I'd hate to see Kovalev and Beterbiev fight because I'm a big fan of both so I wouldn't like to see one of them lose.
If they fought right now, I'd favour Kovalev by stoppage. He's beaten better opposition (Hopkins, Pascal, Cleverly all very good opponents), and in addition to being a hard puncher he's shown he's smart and technically savvy.
Good punchers are a dime a dozen.
But a good puncher who can box, think, adapt, and defend is championship level.
Beterbiev has looked mighty impressive VS Cloud and Saunders but we haven't seen him go rounds yet or seen if he can do more than just hit hard.
I think Beterbiev ' s team would be making a big mistake if they chose to fight Sergey now. Beterbiev is not ready and needs 5-10 more pro fights to develop.