BoxingScene.com's Television Picks of The Week

By Cliff Rold

It’s going to be a busy Saturday night with three shows airing in the US with some overlap on the last two.

Let’s be honest though.

There is only one main event of the week.

Whether the fight turns out to be good or just another intriguing chapter in the story of a living legend, the sight of a 49-year old man pursuing unification of his second weight division is pretty crazy stuff.  Moore and Foreman were pretty much done by the same age.

Bernard Hopkins carries on.

These are the picks of the week.

Pick It: #1 Bernard Hopkins vs. #2 Sergey Kovalev (Saturday, HBO, 10:45 PM EST/PST)

While the lineal crown still belongs to Adonis Stevenson, his gaming away from the men squaring off this Saturday is hard to ignore.  Hopkins (55-6-2, 32 KO), holder of the WBA and IBF belts, can’t say he’s finished with his business at 175 without beating Stevenson, the man who beat the man who beat him.  WBO titlist Sergey Kovalev (25-0-1, 23 KO) can make the whole question irrelevant.  Hopkins is 49.  Kovalev is 31 and looks like the goods, with a limited resume to date.  If Kovalev is as good as he’s looked, he should win.  Hopkins has a way of exposing who is, and isn’t, genuinely of world-class quality in his later years.  Kovalev is good.  Kovalev is dangerous.  If he’s going to be more than that, we’ll know by Sunday.  This is damn fine theatre.

Pick Other: Shows on NBC Sports (8:30 PM EST) and UniMas (11 PM EST)

If one is looking for something to watch before the HBO show, and something to DVR for after, Saturday will have a double option.  The earlier show will feature a Heavyweight main event.  Amir Mansour (20-1, 15 KO) attempts to rebound from his first loss against Fred Kassi (18-2, 10 KO).  On the later show, Jr. Lightweight contender Diego Magdaleno (26-1, 10 KO) will look to stay active against Hevinson Herrera (17-9-1, 11 KO).  Neither show sniffs what’s on HBO, but they are on the air for the interested.

Pick YouTube: Adamek-Szpilka & Stieglitz-Sturm (Saturday, Poland & Germany, ?)

Better than either of the cards airing Saturday night opposite HBO is some quality overseas action on Saturday.  Keep eyes peeled for any news of someone like ESPN3 picking up one of these.  At Heavyweight, Tomasz Adamek (49-3, 29 KO) tries to keep it alive against the fun but limited Artur Szpilka (16-1, 12 KO) in Poland.  In Germany, a battle of former titlists looks like fun.  The former Middleweight stalwart Sturm (39-4-2, 18 KO) moves up for a catchweight clash with former Super Middleweight titlist Robert Stieglitz (47-4, 27 KO). Does the winner fight WBO 168 lb. titlist Arthur Abraham?  That would seem the logical progression.  

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Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com