Yes I know he said he's #2 behind Mayweather as Al Haymons priority, which is still delusional.
As I said, I haven't called him a ducker yet. Actions speak louder than words. Plenty of guys have said they'll fight this guy or that guy and go a different direction, time will tell.
As for Hopkins vs Kovalev there was no duck. This is exactly what happened:
Murat was Hopkins IBF mandatory fight.
Murat had visa problems.
The IBF elevated Kovalev to mandatory status.
Hopkins said there is no way he would vacate his IBF title and will fight Kovalev.
Golden Boy says they'll need to negotiate with Kathy Duva (Kovalevs promoter).
The fight will go to a purse bid. No date, venue or purse are set.
Meanwhile, one of tue other title holders, Nathen Cleverly, offers an immediate fight for Kovalev. Date, venue, HBO slot, and purse already laid out. No purse bid necessary.
Kovalev accepts challenge.
Murat clears visa issues.
IBF elevates Murat back to mandatory spot.
Hopkins own words:
“What happened for the mandatory when [Kovalev] was supposed to fight me?,” Hopkins asked.* “When Karo Murat was not able to get a visa to come over to fight me at the Barclays Center on July 13, the IBF said to me, ‘You’ve got to fight Kovalev.’ I don’t know if they thought I was going to say no. I said yes.
“Next thing I know, they were fighting Cleverly and not me. So does that tell you that he wanted to fight a 48-year-old man? Or he wanted to fight the guy that was less talented, but just had a belt? It’s called a paper champion in my era. There’s a lot of paper champions in a lot of divisions that are hustling, whose managers are hustling paper champions until they get a big payday.”
“I would like to say congratulations to Main Events and Kovalev for taking the easiest and the safest way out in the light heavyweight division,” Hopkins said, “by passing up on a mandatory that they were giving by the IBF, when Karo Murat couldn’t get his visa, and they chose the least of the light heavyweight champions of the world. And that was Cleverly. That was great management by Kathy Duva and Main Events.”
“John David Jackson, who worked with me, and who also was one of my [middleweight title] defenses in my division, you know what John David Jackson said?,” Hopkins said following FOX Sports 1’s broadcast Monday night from Best Buy Theater in Times Square. “John David Jackson said, ‘Don’t fight Hopkins, because Hopkins will ruin your fighter’s career.’ And that’s why Kovalev and Main Events, Kathy Duva, bypassed the mandatory with me and fought Cleverly.”
“Kovalev is a threat to anybody if he can do what he did to Cleverly the other day,” Hopkins said. “But I’m Bernard Hopkins and I’ve proven many times that if you come to a gun battle just because you can punch, then you’re a damn fool. Because I’m going to take that gun from you and you’re going to run.
“Now you become the rabbit and I become the hunter. How do you adjust to that style in the fifth and sixth and seventh rounds, when you’re used to knocking people out in less than four rounds? But now you’re in deep water, when you haven’t learned to swim.”