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

[mistermartin]

This might be the Wrong pick Clifford. I know the old men in Vegas know what they're doing. But there's something to be said for a 50 year old man asking for a fight againt someone who's only failed to knock out 2 of his opponents & almost 20 years younger. He knows what he's doing too. I've feared for Nard in this fight & every one of his bouts in the last 5 years really. Bc I love the guy & don't want to see him hurt. Naazim knows his fighter & if he was in over his head & he has Bernard's respect enough give that assessment & have it be heard. That being said...I like Sergey. I think he's an exiting fighter w/ a really personable demeanor. But, It wasn't until I watched the awkward pad & footwork session between JDJ & Kovalev I was surprised at how out of sync they looked. & then the subsequent staredown at the weigh-in where SK looked sorta uneasy & nervous. Something about it was strange & made me think "He looks like he might not be ready for this one." & That was enough to actually lean more to Bernard in a split decision vicky. My mind quickly went to the confusion laced loss Kelly PAvlik suffered to X & that perhaps we might see a repeat of that. Who knows. Bernard may get old instantly. & Kovalev may gain super confidence at some point during the bout & get into a zone. We'll see. It's a dangerous fight regardless. But it's also a dangerous sport in general.

[-Kev-]

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

I predicted Hopkins outboxes Pavlik. I also predicted Hopkins beats Pascal and Cloud and loses to Dawson. That's if you wanna go the "my Hopkins picks are always right" lane.

Hopkins outlands, outboxes Kovalev and the only chance Kovalev has is not even a punchers chance. He has a judges chance, where the judges shaft Hopkins like they always do. Especially that recent one where one blind judge gave Shumenov the fight. That's the only way Kovalev wins. Bad judging against Hopkins is more likely than a KO against Hopkins.

[Ravens Fan]

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!

My question is. How can someone that has obviously spent as much time on this forum as you have, possibly know so little about boxing?

[roademier]

solid article Cliff
the only problem I have is not mentioning that the Calzaghe fight should have been a noncontroversial loss to Hopkins. Bernard's Achille's heel has always been speed and those opponents that didn't allow him to get into their heads.
Sergei appears to be the latter , definitely not the former.
It should be interesting for the first 2-3 rounds and then I look for Bernard to look for a way to survive(or escape) the rest of the fight.

[crold1]

solid article Cliff
the only problem I have is not mentioning that the Calzaghe fight should have been a noncontroversial loss to Hopkins. Bernard's Achille's heel has always been speed and those opponents that didn't allow him to get into their heads.
Sergei appears to be the latter , definitely not the former.
It should be interesting for the first 2-3 rounds and then I look for Bernard to look for a way to survive(or escape) the rest of the fight.

I thought Calzaghe won and by a few points. I know others disagree. Those that do have made it way more of a 'controversy' then it was at the time.

[mistermartin]

solid article Cliff
the only problem I have is not mentioning that the Calzaghe fight should have been a noncontroversial loss to Hopkins. Bernard's Achille's heel has always been speed and those opponents that didn't allow him to get into their heads.
Sergei appears to be the latter , definitely not the former.
It should be interesting for the first 2-3 rounds and then I look for Bernard to look for a way to survive(or escape) the rest of the fight.

It wasn't a non controversial fight. Calzags simply was not landing. & there has always been an establishment conspiracy to silence Bernard. The white boy comment worked against bernard in that fight. Calzags pushed the pace but he did zero damage &/or clean work. Bernard controlled the fight far more than the other way around. But we'll see in a few hours how it goes...

[roademier]

It wasn't a non controversial fight. Calzags simply was not landing. & there has always been an establishment conspiracy to silence Bernard. The white boy comment worked against bernard in that fight. Calzags pushed the pace but he did zero damage &/or clean work. Bernard controlled the fight far more than the other way around. But we'll see in a few hours how it goes...

except for the first round knockdown what if any damage or clean work did Hops do?
Whenever Hops looks to the ref it's my opinion he's not in charge of the fight.

[roademier]

I thought Calzaghe won and by a few points. I know others disagree. Those that do have made it way more of a 'controversy' then it was at the time.

I had it 9-3 Joe
116-112 with the KD

[Guest]

How is Hopkins power a B?

He hasn't knocked anyone out in over 10 years!

[Scott9945]

Once he realizes that he isn't going to win, Hopkins will suffer an "injury" and it will be a disappointing TKO win for Kovalev.