Bernard Hopkins vs Kovalev (November)
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@HERESY
How do you feel about Kovalev and Jackson saying they have no strategy or game plan for Hopkins? And that Kovalev will just fight how he always fights llike it's a regular fight?
I remember when Roach and Pacquiao said they had no game plan for JMM 4, and that's the moment I picked Marquez to win. I know this is totally different scenarios, with a big hitter fighting a 50 year old man, but whenever I hear stuff like that it makes me question how prepared that fighter will be. If Kovalev for example isn't catching Hopkins clean like the way he wants, does he have a plan B? Can he adapt on the fly?
I WOULD THINK IT JUST MEANS THEY ARE WORKING ON EVERYTHING AND NOTHING IN SPECIFIC TO BE BETTER PREPARED.
AND I ALSO BELIEVE MARQUEZ WOULD HAVE GOT KO'D HIMSELF IF HE DID NOT LAND THAT SHOT...MANNY WAS STARTING TO PEPPER HIM WITH BIG SHOTS THAT JMM HAD NO ANSWER FOR UNTIL THE BIG SHOT..HE LOOKED PRETTY GOOD UNTIL WALKING IN TO THAT PERFECTLY TIMED RIGHT HAND....
AND I ALSO BELIEVE MARQUEZ WOULD HAVE GOT KO'D HIMSELF IF HE DID NOT LAND THAT SHOT...MANNY WAS STARTING TO PEPPER HIM WITH BIG SHOTS THAT JMM HAD NO ANSWER FOR UNTIL THE BIG SHOT..HE LOOKED PRETTY GOOD UNTIL WALKING IN TO THAT PERFECTLY TIMED RIGHT HAND....
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2-0-Sixx and 2-0-Sixx
@HERESY
How do you feel about Kovalev and Jackson saying they have no strategy or game plan for Hopkins? And that Kovalev will just fight how he always fights llike it's a regular fight?
I remember when Roach and Pacquiao said they had no game plan for JMM 4, and that's the moment I picked Marquez to win. I know this is totally different scenarios, with a big hitter fighting a 50 year old man, but whenever I hear stuff like that it makes me question how prepared that fighter will be. If Kovalev for example isn't catching Hopkins clean like the way he wants, does he have a plan B? Can he adapt on the fly?
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2-0-Sixx and 2-0-Sixx
Tim Bradley: I Got Hopkins All Day, He Will Beat Kovalev!
By Edward Chaykovsky
Former two division champion Timothy Bradley is picking WBA/IBF light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins, 49-years-old, to continue his incredible career forward with a tough win over the dangerous WBO champion, Sergey Kovalev. The fight is going to take place on Saturday night from the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
Bradley is giving the far more experienced veteran the edge, believing he will use the Russian's strength and deadly power against him. Kovalev has closed 23 of his 25 wins inside the distance. He loves to go for the knockout and the same is expected here.
"I always go with the boxer, the man that’s fifty years old, still has fresh legs, that can move and think and outbox his opponent, I have to go with that guy. Even though the young Russian guy that’s a big puncher and has some decent speed, he hasn’t faced anything close to Bernard Hopkins yet in his career. He hasn’t seen a guy like Bernard Hopkins who’s very crafty, who’s been around the block, who knows the ins and outs of the ring, he’s like a wizard," Bradley told On The Ropes Boxing Radio .
"I’m thinking Bernard Hopkins, I’m thinking a close fight but Bernard Hopkins is definitely gonna outthink this guy. He’s gonna use his strengths against him, he’s gonna be sitting there trying to knock Bernard out and he’s gonna be missing all these shots and Bernard’s just gonna be popping him from the outside and catching him with counters. I’m curious to see that fight, I think it’s an interesting fight. I got Bernard Hopkins all the way. He should win this fight, no problem and continue to make history."
By Edward Chaykovsky
Former two division champion Timothy Bradley is picking WBA/IBF light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins, 49-years-old, to continue his incredible career forward with a tough win over the dangerous WBO champion, Sergey Kovalev. The fight is going to take place on Saturday night from the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
Bradley is giving the far more experienced veteran the edge, believing he will use the Russian's strength and deadly power against him. Kovalev has closed 23 of his 25 wins inside the distance. He loves to go for the knockout and the same is expected here.
"I always go with the boxer, the man that’s fifty years old, still has fresh legs, that can move and think and outbox his opponent, I have to go with that guy. Even though the young Russian guy that’s a big puncher and has some decent speed, he hasn’t faced anything close to Bernard Hopkins yet in his career. He hasn’t seen a guy like Bernard Hopkins who’s very crafty, who’s been around the block, who knows the ins and outs of the ring, he’s like a wizard," Bradley told On The Ropes Boxing Radio .
"I’m thinking Bernard Hopkins, I’m thinking a close fight but Bernard Hopkins is definitely gonna outthink this guy. He’s gonna use his strengths against him, he’s gonna be sitting there trying to knock Bernard out and he’s gonna be missing all these shots and Bernard’s just gonna be popping him from the outside and catching him with counters. I’m curious to see that fight, I think it’s an interesting fight. I got Bernard Hopkins all the way. He should win this fight, no problem and continue to make history."
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2-0-Sixx and 2-0-Sixx
Interesting stat I stumbled on.
Kovalev will be the 12th time Hopkins has faced an undefeated fighter. How does that stack up compared to the rest of the active big names?
Hopkins - 12
Klitschko - 11
Pacquiao - 10
Cotto - 8
Marquez - 5
Khan - 5
Bradley - 4
Canelo - 4
Mayweather - 3
*Early career Pro debut opponents are excluded
Kovalev will be the 12th time Hopkins has faced an undefeated fighter. How does that stack up compared to the rest of the active big names?
Hopkins - 12
Klitschko - 11
Pacquiao - 10
Cotto - 8
Marquez - 5
Khan - 5
Bradley - 4
Canelo - 4
Mayweather - 3
*Early career Pro debut opponents are excluded
Reflecting on Hopkins Hall of Fame career
Hopkins was born in 1965 and has seen:
*** Nine U.S. Presidents (Johnson, Nixon. Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama)
*** The world's population more than double, from 3.3 billion to over 7 billion
*** The average price of gas rise from 31 cents a gallon all the way up to three dollars and thirty-five cents
A 23-year-old Hopkins turned professional in October 1988.* How long ago was that?
*** Sergey Kovalev was only five years old
*** Mike Tyson was Ring Magazine's top fighter in the world pound-for-pound
*** Ronald Regan was President of the United States
*** "Rain Man" was the top film of the year
Hopkins earned his first world title shot, a loss to Roy Jones Jr. in May 1993. At that same time:
*** Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. was boxing's pound-for-pound king
*** Mike Tyson was a prisoner in Indiana
*** The USSR had collapsed
*** "The Bridges of Madison County" topped the New York Times bestseller list
Hopkins began his historic reign as middleweight champion with a seventh-round stoppage of Segundo Mercado for the IBF crown in May, 1995, the same time that:
*** Pernell Whitaker followed Chavez Sr. as the pound-for-pound king while Hopkins quietly built his case
*** Whitney Houston graced the cover of Ebony magazine
*** Montell Jordan's "This is How We Do It" sat atop the music charts
*** Today's pop sensations Justin Bieber and Harry Styles were only one-year-old and Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez were just two
2001 was a banner year for Hopkins as he earned a place in the middleweight unification tournament. He defeated Keith Holmes for the WBC crown in April and set his sights on WBA Champion Felix Trinidad in September at Madison Square Garden.* Their classic encounter was delayed two weeks by the events of 9/11, the then-36 year old Hopkins memorably stopped "Tito" in 12 rounds and tied Carlos Monzon's record for consecutive title defenses at 14. Hopkins did this while:
*** A 17-year old Sergey Kovalev won the Russian Junior Championships Silver Medal at middleweight
*** Hasim Rahman was the heavyweight champion of the world after knocking out Lennox Lewis
*** The second George Bush had been president for less than a year
*** "The West Wing" won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series
The year 2004 would be memorable for Hopkins as he rose to the top of the pound-for-pound ranks following Antonio Tarver's defeat of Jones and in September knocked out Oscar De La Hoya in the ninth round to become the first person to unify four titles in any weight class while at the same time:
*** Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez had just fought to a draw in their first of four fights
*** An electric young speaker at the year's Democratic National Convention named Barack Obama would be elected to the U.S. Senate just months later
*** LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwayne Wade had all just finished their rookie seasons in the NBA
*** Michael Phelps won six gold medals in swimming while competing in his first Olympic games
Hopkins finally lost the middleweight crown in 2005 and, at age 41, decided to jump two weight classes to start the next phase of his career. In June 2006, he defeated Antonio Tarver for the Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight title.*
In 2009, Sergey Kovalev would turn professional with a first round knockout. By this time, Hopkins had already fought 56 times professionally.
In May 2011, Hopkins defeated Jean Pascal for the Ring Magazine and WBC Light Heavyweight titles.* At age 46, Hopkins broke George Foreman's record and became the oldest world champion in boxing history.
Throughout the Philadelphia-native and five-time world champion's illustrious career, only one major sports team from Philadelphia has won a championship, the 2008 Phillies.
In the summer on 2014, Hopkins watched former foes De La Hoya, Trinidad, and Calzaghe go into the International Boxing Hall of Fame together.
Then, he signed to fight Kovalev.
Bernard Hopkins belongs to history even as he keeps making it
Hopkins was born in 1965 and has seen:
*** Nine U.S. Presidents (Johnson, Nixon. Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama)
*** The world's population more than double, from 3.3 billion to over 7 billion
*** The average price of gas rise from 31 cents a gallon all the way up to three dollars and thirty-five cents
A 23-year-old Hopkins turned professional in October 1988.* How long ago was that?
*** Sergey Kovalev was only five years old
*** Mike Tyson was Ring Magazine's top fighter in the world pound-for-pound
*** Ronald Regan was President of the United States
*** "Rain Man" was the top film of the year
Hopkins earned his first world title shot, a loss to Roy Jones Jr. in May 1993. At that same time:
*** Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. was boxing's pound-for-pound king
*** Mike Tyson was a prisoner in Indiana
*** The USSR had collapsed
*** "The Bridges of Madison County" topped the New York Times bestseller list
Hopkins began his historic reign as middleweight champion with a seventh-round stoppage of Segundo Mercado for the IBF crown in May, 1995, the same time that:
*** Pernell Whitaker followed Chavez Sr. as the pound-for-pound king while Hopkins quietly built his case
*** Whitney Houston graced the cover of Ebony magazine
*** Montell Jordan's "This is How We Do It" sat atop the music charts
*** Today's pop sensations Justin Bieber and Harry Styles were only one-year-old and Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez were just two
2001 was a banner year for Hopkins as he earned a place in the middleweight unification tournament. He defeated Keith Holmes for the WBC crown in April and set his sights on WBA Champion Felix Trinidad in September at Madison Square Garden.* Their classic encounter was delayed two weeks by the events of 9/11, the then-36 year old Hopkins memorably stopped "Tito" in 12 rounds and tied Carlos Monzon's record for consecutive title defenses at 14. Hopkins did this while:
*** A 17-year old Sergey Kovalev won the Russian Junior Championships Silver Medal at middleweight
*** Hasim Rahman was the heavyweight champion of the world after knocking out Lennox Lewis
*** The second George Bush had been president for less than a year
*** "The West Wing" won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series
The year 2004 would be memorable for Hopkins as he rose to the top of the pound-for-pound ranks following Antonio Tarver's defeat of Jones and in September knocked out Oscar De La Hoya in the ninth round to become the first person to unify four titles in any weight class while at the same time:
*** Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez had just fought to a draw in their first of four fights
*** An electric young speaker at the year's Democratic National Convention named Barack Obama would be elected to the U.S. Senate just months later
*** LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwayne Wade had all just finished their rookie seasons in the NBA
*** Michael Phelps won six gold medals in swimming while competing in his first Olympic games
Hopkins finally lost the middleweight crown in 2005 and, at age 41, decided to jump two weight classes to start the next phase of his career. In June 2006, he defeated Antonio Tarver for the Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight title.*
In 2009, Sergey Kovalev would turn professional with a first round knockout. By this time, Hopkins had already fought 56 times professionally.
In May 2011, Hopkins defeated Jean Pascal for the Ring Magazine and WBC Light Heavyweight titles.* At age 46, Hopkins broke George Foreman's record and became the oldest world champion in boxing history.
Throughout the Philadelphia-native and five-time world champion's illustrious career, only one major sports team from Philadelphia has won a championship, the 2008 Phillies.
In the summer on 2014, Hopkins watched former foes De La Hoya, Trinidad, and Calzaghe go into the International Boxing Hall of Fame together.
Then, he signed to fight Kovalev.
Bernard Hopkins belongs to history even as he keeps making it
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RM211 and RM211
Hopkins: Ignored 'because I'm black'
PHILADELPHIA -- Unified light heavyweight titlist Bernard Hopkins believes race is the reason his pursuit of history hasn't been a bigger story outside of boxing.
Hopkins, who set records as the oldest boxer to win and defend world titles, will be two months shy of 50 when he faces unbeaten Sergey Kovalev in Saturday's light heavyweight title unification bout at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
In an exclusive interview with ESPN.com, Hopkins was asked the reason his record-setting run in recent years hasn't transcended the sport.
"[It's] because I'm black," Hopkins said before the start of his media workout at the Joe Hand Boxing Gym. "What do you think if my name was Augustine, Herzenstein, Stern? Cappello? Marciano? Don't you understand the conflict of interest?
"If I was any of those names of any other background, I'd be on every billboard and every milk carton and every place to be. If we're talking 'American Dream,' here's a guy who almost threw his life away and he took this great country's great attributes and used it -- do for self, work hard and be a law-abiding citizen. I've done that for 26 years."
Hopkins (55-6-2, 32 KOs), who set a middleweight record with 20 title defenses from 1996 to 2005, was released from prison in 1988 after serving nearly five years for armed robbery.
"If you really look at it, I have done the 'American Dream' that people have died on boats to come here to live," Hopkins said. "I have done all of that and then you look back and say, 'Wait a minute, what's wrong here?' A lot of people are not bold to say it, but I am."
Hopkins is no stranger to speaking out about race. In 2011, he made national headlines for comments about then-Washington Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb not being "black enough."
On Saturday, Hopkins faces possibly his most dangerous challenge in more than a decade against Kovalev (25-0-1, 23 KOs), the feared Russian slugger whose 2011 opponent, Roman Simakov, died three days later from brain injuries suffered in the bout.
Hopkins claims a victory over the favored Kovalev wouldn't be enough to crack his top three of most significant in-ring performances. He reserves the top spot for his 2008 upset of unbeaten middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik in a 170-pound catchweight bout.
"That was the greatest moment of my life because it was undeniably white against black," Hopkins said. "The American story against the thug, even though he changed his life. The convicted felon. So it was me representing an entity that had changed in spite of what they say you should be able to do. But once you do it, they really don't want you to do it.
"And so I exposed it and I beat him easily after being a 6-to-1 underdog. And, matter of fact, it even went further. I ruined his life. I ruined his career."
Pavlik was never the same after losing to Hopkins. He surrendered his middleweight title two years later to Sergio Martinez amid troubles with alcohol and retired from the sport in January 2013 at the age of 30.
PHILADELPHIA -- Unified light heavyweight titlist Bernard Hopkins believes race is the reason his pursuit of history hasn't been a bigger story outside of boxing.
Hopkins, who set records as the oldest boxer to win and defend world titles, will be two months shy of 50 when he faces unbeaten Sergey Kovalev in Saturday's light heavyweight title unification bout at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
In an exclusive interview with ESPN.com, Hopkins was asked the reason his record-setting run in recent years hasn't transcended the sport.
"[It's] because I'm black," Hopkins said before the start of his media workout at the Joe Hand Boxing Gym. "What do you think if my name was Augustine, Herzenstein, Stern? Cappello? Marciano? Don't you understand the conflict of interest?
"If I was any of those names of any other background, I'd be on every billboard and every milk carton and every place to be. If we're talking 'American Dream,' here's a guy who almost threw his life away and he took this great country's great attributes and used it -- do for self, work hard and be a law-abiding citizen. I've done that for 26 years."
Hopkins (55-6-2, 32 KOs), who set a middleweight record with 20 title defenses from 1996 to 2005, was released from prison in 1988 after serving nearly five years for armed robbery.
"If you really look at it, I have done the 'American Dream' that people have died on boats to come here to live," Hopkins said. "I have done all of that and then you look back and say, 'Wait a minute, what's wrong here?' A lot of people are not bold to say it, but I am."
Hopkins is no stranger to speaking out about race. In 2011, he made national headlines for comments about then-Washington Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb not being "black enough."
On Saturday, Hopkins faces possibly his most dangerous challenge in more than a decade against Kovalev (25-0-1, 23 KOs), the feared Russian slugger whose 2011 opponent, Roman Simakov, died three days later from brain injuries suffered in the bout.
Hopkins claims a victory over the favored Kovalev wouldn't be enough to crack his top three of most significant in-ring performances. He reserves the top spot for his 2008 upset of unbeaten middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik in a 170-pound catchweight bout.
"That was the greatest moment of my life because it was undeniably white against black," Hopkins said. "The American story against the thug, even though he changed his life. The convicted felon. So it was me representing an entity that had changed in spite of what they say you should be able to do. But once you do it, they really don't want you to do it.
"And so I exposed it and I beat him easily after being a 6-to-1 underdog. And, matter of fact, it even went further. I ruined his life. I ruined his career."
Pavlik was never the same after losing to Hopkins. He surrendered his middleweight title two years later to Sergio Martinez amid troubles with alcohol and retired from the sport in January 2013 at the age of 30.
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I like how everyone made a big deal about what Hopkins said about if he was white he'd be way more popular and probably making way more money. They may not want to hear that but it's 100% true.
Just like if Wladimir Klitschko was Warren Whiteman he'd be adored by Americans and would likely be selling PPV's. A successful white man in boxing is going to popular in America, a successful white man making the kind of history Hopkins is making would be in Kia commercials. I don't think it's even really an argument to made against what he's saying.
Although I could've done without the Pavlik comments at the end.
Just like if Wladimir Klitschko was Warren Whiteman he'd be adored by Americans and would likely be selling PPV's. A successful white man in boxing is going to popular in America, a successful white man making the kind of history Hopkins is making would be in Kia commercials. I don't think it's even really an argument to made against what he's saying.
Although I could've done without the Pavlik comments at the end.
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Lu_, Lu_, CZAR and 11 others
can't really argue against it. What Hopkins has done, what he's doing, is criminally ignored by the mainstream press. Sure, he'll get a nice article around fight time, or a brief interview maybe on a mainstream network, but for what he's accomplished at this age is arguably one of the greatest accomplishments of any sport. Not just boxing, any sport.
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Lu_, Lu_, CZAR and 11 others
Kinda weird seeing Kovalev avoid eye contact as long as possible
Hopkins 173.5 Kovalev 174.5
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Hopkins 173.5 Kovalev 174.5
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trips and trips