Yeah my stomach turned when I caught myself using “control the distance” in reference to something Andre Ward’s opponent could be able to do. I’ve yet to seen anyone pull that off. I probably wouldn’t believe Kovalev had a chance to do it if not for the B-Hop fight.

Stayed away from that, since this isn’t much of a fight preview and because I bet Hamilton Nolan or IMG will have something more along those lines in this space. I just wrote a version of this in another reply, but I think it’s a 50-50 fight. Would pick Kovalev because of size, activity, and more consistently decent…

I see the fight 50-50. Would bet Kovalev with a gun to my head but that’s about as confident as I get. Unless Ward snakecharms him — which is what Ward does, so not terribly hard to imagine — I think Kovalev can work his jab, control distance and pace, win rounds. Kind of like a closer version of his win over B-Hop. I…