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Not the greatest opponent in the world but the opponent selection is very minimal. Kovalev should fight 3 times this year so consider this a stay busy fight before getting Stevenson can man up.Comment
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Tbh I don't know about calling Agnew a softy. He's undefeated and obviously against inferior competition, he came up the normal way and this is a huge stage for him. Kovalev had the same opportunity and was at a similar stage last year when he entered his fight with Campillo
That combined with the Stevenson fight not happening and a bunch of journeyman and "top contenders" who would get starched as only other options, at the least an unknown undefeated fighter will get the chance of a lifetime and possibly do something to make a name for itself, makes it interesting IMO
Like I said, if it was purely up to Kovalev and his team, this would be a fight against Stevenson.Comment
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He has never lost a fight and he is rated as the 15th best light heavyweight in the world. Probably some of the guys ranked higher than him turned down offers to fight Kovalev because they don't want to get knocked out. Cedric is way above club level. Kovalev has the same problem GGG has. Few high ranked guys have the courage to risk their high rating by fighting them.Comment
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Not sure what that link shows. Hopkins himself, literally says Showtime rejected Kovlaev-Hopkins (yet approved Hopkins-Murat. Lmao)
Lets blame Kovalev!Comment
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From that link:
“John David Jackson said, ‘Don’t fight Hopkins, because Hopkins will ruin your fighter’s career.’ And that’s why Kovalev and Main Events, Kathy Duva, bypassed the mandatory with me and fought Cleverly."
A month earlier:
http://espn.go.com/blog/dan-rafael/p...ce-kovalev-but
Though Showtime was ready to televise Hopkins against then-mandatory Karo Murat on July 13 -- before Murat dropped out because of an inability to get a visa -- the network, from what Hopkins said, is not interested in putting him on against Kovalev.
Go figure, because Hopkins-Kovalev is a much, much more interesting fight than Hopkins-Murat ever was.
“[Kovalev] is a good puncher and some people are excited about him,” Hopkins said. “He’s a better quality name than Karo Murat is.”
The reason for Showtime’s possible reluctance to put on Hopkins-Kovalev is because it is not heavily invested in the division and doesn’t have any future rights on Kovalev, so it wouldn’t want to build him up only to see him beat Hopkins and then go to HBO, which is doing a ton of business at light heavyweight and super middleweight.
So while Hopkins waits to see what will happen, he made a suggestion -- that Kovalev go fight Cleverly, and he would be happy to face new champ Adonis Stevenson, who drilled Chad Dawson in the first round June 8 to win the lineal title Hopkins used to hold (as well as an alphabet belt Hopkins used to own before losing to Dawson). Stevenson said he was interested in fighting Hopkins after beating Dawson.
“For me, it’s a no-brainer,” the 48-year-old Hopkins said. “Kovalev can go get Cleverly, I can probably get Adonis and we go head-to-head and give the fans the old light heavyweight battles they had in the late '70 and '80s, and then the winners can fight. It doesn’t seem complicated. OK, maybe I’m being a little sarcastic.”Comment
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