In Round 1 Sergery Kovalev showed the world that he wasn’t going to let this fight go the way the majority of bouts against Bernard Hopkins have, when he knocked “The Alien” to the canvas setting the tone for his dominant showing.
Not letting up throughout the entire bout, Kovalev looked impressive all the way through the 12-round affair, marking the first time he has went past eight rounds his entire professional career.
Hopkins displayed tremendous heart lasting the entire bout and if it were just about any other fighter in there, the bout would have been over early Saturday night. Instead Hopkins survived Kovalev’s powerful assault, but fell via unanimous decision, 120-107, 120-107, 120-106.
Despite the loss, Hopkins received respect from fight fans across the world and Kovaelv himself, as the man who’s two months shy of 50 years old, showed that age is just a number.
“He was a really tough opponent,” Kovalev said in his post fight interview on HBO. “He’s Bernard Hopkins. He is very good (at) keeping his distance… big respect to him for the fight, but he needs to stop career I think.”
Giving his all in the 12th round, the bout ended on a high note with heated exchanges from the two fighters, with Hopkins taking several huge power shots, but staying on his feet.
Despite ending his nine-fight streak of winning via KO, Kovalev will benefit more from going he distance than he would if he were able to stop Hopkins. Knowing that he can go a full 12 rounds and sustain his energy through out the 36 minutes of fighting is sure to be a confidence boost for a fighter who is as confident as any.
“My goal wasn’t to knock him out, because it’s just a knock down” Kovalev said about pacing himself in the fight, even after the Round 1 knockdown. “I needed to keep control for all the fight… I wanted to show to my friends, the boxing fans how I can do boxing and for me, myself, I think so, I did it.”
Attention will now shift to Adonis Stevenson and Andre Ward for Kovalev next, but neither of the two bouts are anywhere near sure deals to be made.
Ward hasn’t fought in over a year and the chances of him coming out of his long hiatus against Kovlalev are slim to none. Stevenson already ducked Kovalev before and with his dominating victory over Hopkins, Kovalev won’t be any more attractive to Stevenson or anyone else for that matter, which is why besides Gennady Golvkin, he is the most avoided fighter in the sport.
Hopkins on the other hand could retire today, and said he’s 50-50, as he has been the last nine years, and still have an inedible career despite losing to Kovalev, but it is likely we haven’t seen the last of Hopkins and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him fighting for a title at 50 years of age.
