HOPKINS VS. KOVALEV PREVIEW
By Scott Canipe, Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Atlantic City, NJ (November 8th, 2014)– Hello fight fans! This Saturday night, November 8th, 2014 at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City NJ, 49 year old ageless wonder Bernard”The Alien” Hopkins take on Sergey “Krusher”Kovalev. This is a fight where age is pitted against youth, the aggressor versus the counter-puncher. Most boxing experts and enthusiasts are divided down the middle on who is going to win. So was I, for an extensive period of time, but one has to predict a winner; here is mine and why.
I would like to see“The Alien” pull it off, but I think the time has come for him to pass the torch. I have not picked against Bernard Hopkins since he faced Roy Jones, Jr. in 1993 and he is one of my favorite fighters in the last 20+years.Hopkins was one of the most dominate Middleweight Champions in history and is the greatest geriatric boxer of all time! Better than both Archie Moore and George Foreman, in my opinion. You can’t outthink him. Those that have beaten him are typically faster, that keep moving, set a fast pace, etc. Arguably, no fighter, even the great Floyd Mayweather Jr. is smarter nor has the wisdom of Bernard Hopkins. Very few current boxers have the ability to beat him. Joe Calzaghe, Roy Jones, Chad Dawson. Those kinds of guys are Hopkins’ Achilles heel, if you will. But they are rare!
Previously, Hopkins has eaten up big predator type punchers. Guys likeFelix Trinidad, Kelly Pavlik, Jean Pascal, Tavoris Cloud, Antonio Tarver, etc. But, Kovalev poses a whole different animal. Hopkins has never faced a beast like this and here is why:
Sergey Kovalev is the MOST ferocious puncher that has great boxing ability and puts on unyielding pressure round after round that Bernard Hopkins has ever faced in his life. This is a formidable combination to have. To be able to punch coupled with boxing skills with great intensity for successive rounds. I don’t think Hopkins can deal with this at this stage in his career.
For those that surmise that Sergey Kovalev is simply a come forward, slow plodding puncher, then deception has gripped their reasoning or they have not closely studied the capable Russian’s style. That is utterly ridiculous. He is not a free swinger, but is very calculated, measured and accurate with every shot he throws. Sergey has high efficiency. He is two fisted with power with great balance. Very balanced and can hurt you from a distance with his straight right hand or leap in with hooks on the inside.Kovalev mixes up his attack to the body and head with unrelenting pressure.
Granted, he has not faced near the opposition that Hopkins has but it will not matter. Sergey started boxing at 11 years old and has an prodigious amateur record of 215 with 193 wins! He is currently 25 – 0,23 KOS with one draw, so he has garnered boxing experience for the past 20 years of his life.
Additionally, Kovalev has “inside trader information” with John David Jackson as his trainer. Hopkins fought Jackson whom he defeated in 1997. As a bonus ,John David has been in Hopkins’ training camp for many fights. He knows Hopkins’ bags of tricks and what he will try to do in certain situations during the fight. This poses an IMMENSE advantage for Sergey Kovalev having Jackson in his camp!
Hopkins is good at touch and go. He maneuvers, good at placement, sets traps, a thinking fighter who will back off then clinch at a measured tempo.Hopkins tries to play a cat and mouse game and out-think his opponent. But in this fight, Sergey will not give him a chance to out-think him because of the faster tempo that he will pressure Bernard Hopkins with.Hopkins tries to smother his opponent’s offense by clinching or smothering, if you will. But he will not be successful at this approach either,because Kovalev will put up an arm and Hopkins will run into his elbow therefore nullifying any attempt to tie him up.
In my opinion, Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins has bitten off more than he can chew in this one at this stage in his great career. Kovalev is bigger, hits harder, too strong, is younger, has more energy, is highly skilled and is a very accurate with the pressure that he administers round after round.Hopkins doesn’t have the strength to keep Kovalev off. For one of the few times in Hopkins’ career he is facing a guy that is NOT intimidated by him. I have met Hopkins, he can intimidate. He has that aura. But Kovalev is NOT intimidated. Nor will he get discouraged by the ring tactics or antics that Bernard Hopkins may try to apply to get into his head.His objective is seek and destroy undeterred.
Styles makes fights and in this fight,we have the match-up of a thinking boxer with low output vs a skilled swarming puncher. Hopkins, the “thinking boxer with low output,” is on the losing end. Bernard’s pace and output has dropped through the years as he has aged and Kovalev will take advantage of his disadvantage.
Frankly, I hope I am wrong, but I predict that Sergei Kovalev will either stop Bernard Hopkins in the mid rounds or win a unanimous decision. The sand in an hourglass only has a limited amount of time and Bernard Hopkins’ sand will run out Saturday, November 8, 2014.
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