Comments Thread For: Kovalev Dominates Hopkins, Unifies WBA/WBO/IBF Belts

[Boxing Fan123]

Massive respect to Hopkins to begin.

But the focus is on the Krusher. His power while moving is entertaining. He really showed his intelligence tonight as well, he fought his fight rather than Hopkins'. He's the man to beat at 175 lbs. Although, whenever Kovalev got hit clean, he seem to stagger or buckle, was this a balance problem or a punch resistance problem?

[daggum]

calzaghe still schools kovalev. that's obvious.

[twosweethooks]

This fight proved some things:
1. Hop has a great chin !
2. Kovalev has maintained that he would box Hop, I didn't think he would , I thought he would just KO him.
3. Kovalev is the top level as a boxer not just a puncher. He made a fool out of the great bhop.

and

finally, to all the dumbo's take a breath, and just admit the russian is the real deal !

I loved the fight

[PunchyPotorff]

Stevenson soiled his rusty armor tonight, guaranteed. Would be great though to see BHop dethrone Stevenson. But eventually it would be even better if Kov does it. I doubt Superdud gets past either.

[cupocity303]

Hopkins showed you why he's never been knocked out. Good defense and one hell of a chin. Kovalev is good, he did something nobody else has done, dominant Hopkins.

He sure did.

1 out of 2 aint bad. He didn't do the other thing that nobody did which was get the KO win over Hopkins, but a dominant victory showing off his abilities made up for it.

[PunchyPotorff]

calzaghe still schools kovalev. that's obvious.

Yeah right, when he doesn't have coke up his snoot.
HA!

[Boxfan7819]

Hopkins never had a chance to begin with. I'm suprised that kovalev's punch output was lower than usual but he was probably conserving energy by picking his shots.

[cupocity303]

Props to SK for winning like I predicted. I'd like to also give BHOP credit for going the distance with such a hard puncher. He has always had good defense and an amazing chin. He pissed SK off in the 12th and took a BEATING. Wow. It was actually a good fight to watch as well. This is what boxing used to be about. Fighters taking the necessary risks for the sake of the fans.

Hopkins gave the politically correct answer to Kellerman by stating that he took a risk for the fans. It got him a nice applause which you may like.

But the truth is that he did it out of self-interest. He was way behind and he tried to pull one last rabbit out of the hat, and get a comeback KO himself. That idea quickly faded as he had no chance in engaging Kovalev like that.

Therefore, I reject your last two sentences premise. This may be what we want, but fighters themselves shouldn't have to risk themselves more then they have to, to win a fight. If all Wlad Klitschko has to do is jab, jab and throw a straight right, then that's all he has to do. You only fix it if it's broken.

[cupocity303]

Hopkins never had a chance to begin with. I'm suprised that kovalev's punch output was lower than usual but he was probably conserving energy by picking his shots.

And he had a moving target in front of him, which lowers your output, unless you think that he can throw combinations at a guy who is circling around the ring.

[Clint650]

we all know B-Hop is a legend but some of us know a good thing when we see one. I felt Kovalev would end the fight early and after hearing him explain how he wanted to prove to everyone that he can box and control a fight was brilliant. He fought B-Hops style of fight and was always one step ahead. As soon as Hopkins was on his back foot I knew his game plan was to try and catch Kovalev coming in at some point and when he was still determined to do that after 5 rounds, I knew it was a wrap. I expected a more aggressive Hopkins. I assumed he would try to force Kovalev back (something that no one else has done) but what worked on Murat, Shumenov and Pavlik definitely was not the correct formula here. So much for taking the kid to school. I hate to say it but it looked like Kovalev showed a little bit of mercy. I might have to climb aboard the Beterbiev train if he's not going to spark guys out within 5 rounds. LOL! anyways where's all the Kovalev haters???? How did you guys feel after the first round????

Both men showed a ton of class. Where's Stevenson?? That's right, he's still making all that money with Haymon and being a smart business man. He was smart all right. He still has his belt.