With the Nov. 8 fight between Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins and Sergey Kovalev just a couple of days away, the battle of words will be over, but Kovalev threw in some of his last verbal assaults toward Hopkins this week.
Restating comments he has made a few times before, Kovalev continued to call Hopkins a dirty fighter and even went as far as calling him a clown.
Hopkins is known for making fights gritty and tough, and to sometimes dirty, so everything that Kovalev is saying isn’t entirely false. Hopkins is a veteran in the ring and knows how and when to use such tactics to avoid being penalized by the referee.
Kovalev is known for his knockout power, as he has ended 25 of his 23 win early and will see the toughest test in his career Saturday against Hopkins. He is going into the fight with the right mindset: a KO would be nice, but he’s prepared for a 12-round war, as Hopkins will be a tough out.
As the fight nears Kovalev is drawing more win predictions from writers and fight fans alike, as there seems to be more attention to the fact that Hopkins is just a few months shy of his 50th birthday which seems to be swaying those who might have had Hopkins before or were on the fence into Kovalev’s favor.
Hopkins is not called the ageless wonder for nothing and if that’s what is people are going t base their decisions on then they are betting against father time, as Hopkins has proved his doubters wrong time-and-time again.
Kovalev has extra incentive, as if he needed anymore, going into the bout with the birth of his son taking place during his training camp, and instead of distracting him, he claims it has made him more focused on winning having that new edition to his family.
This weekends fight will give a clearer picture of the light heavyweight division as it will show the world if Hopkins can keep defying age and beat another top up-and-comer, or it will solidify Kovalev’s name in the sport as a legit rising star with a win over a big name that his naysayers have been questioning his career on.
