joe's best win is a controversial decision to a 44 year old Hopkins, after that it's Kessler who was destroyed by a pre-prime Andre Ward and Froch in their rematch. Ward even schooled Froch with a broken hand.

Bellew has gone all the way up to cruiser and HW, he's better than practically anybody Joe ever beat.

Ward is flat out better than Joe and we saw how much he struggled with Kovalev.

The same lightheavy Bellew who was floored by Bob Ajisafe and Orvil Mckenzie. Better than Joes whole career lol. Ali was floored by Cooper but not by George Foreman. Fury floored by Cunningham but not Wlad.Holyfield struggled with Stewart and Tillman, who Tyson put away in a round. But we know what happened in the actual matchup. Triangle theory doesnt work in boxing. When will you learn?

[satiev1]

Joe struggled with a past prime hopkins at 168 lbs and was never a big power puncher to begin with. Yet he's gonna move up to 175 lbs and beat a prime kovalev. Not happening.

[Cutthroat]

Nothing in Cleverlys career justifies saying he was as good as Calzaghe, its as simple as that. Eubank went on two have two great fights with Thompson, a big powerful cruiserweight. He says he walked into the ring at 13 4,hes natural weight for the entire time he was at 168.Nobody at 168 ever stopped Eubank a man with an iron chin and huge experience, and who was one of the tougest uk boxers ever. Remember Calzaghe beat him clearly, but theres no shame in not stopping him. Theres no plethora of fighters who wouldve stopped him, certainly not Cleverly, who never stopped a decent name. Theres quite a difference between the Hopkins who fought JC, who then went on to beat Pavlic and Pascal easily, and the 50 year old who took Kovalev 12.Count the years for starters. People get knocked down by lesser punchers but beat bigger punchers. Fury went down against lesser men, but was never hurt by Wlad. Kovalev has no heart, he couldnt stop Chilemba or 50 year old Bhop but stops a man who was never stopped yeah? Funny how when you rated Bellew a better win than Calzaghes whole career you forgot that lightheavy Tony was getting knocked down by Ajisafe and Mckenzie, domestic level fighters. Hmmm. Selective remembering.

Eubank hadn't made 168 in 2 years and only had 11 days to shed the weight. 13.4 stones (187lbs) is what LHW's walk around at, difference is they have months to shed the weight.
Eubank went on to retire, Thompson went on to get KO'd numerous times. This was not a quality win at all.

Hopkins-JP fought to a draw the 1st meeting and razor thin UD the 2nd meeting. Hopkins was slightly better than JP, I think that's what you're not getting. When JP moved up to 175 he was demolished by Kovalev and arguably lost to Gonzalez.

Pavlik was also a career 160lber, he fought Hopkins at 170, he lost what made him special at 160 which was his size.

Cleverly is a big LHW, he'd have a major physical advantage over Calzaghe any way you put it. Physical advantages are very difficult to overcome in boxing.

The same lightheavy Bellew who was floored by Bob Ajisafe and Orvil Mckenzie. Better than Joes whole career lol. Ali was floored by Cooper but not by George Foreman. Fury floored by Cunningham but not Wlad.Holyfield struggled with Stewart and Tillman, who Tyson put away in a round. But we know what happened in the actual matchup. Triangle theory doesnt work in boxing. When will you learn?

That was early in Bellew's career when he was even skinnier than when he fought Cleverly, he withstood Stevenson's punches pretty well as well as multiple cruisers. You also listed a bunch of heavyweights where everyone has 1 punch power, different divisions. Bellew actually fought power punchers, Calzaghe did not. Joe does not have a single win over a quality fighter with a KO ratio above 70%, that's very very bad it shows he took no risk.

Joe was getting dropped at all stages of his career, he's never been a particularly hard guy to hit especially not early on. Bika, Reid, Hopkins, RJJ, Kessler, etc. practically everyone Joe fought landed on him.

Ward is the pinnacle of defensive boxing, only Mayweather had him beat in opponent connect % and even he was getting hit by Kovalev. Ward is also levels higher than Hopkins, JP, Kessler, Froch, Calzaghe etc. Ward also fought WAY more power punchers than Zags did like Abraham, Froch, Rodriguez, Barrera, Kovalev 2x, Miranda, etc. never went down except early in his career and still Kov put him down.

[satiev1]

Joe's best win is a controversial decision to a 44 year old Hopkins, after that it's Kessler who was destroyed by a pre-prime Andre Ward and Froch in their rematch. Ward even schooled Froch with a broken hand.

Bellew has gone all the way up to cruiser and HW, he's better than practically anybody Joe ever beat.

Ward is flat out better than Joe and we saw how much he struggled with Kovalev.

This right here. Moving up in weight. Joe would get destroyed.

[Mindgames]

Eubank hadn't made 168 in 2 years and only had 11 days to shed the weight. 13.4 stones (187lbs) is what LHW's walk around at, difference is they have months to shed the weight.
Eubank went on to retire, Thompson went on to get KO'd numerous times. This was not a quality win at all.

Hopkins-JP fought to a draw the 1st meeting and razor thin UD the 2nd meeting. Hopkins was slightly better than JP, I think that's what you're not getting. When JP moved up to 175 he was demolished by Kovalev and arguably lost to Gonzalez.

Pavlik was also a career 160lber, he fought Hopkins at 170, he lost what made him special at 160 which was his size.

Cleverly is a big LHW, he'd have a major physical advantage over Calzaghe any way you put it. Physical advantages are very difficult to overcome in boxing.




That was early in Bellew's career when he was even skinnier than when he fought Cleverly, he withstood Stevenson's punches pretty well as well as multiple cruisers. You also listed a bunch of heavyweights where everyone has 1 punch power, different divisions. Bellew actually fought power punchers, Calzaghe did not. Joe does not have a single win over a quality fighter with a KO ratio above 70%, that's very very bad it shows he took no risk.

Joe was getting dropped at all stages of his career, he's never been a particularly hard guy to hit especially not early on. Bika, Reid, Hopkins, RJJ, Kessler, etc. practically everyone Joe fought landed on him.

Ward is the pinnacle of defensive boxing, only Mayweather had him beat in opponent connect % and even he was getting hit by Kovalev. Ward is also levels higher than Hopkins, JP, Kessler, Froch, Calzaghe etc. Ward also fought WAY more power punchers than Zags did like Abraham, Froch, Rodriguez, Barrera, Kovalev 2x, Miranda, etc. never went down except early in his career and still Kov put him down.

Theres no way you can cook it that makes Cleverly near Calzaghes level. Bellew boxed at heavy in the amatuers and hes talked about how dead he was at light heavy more times than i can mention. It was not a great win because Bellew was seriously depleted. Eubank said he walked around at 13 4 hes whole career. He didnt agree to fight light heavy Mark Prince at just above the lightheavy limit because he couldn't make supermiddle, it was just an available winable fight. He said he made himself miserable trying to gain weight for Thompson. Saying several guys wouldve stopped Eubank is based on no evidence. He wasnt an ordinary fighter as far as chin and heart goes. As for everyone being a puncher at heavy, thats not true, as Mike Tyson says in hes interview with Smithy. There are men of 250lbs who cant crack an egg. As for Cunningham, he was a blown up cruiser non puncher. Theres more to stoppages than power, you need to be able to land full force. Thats the skill of boxing. Nobody stopped Calzaghe, nobody outworked or outpointed him. Kovalev only has Pascal, whod already been in a war with Froch, to speak of. Lower workrate and completely different style to Calzaghes and saus nothing at all about this fight.The 50 year old Bhop who took Kovalev the distance, was far closer in body and age to the guy who fell to Joe Smith, than the man who fought Calzaghe. Pavlic was expected to beat Bhop, who was also a career middle, and had the same dimensions, so that has nothing to do with anything.It was a boxing lesson from a man who still could box at world level. As for Hopkins being no good at 175? He beat Tarver clearly, and still had enough at 50 to go the distance with Kovalev. As usual, you ignore the fact that Calzaghe was the number one at hes weight and beat hes two main unbeaten and younger rivals. Cleverly did nothing close. He fell apart against the first non weight drained fighter he fought.Kov put Ward down but couldnt keep him there, and lost heart in both fights. Hes still go no wins against hes top rivals, Ward beat him, he wont fight Stevenson and when he fights a slightly better opponent like 50 year old Hopkins he goes the distance. Btw, Bika, Reid, Roy Jones, Eubank, Lacy, Kessler all decent punchers, but no one stopped Joe, and Kovs stopped no one at that level. Work it out.

[Scary]

Calzaghe had an iron chin. He would definitely take this on points. Probably a real hard fight, if it was Kovalev before Ward.