Comments Thread For: Sergey Kovalev vs. Anthony Yarde - Purse Bid Set For April 8

[Ray*]

So Warren really is going to do this or what? No way right?

With Warren everything he does is fishy. Unless these two are in the ring across each other I wouldn’t bet this figh happens.

[Kiowhatta]

Me gets the feeling something going to de-rail this fight.

Although, if you're Yarde, Kovalev is the oldest and only current 175 pounder to suffer losses, so it's his best chance. Next would be Beterbiev, then an even split between Bivol and Gvozdyk.

[Adamsc151]

At this stage in his career Kovalev is probably the weakest of the champs at 175lbs, but I reckon he'll still be too much for Yarde unless muscles has been holding back some hidden ability from the cameras all along.
It's not Yarde's fault that the WBO has massively over-inflated his ranking, all he's done is beat the journeymen put in front of him - but it is up to him to justify his position now that he has it by taking his shot with Kovalev.

[LetOutTheCage]

No way. I'm not even sure that Yarde is the best LHW in the UK. Buatsi and Johnson would have a good shot at beating him.

Buatsi is better than him in my opinion but your right, both would have a good chance of beating him.

[rudy]

If Yarde beats him watch out for the "Kovalev was shot" narrative. No credit shall be given here..

We know Kovalev is shot and a drunk, just got the feeling he has seen this before, Yarde is nothing but 1 musclebound fighter who gets stopped in 10 rounds. They have not prepared for a fight this big, nobody wins a world title with being in a test beforehand, and he has no amateur experience to speak so why has he not been tested before going for a world title shot.

They know he is going to lose otherwise he would have fought for the British title which he bypassed because he thinks it is beneth him yet ducks world title fights.

It goes to purse bids and he loses he already says not going to russia really what is he scared of .

BIGGEST HYPE JOB IN BOXING right now YARDE

[SplitSecond]

Me gets the feeling something going to de-rail this fight.

Although, if you're Yarde, Kovalev is the oldest and only current 175 pounder to suffer losses, so it's his best chance. Next would be Beterbiev, then an even split between Bivol and Gvozdyk.

Beterbiev is glass chinned, if he can chin him before he gets chinned he can win that. He can't beat kovalev yet, guy fights in straight lines, has no guard, no headmovement, stamina is sht aswell.

[_Rexy_]

I doubt it. Its a game of chicken, telling Warren and Yarde to get out the way and stop ****ing about. Noone's gunna want it to go to purse bids with Hearn lurking about

Eddie is 0-life in Purse bids since starting Matchroom USA.

[Smash]

so if tony yard wins its a big shock

[Bad Bart]

Yes he was you guys just werent paying attention. From Chilemba to Ward I to Ward II to Mikhalkin to Alvarez I, every single one of those fights, Kovalev had either rumored drinking issues, smoking issues, lack of hunger for boxing, no training between camps, then overtraining in camp to burn the fat off. Kovalev's promoter said he was so "emaciated" that he went into every fight thinking he had to knock out his opponent the first 4-5 rounds of the fight otherwise he knew he would lose.

Only the Alvarez rematch, after Kovalev switched trainers and hired a nutritionist to cook all his meals last two weeks of camp, when he came in lighter than ever and was even able to eat the morning of the weigh-in for the first time, did Kovalev become a 12 round fighter again for the first time since his younger days in the Pascal rematch back when he was young and prime enough to get away with his bad habits and still perform.

They essentially traded away some of Kovalev's size and power away in order to bring back enough stamina, speed, and punch resistance (having more stamina means more oxygen in the brain when you get hit which lets you take the punch better), because those things are more important, but that doesn't mean he's prime again. In his prime, he had it all. Now with age, he's having to train better, and diet better, and do all these things better, just to keep SOME of his strengths from his prime, or even enhance a few, but at the expense of hurting other strengths. Kovalev's #1 asset in his prime was power, now he's basically having to compete without one-punch power. Does that sound like prime to you? In your prime you were a huge puncher who relied on power, now you had to give up your power and you can't rely on it at all, but that's prime? Hell no.

So you have to pay attention to the details. From Chilemba through Alvarez I, Kovalev was a shot, past prime fighter. Or rather, he was close to prime for 4 rounds, then shot the rest of the fight. Since most world class fights go past 4 rounds, it's the same effect as him being shot, for the most part. Then for Alvarez II, Kovalev was still physically past his peak years, but he and his team did a great job prioritizing the most important things over everything else, even his once vaunted power, and that allowed him to perform at an elite level again, even though he's still not in his prime years. If Yarde beats the same version of Kovalev that just beat Alvarez, he deserves a ton of credit, but we have to see how the fight goes. Kovalev boxed like a P4P star last fight so if Yarde outboxes him, Yarde will get huge credit. On the other hand, even in the rematch, Kovalev's chin didn't look sturdy at all like it used to, so if Yarde, who is a puncher more than Alvarez, lands one shot and Kovalev falls because his chin is past prime, good enough to barely survive shots from 50% KO% Alvarez but not Yarde, then obviously that will have a lot more to do with Kovalev's age than Yarde because even many C-level guys that Yarde has hit have not gone down with the first shot.

So if Yarde wins, naturally we need to see the context of how he wins before determining credit, but all else being equal, it's accurate to say Yarde would be facing the best version of Kovalev we've seen since the Pascal rematch, a much better version than Ward fought or Alvarez beat in the first fight, so he should deserve a ton of credit if he wins. But is Kovalev prime? I mean, right now, he's as close as he's been since his prime, seemingly very close overall just different and missing his power, which is a big deal for someone named "Krusher," but from the Chilemba fight through the first Alvarez fight, no, he wasn't anywhere close to prime.

Wow, fantastic analysis man

[yoshik]

Yarde is a one trick pony. He's going to come on strong first couple rounds and Kov will pick him apart. Kov haters are ******.