Comments Thread For: Hopkins-Kovalev: Unification Pre-Fight Report Card

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

A significantly younger fighter of the highest quality, in his prime, should never lose to a 49-year old man.

Not even when that 49-year old is Bernard Hopkins.

Sergey Kovalev is clearly a good, dangerous professional. He has the appearance of a high quality Light Heavyweight. The tests of that quality are limited to date. Nathan Cleverly and Gabriel Campillo are the highlights so far.

Hopkins has proven a litmus test for younger men for years, more remarkably as he’s aged and fought a broad range of the best at Light Heavyweight in the last four years. Chad Dawson had a long run around the top of the division and passed the test. Jean Pascal, Beibut Shumenov, and Tavoris Cloud could not.
[Click Here To Read More]

[StrangerInTown]

Great appraisal of tonight's alleged mystery.
Sergi has no understanding of what losing would mean, only what winning will provide for his heart and his family.
B-Hop will grace us with a final effort tonight that will produce an ungracious result for him.

[Joe Beamish]

Nails it. BHOP will have brilliant moments, but he's going to get a whoopin for the first and last time. Kovalev isn't some weak minded American opponent who turns to jelly when his simplistic power shots don't hit the mark like Pavlik. Kovalev would have knocked Pavlik out cold at any weight. Kovalev moves clunkily but delivers power efficiently. His personality and mentality are all about making the most of his limitations and strengths. And he's a killer. For real.

[WESS]

I'm going with Hop by decision. I believe he frustrates Kov while using every tactic in the game to control the pace of the fight. It's going to get ugly and ironically I can see Kov getting a point deducted out of frustration. Experience over youth and power.

[hyeduk]

Nails it. BHOP will have brilliant moments, but he's going to get a whoopin for the first and last time. Kovalev isn't some weak minded American opponent who turns to jelly when his simplistic power shots don't hit the mark like Pavlik. Kovalev would have knocked Pavlik out cold at any weight. Kovalev moves clunkily but delivers power efficiently. His personality and mentality are all about making the most of his limitations and strengths. And he's a killer. For real.

It's funny how they always bring Pavlik as an example, but dont talk much about Calzaghe. Yeah the same Pavlik, Bob Arum protected from Abraham!

[-Kev-]

Cliff, nothing wrong with picking Kovalev, Hopkins is old and gets hit more now. But don't be a noob and predict a stoppage. That's what every noob fan picks in almost every B-Hop fight including the Cloud fight. Kovalev by decision would have been a more respectable prediction. Kovalev by KO seems fanboyish and more wishful thinking than anything.

Look: you said Hopkins defense: A+.

Then you went like, "Kovalev KO doe."

[SlimTim]

Cliff, nothing wrong with picking Kovalev, Hopkins is old and gets hit more now. But don't be a noob and predict a stoppage. That's what every noob fan picks in almost every B-Hop fight including the Cloud fight. Kovalev by decision would have been a more respectable prediction. Kovalev by KO seems fanboyish and more wishful thinking than anything.

Look: you said Hopkins defense: A+.

Then you went like, "Kovalev KO doe."

Wrong, Kovalev stops Hopkins. I haven't picked against Hopkins since he fought Pavlik but Kovalev touches guys and they go to sleep. Pascal dropped Hopkins twice and hurt him badly in their rematch. Karo Murat was able to land a haymaker here and there too. Kovalev will land hard at some point and Hopkins will go. Kovalev ko5

[-Hyperion-]

If Hopkins doesn't go full **** because of Kovalev's power, he will exploit his balance.....Hopkins UD if he fights the right fight....Kovalev Decision if Nard decides to just spoil and ***** about the decision at the end.

[ChampBox@PR]

The thing with this fight, is that Kovalev's style power and ring skills are very comparable to Pavlik, Cloud, guys that style wise have "0" chance against B-Hop. If Hopkins wasnt 100 years old, everybody and their mother would be picking B-Hop by 10-2 schooling.

Been that Hops is 49 anything can happen, but if father time doesnt catch him, he wins fairly easy, theres nothing on Kovalevs game that suggest that he is any better than those guys I mentioned!

[TudorMiron]

The thing with this fight, is that Kovalev's style power and ring skills are very comparable to Pavlik, Cloud, guys that style wise have "0" chance against B-Hop. If Hopkins wasnt 100 years old, everybody and their mother would be picking B-Hop by 10-2 schooling.

Been that Hops is 49 anything can happen, but if father time doesnt catch him, he wins fairly easy, theres nothing on Kovalevs game that suggest that he is any better than those guys I mentioned!

Comparing Pavlik to Kovalev is funny. It suggests little to no boxing knowledge. But comparing Kovalev and Pavlik to Cloud... this one is epic