Hopkins-Kovalev Will Renew Best vs. Champ 175 Debate

By Jake Donovan

Barring a crazy ending that fails to produce a winner or a superior fighter, chances are that the last man standing in this weekend’s unification bout between Sergey Kovalev and Bernard Hopkins will be viewed by most in the sport as the best light heavyweight in the world.

That means history will repeat itself in the light heavyweight division.

For years, Roy Jones Jr. was regarded as the best light heavyweight in the world, while Dariusz Michalczewski – and Zsolt Erdei after him (with Julio Gonzalez wedged in between) - was recognized as the division’s true lineal champion. 

The closest the division came to clarity was in 1998, when HBO pursued a Jones-Michalczewksi showdown. The purse demands of Michalczewksi – who would have been required to travel abroad to the United States from Germany – exceeded the fair market value for such a fight, thus leaving light heavyweight splintered for more than a decade.

Michalczewski and Erdei spent their respective lineal championship reigns holed up in Germany facing largely second-rate competition. Meanwhile, Jones fought exclusively in the United States, as did Antonio Tarver and Bernard Hopkins after him.

Joe Calzaghe broke the trend in 2008, traveling from Wales to Las Vegas to face – and beat – Hopkins, followed by a points win over Jones later that year. The unbeaten Welshman could have been the one to finally provide divisional clarity, but instead decided to call it a career, believing there was nothing left to accomplish following a lengthy reign at super middleweight and two lucrative wins in the United States over future Hall of Famers.

It wasn’t until 2010 when the two worlds finally gained course correction following Jean Pascal’s technical unanimous decision win over Chad Dawson.

The fight benefited by Erdei vacating his title at the scales in 2009 and moving up to cruiserweight later in the year. Pascal and Dawson were viewed as the two top light heavyweights at the time of their Aug. ’10 fight, thus producing a lineal champion and a best fighter in the division all in one fell swoop.

The status held true for more than three years, when Pascal was dethroned by Hopkins, who in turn was upended by Dawson, who last June was knocked out by Adonis Stevenson, who for the remainder of 2013 had the support of the public.

Now all Stevenson is left with is championship lineage. A disappointing 2014 campaign has included his defection to Al Haymon, bailing on a fight with Kovalev, failing to close a deal that would’ve led to a unification bout with Hopkins, and – come later this year – two title defenses against opposition that doesn’t come close to measuring up against what was on the table.

That leaves fans clamoring for this weekend’s clash.

The three belts at stake add the appeal of the event being marketed as a unification bout, even if it only adds confusion to a world where purists try their hardest to get the sport back to a point of one champion per division.

Hopkins and Kovalev both tried to go that route. When neither got the answer they wanted, they instead turned to each other.
 
“I've had so many people ask me, ‘Aren’t you worried?’” noted Main Events CEO Kathy Duva, Kovalev’s promoter at the time the fight was made. “This fight is the two best. You don't worry about stuff like that.”

Kovalev (25-0-1, 23KOs) was in pursuit of Stevenson from the moment he entered the title fray. A new era was ushered in following his 4th round knockout of Nathan Cleverly on the road in Wales last August.

“Sergey, the day he fought for a world title, his first question was, ‘When can I fight for another one of these?’” recalls Duva.
 
Of course, in order to fight for another belt, you have to get another titlist to agree to face you.

So came the plan to place Kovalev and Stevenson on a collision course. The two were strategically placed in separate bouts on the same bill last November in Quebec City. Both fighters scored stoppage wins for the first defense of their respective titles, Kovalev icing Ismayl Sillah in two rounds while Stevenson forced England’s Tony Bellew inside of six rounds.

HBO proceeded with a plan to allow both an additional stay busy fight before meeting in what would have easily been the most anticipated fight of 2014. Those plans were shot to sunshine when Stevenson hesitated to sign on the dotted line, instead signing with Haymon and joining the Showtime family.

Such news left Kovalev and HBO with a mismatch versus Cedric Agnew in March, a bout that no longer came with means to an end. Kovalev stopped the unbeaten but unheralded contender in seven one-sided rounds, but was left without a future dance partner since the most appealing options were all fighting across the street.

Hopkins (55-6-2, 32KOs) was the last fighter in the Golden Boy stable to headline a show on HBO, that event coming in his historic points win over then-unbeaten titlist Tavoris Cloud last March. The win made Hopkins, 48 at the time, the oldest fighter in boxing to claim an alphabet title.

It was his last fight on HBO following a nearly-exclusive relationship with the network dating back to 2000, instead joining the rest of the major fighters under the Golden Boy banner on
Showtime, beginning with a 12-round points win over Karo Murat last October. The fight was a reintroduction more than anything else, with plans in place for the fighting pride of Philly to face fellow light heavyweight titlist Beibut Shumenov in the first half of 2014.

By the time the two met in April, Stevenson was already all the way on board with Showtime and queued up as the looming prize for the winner. Hopkins won with room to spare, breaking his own records as – at age 49 - the oldest to win and defend a title, with two belts at stake.

Stevenson did his part – barely – to keep the fight alive, outpointing Andrzej Fonfara in May, though climbing off the canvas after scoring a knockdown of his own to preserve his championship reign.

All that was left to do from there was sign on the dotted line, for Stevenson and Hopkins to collide in what would have served as the centerpiece of Showtime’s fall schedule.

What neither fighter counted on was a race against the clock. Hopkins was ordered to defend one of his belts versus mandatory challenger Nadjib Mohammedi. The deadline imposed by the International Boxing Federation (IBF) called for Hopkins to make a decision by end of business day on August 1 – the day before Kovalev’s light heavyweight title defense versus Blake Caparello.

Among the small list of exceptions often honored by the IBF in lieu of a mandatory title defense is if the defending champion has the opportunity to unify, or if circumstances call for a rematch with a previous title challenger.

Hopkins originally angled for a fight with Stevenson to avoid a less desirable matchup with Mohammedi. At some point, he didn’t feel confident that negotiations would wrap up in time to satisfy the IBF’s terms.

So he looked in another direction. Less than 36 hours later, Hopkins had the answer he wanted, even if it meant facing the most feared fighter in the division.

Becoming the only fighter in history to fully unify at middleweight and light heavyweight is just one item among many that still fuels the near-50-year old Hopkins. But until Stevenson is ready to join the party, he’s content with taking fights that would redefine him as the best light heavyweight in the world.

“In my mind people believe, and most minds… that Stevenson somehow jumped ship because he didn't want to fight Kovalev, and the fans believe that Kovalev is the much more dangerous light heavyweight to beat in the division,” Hopkins says of this weekend’s fight. “Now, I would not go back on my word that ‘the man who beats the man becomes the man.’ That's the political part. That's on paper. 

“But I gain a strong support amongst the world of boxing fans for beating Kovalev, and beating him in grand fashion will open up a lot of debate about a lot of things, and one will be in a good way for Bernard Hopkins, where I stand at the top of the division. And if I don't, then it will be just what it is.”

Kovalev is far less concerned with the ramifications of the bout, more focused on – and pleased with – getting another top light heavyweight in the ring.

It's just the next step of my career.  It's not the finish of my career,” says Kovalev, fights in a unification bout for the first time in his career. “It's just the next step in my career.  I'm not going to stop after this fight no matter the result, win or lose, it's boxing and this is a sport, and if I win I will grow more experienced and if I lose I will get more experience.

“I will get to do more fights and interesting fights, but the next fight will be much more interesting because I will get more experience from my next huge fight. This is for me a huge fight and this is the fight of my life. It's a very important fight.”

It’s a fight that will determine the best light heavyweight in the world, at least until the World light heavyweight champion decides to physically prove otherwise.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com, as well as a member of Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox