By Keith Idec
NEW YORK – Sergey Kovalev was impressed by Bernard Hopkins’ win against Beibut Shumenov, but he wasn’t surprised Hopkins handled the former WBA light heavyweight champion with ease.
Kovalev knew Kazakhstan’s Shumenov was limited entering their light heavyweight unification fight April 19 in Washington, D.C., and thinks Hopkins had his way with him accordingly.
“Bernard was amazing,” Kovalev said. “He was impressive. I saw that he won very easy. Shumenov, he’s not a smart fighter. He just wants to punch. He hopes for one punch.”
Hopkins won a split decision over Shumenov because one judge, Gustavo Padilla, oddly scored Shumenov (14-2, 9 KOs) the winner, 114-113, of a 12-round fight he clearly lost to Philadelphia’s Hopkins. The two other judges, Dave Moretti and Jerry Roth, scored Hopkins a 116-111 winner.
The 31-year-old Kovalev isn’t nearly as experienced as Hopkins, either. That hasn’t stopped handicappers from installing Russia’s Kovalev (25-0-1, 23 KOs) as about a 2-1 favorite over the 49-year-old Hopkins (55-6-2, 32 KOs, 2 NC) as they head toward their own light heavyweight showdown Saturday night at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City (10:45 p.m. ET; HBO).
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
