I doubt Hopkins is dickriding him though. It's merely respect towards a fighter who thoroughly beat him since no one else did besides RJJ over 20 years ago. Now I don't deny that there is a bit of hype in there with HBO involved as well, but I think it's genuine respect at the end of the day. Also, Kovalev was not hurt at any point in the fight. Stunned, yes. Whenever Pascal landed a bomb, Kova would initially defend/clinch or fight off the flurry of shots then go back to what he was doing all along -- being the aggressor. I just wish he threw his jab more often to setup his shots because each time he did that he was successful.
The WBC will enforce it but will Haymon allow it? That is the million dollar question. We already saw how Peter Quillin had to drop his title and turn down $1.4m rather than fight his mandatory (because it didn't fit into Haymons PBC plans). I think the only way it happens is if it goes to a purse bid and Haymon wins. Then we got a fight and perhaps it would be on NBC or something. But then again maybe not. Haymon seems to have specific plans for his PBC Championship boxing series and I'm not sure he'd want to risk a non Haymon fighter taking out one of his guys, but we'll just have to wait and see.