Comments Thread For: Hopkins: I Wanted a Knockdown in the 12th, not Survival

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

Bernard Hopkins was far behind on the scorecards and needed a knockout to beat Sergey Kovalev. And while Hopkins had landed a good shot on Kovalev earlier in the round, Kovalev would hurt him in return. Whereas others might’ve taken that as a sign that the knockout wouldn’t come and it was better just to make it to the final bell, Hopkins said that he couldn’t settle for that.”

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[Weltschmerz]

[PAC-BOY]

Give bhop much cred...he tried to get it too...Thats what a real champ does.

[ИATAS]

Yep he was kinda crazy for that and took some HUGE shots as a result and nearly ko'd but at least he gave one last shot hoping for a miracle

[MDPopescu]

Yep he was kinda crazy for that and took some HUGE shots as a result and nearly ko'd but at least he gave one last shot hoping for a miracle

That's why Kovalev didn't any risk in rushing onto Hopkins earlier... Kovalev knew that Hopkins would try to wear him down and possibly look for a lake KO in the championship rounds -- rounds that Kovalev never fought before... On another hand, Kovalev waited, all night long, for Hopkins to step forward in order to throw something big and counter him on such a move... But Hopkins didn't take such a risk either...

[Sroey]

Full respect to BHop - classy to the end. Amazing to see the respect from both men. The final round was excellent and BHop showed amazing heart to stay on his feet.

Cracking stuff.

[NEELZ]

I also disagree with anyone who says Kovalev followed some script or "agreement" to take it easy on Hopkins and not KO him. Kovalev tried to hit him with a KO punch every single round. The first round after the knockdown, Kovalev let his hands go and tried to finish but missed a lot. So after that he took his time more and was selective.

Even at 49, Hopkins wasn't easy to hit with a solid punch.

[MDPopescu]

I also disagree with anyone who says Kovalev followed some script or "agreement" to take it easy on Hopkins and not KO him. Kovalev tried to hit him with a KO punch every single round. The first round after the knockdown, Kovalev let his hands go and tried to finish but missed a lot. So after that he took his time more and was selective.

Even at 49, Hopkins wasn't easy to hit with a solid punch.

I'll maintain what I've said here before: I think that they had a kind of a "gentlemen's agreement" for a clean boxing fight... In case they didn't have such an agreement, that's only Kovalev's merit in succeeding to keep the fight in the distance, land constantly and keep it into the boundaries of "clean boxing"...

[Mike D]

Give bhop much cred...he tried to get it too...Thats what a real champ does.

Yup. mad respect

[robbyheartbaby]

Man I'm going to miss Bernard Hopkins