An Alien Fight For Kovalev & Hopkins
You’ve probably already heard from several places that Bernard Hopkins is old and he looked like it. To have that as your take away from Saturday’s contest would be a discredit to both fighters. Saturday’s fight was something straight from Bernard Hopkins’s alien planet. It was a fight of another world. Every man, woman, child, dog, and extraterrestrial gazed into their crystal balls of Tiresias and yielded two outcomes: a boring decision win for Bernard Hopkins or an explosive Kovalev-ing by John David Jackson’s monster. What ultimately unfolded was exactly the fight we all needed. A fight no one had predicted.
Most probably expected Kovalev to start the blitz early and he certainly did. A first round knockdown threw everything up in the air. Those who expected the Hopkins decision suddenly felt their stomachs sink. As Hopkins rose, unscathed and smiling from the canvas, a replay confirmed to us that it was more a question of Hopkins’s balance and a well-timed punch more than real significant power. If one had expected a brutal Kovalev onslaught, this is where things took a turn.
Hopkins looked normal. He was patient, averse to throwing punches, and he waited as we waited for him to finally engage. All the while we waited, Kovalev surprised the world by boxing beautifully. He moved in and out of range, he cut off the ring and made Hopkins work frantically to escape. Kovalev mixed his jabs and remained patient. Even when Hopkins started to get off and shock him with legitimate power punches. Kovalev stuck to his game plan. It might not have been entirely difficult as John David Jackson passionately shouted instructions from the corner to ensure he would not lose a second time to Hopkins, even if he was only the trainer here.
Hopkins was already a lock to go into the Boxing Hall of Fame, but the shots that Kovalev landed were of the ‘good night’ variety that put many younger fighters away and Hopkins took them mostly with ease. Those that he didn’t absorb, he slipped and avoided or blocked outright.
Hopkins did have his moments. There were times when Hopkins appeared to have Kovalev’s offense figured out. Then there were times when Hopkins’s body and mind were not synchronized. There was also a brief moment when Hopkins buckled Kovalev with a right hand. The success was fleeting and Kovalev quickly resumed executing John David Jackson’s master plan.
This fight, ultimately, was a rare alien contest. Hopkins was the man who was supposed to come in and put on a boxing clinic. It was Sergey Kovalev who did that. It was Kovalev who showed tremendous boxing prowess using an educated jab and clever feints. It was Hopkins who lost a shut out decision, something he’d never suffered in his 26 year long career.
Last night was a new chapter in both Bernard Hopkins and Sergey Kovalev’s career. For Hopkins, a new chapter begins called post-defeat. For the first time Hopkins clearly lost a fight he was never really in. For Kovalev, it’s the beginning of his future as an excellent and diverse boxer puncher who will be favored against anyone in his division.
For both, I’m sure the target is Adonis Stevenson. It’s hard to imagine either guy isn’t interested in becoming the undisputed and lineal light heavyweight champion of the world. It’s even harder to imagine they don’t want to be the one to beat one of boxing’s best legitimate villains in the sport. What appears likely, however, is Jean Pascal or Artur Beterbiev. In fact, my money is on Beterbiev to meet Kovalev next Spring. Beterbiev seems to be the only one crazy enough to get in the ring with Kovalev. Pascal can take an easier fight in Montreal fighting Stevenson. For Hopkins, he can do what he wants. Nobody will be shocked if he retires, but we know the Alien. There’s no way he leaves this sport on a loss. It may be Hopkins who faces Beterbiev.
