Props for Kovalev

I was semi skeptical of if he would get past Bernard and believed this fight would show whether he was just a puncher with decent boxing fundamentals, or yet perhaps on the level of the Cloud's, Shumenov's, etc...(in other words below Hopkins level at this stage of his career). Pretty obvious to me that he is the goods. Of course Hopkins is nearly 50, but he is not an "ordinary 50". Hopkins didn't look shot, in fact he was in great form defensively, but looked gunshy due to not wanting to get caught. This is how fighters get to covert fan's respect-NOT by the "blind faith " type assumptions of greatness before proving their worth, but by fighting the best or at least daring to push themselves-win, lose or draw. Hopkins is a great for these reasons and Kovalev appears to want the same tasks-full credit to him as I was an interested spectator, to now someone who is a fan of the skill he displayed in the fight and the class (as well as gratitude) he showed Bernard after the fight. Now if only Stevenson drops his "peanuts" and takes the task of facing Hopkins or Sergey, he can get some credit as well. I have a hunch however that both Kovalev and Hopkins school this clown.