"Alien" Hopkins vs "Krusher" Kovalev Post fight Discussion thread

[fighter1234]

round 12 was epic, found respect for hopkins after all, dude take it like a real man.

It took that to earn your your respect? Hopkins has been about that his whole career. Never ducked anybody, always fought the best, and you just now found respect for him?

[Skip Bayless]

I never made a prediction coz I havnt seen enough of kovalev but man im impressed. He controlled the range, pace, faints etc. Bhop has trouble against range fighters who use jab. Excellent perfermance. Bhop should retire last round was brutal, I think he would do better against stevenson though

[Fists_of_Fury]

Overrated because of age! He would lose in his prime against an athletic hard punching sound technical fighter in Kovalev. Jones Jr., Taylor, Dawson, and Calzaghe all beat him. Hell even early on against the fat and small Oscar Hopkins wasn't impressive. Hopkins resume is nowhere near Mayweather, Pac, Jones Jr., or even Oscar except for his longevity and age. Losses count, past prime/good older fighters get credit downgraded, paper champs are considered cherry picks for the p4p elite. Only moving up 2 divisions for the others who doubled would be critery to classify a different league for the doublers+ fighters. Kovalev is a really good fighter. His power scared the old man. Hopkins was scared into fighting a pretty clean fight lol. Age alone is Hopkins legacy... he's lost and cherry picked. Call a spade a spade Age without OST testing. Andre Ward was ducked for a reason. I think Stevenson might have got the KO over Bhop due to stance and style clash. Kovalev vs Stevenson is 50/50 but I'm riding with Kovalev over Super duck.

[Dean_Razorback]

It took that to earn your your respect? Hopkins has been about that his whole career. Never ducked anybody, always fought the best, and you just now found respect for him?

never enjoyed any of his fights (too dirty for my taste), besides the constant talking about himself... that always drove me away.

[Tarl of Bristol]

Respect to Bhop. Nothing but respect for him and Nathan Cleverly for voluntarily defending their belts against Kovalev

It took some stones for BHop to take this fight. He groosly underestimated Krusher's power and boxing skills. BHop displayed his ATG chin because those shots would've knocked most any other light heavy out.

The thing is, I see BHop beating up Adonis Stepehnson if they fight and I think they will. Its just that Krusher Kovalev is the class of the light heavies and nobody currently at that weight is going to beat him any time soon.

Krusher showed some mad boxing skills and he refused to allow BHop to roughhouse. When BHop grabbed Krusher around the waist and tried to bull him around, Krusher just grabbed him in a headlock. Krusher knew to get his head away when they were clinched up so he could avoid the headbutt. After an exchange when BHop tried to clinch, Krusher got a quick punch off and just wrapped BHop up. very smart fight by Krusher and he put on a boxing lesson tonight.

[Tobi.G]

I really thought Hopkins would fake an injury or get the fight DQed if Kovalev would be to much für him but he earned much respect in proving me wrong.
I thought he would pull out an RJJ 2 or Chad Dawson 1 type of thing if things dont go his way.
Besides that i think Stevenson would beat Hopkins as well. Stevenson is almost on the same Level as Kovalev. But it doesnt do him good that hes running away from risky fights. In doing that he earned the reputation of an Aduckis Duckinson.

[Foreign Soil]

My thoughts on the fight:

1) Kovalev is a MF'n beast. Okay that's not news. We knew that. But he also outboxed BERNARD HOPKINS for 12 straight rounds. Let that sink in.

2) Incredible respect to Hopkins for the class he displayed at the end of the fight. And also just as much respect to him for going out on his shield in the 12th. He gave it a shot in the end even though he almost got literally killed for it.

You know it was hard for Bernard to admit defeat like that. He swallowed his pride for the first time in his career and gave some respect, though you know it was painful to do but not as painful as the shots he took. Respek.

[DoubleMM]

Now I hope Abregu loses because he wouldn't STFU about being the most avoided WW

It took that to earn your your respect? Hopkins has been about that his whole career. Never ducked anybody, always fought the best, and you just now found respect for him?

huh, dude faked injuries to get out of fights, to get himself time, THATS DISREPECTING THE SPORT...

o and that RJJ-BHOP fight??? did that ever happen?

[The Problem Child]

Hopkins got spanked lol and I enjoyed every second of it but after it is all said and done...

I do have appreciation and respect for Hopkins though, it is hard not to. At 49 years of age putting himself in a situation like this truly for honor and legacy when he could have avoided it with so many pretexts at his disposal. Meanwhile you have younger champions in their prime or near it ducking and avoiding others for BS reasons. Hopkins showed that if you truly want a fight, you can make it happen.

Watching him in the post fight interview I sort of wanted to reach out and thank him lol, let him know I respect what he has done in the sport and what he did for this fight. It is admirable. The gallant way in which he spoke about the fight and about the state of this sport felt so real, specially after he had just finished backing up what he preaches. He ended the fight giving fans a spectacle, fighting it out like a true legend... while you have younger fighters running around the ring looking at the clock in those final rounds.

I could literally write 20 paragraphs about my respect for Hopkins (no joke) so I'll wrap it up. I take my hat off to him as a person and as a fighter. He has qualities that I strive to acquire. Yeah his fighting style isn't one of my favorites but judging him by his best moments, he has left one hell of a mark in the sport; both morally and politically. He is an example of what a fighter should be.

And of course, props to Kovalev... EXCELLENT performance. He outsmarted Hopkins. He disabled Hopkins' tactics with not only his power but his movement and timing (which is what surprised me the most). IMHO, a brilliant performance, his best to date.

[lepinthehood]

where is jas hehe