By Luke Furman

Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach views Bernard Hopkins (55-6, 32KOs) as a good friend, but that doesn't stop him from picking Sergey Kovalev (25-0-1, 23KOs) to defeat Hopkins on November 8th at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. They will battle for the WBO/IBF/WBA light heavyweight titles.

Hopkins, nearly 50-years-old, is called "The Alien" because he continues to defy the laws of science by defeating top fighters who are young enough to be his kids.

This time, Roach expects him to go down.

"Bernard Hopkins is a good friend of mine. I trained him for two pro fights. But I think he bit off more than he could chew this time. I like Kovalev...I love Kovalev in that fight," Roach told Boxing Academy.

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.