Will Hopkins prevail in tonight's bout? Opinions appreciated.

[DCI]

Bernard Hopkins, a marvel professional boxer at 49 years old, will be going up against
Sergey Kovalev. Ban Hopkins out maneuver Kovalev and avoid the power punches?

I would appreciate the RSB's folks to comment.

DCI

[Juan Anonly]

Post by DCI
Bernard Hopkins, a marvel professional boxer at 49 years old, will be going up against
Sergey Kovalev. Ban Hopkins out maneuver Kovalev and avoid the power punches?
I would appreciate the RSB's folks to comment.

No, but it will go much longer than everybody expects nd Kovalev will
be shown to be somewhat less the precision mean that GGG is. I think
Kovalev may even flounder in the middle rounds. But he's got so much
power, and he's got enough rounds to find the sweet spot. I'm guessing
a stoppage in the 8th or 9th round.

Purely a guess--not a diagnostic reading.

[Juan Anonly]

Post by Juan Anonly

Post by DCI
Bernard Hopkins, a marvel professional boxer at 49 years old, will be going up against
Sergey Kovalev. Ban Hopkins out maneuver Kovalev and avoid the power punches?
I would appreciate the RSB's folks to comment.

No, but it will go much longer than everybody expects nd Kovalev will
be shown to be somewhat less the precision mean that GGG is. I think
Kovalev may even flounder in the middle rounds. But he's got so much
power, and he's got enough rounds to find the sweet spot. I'm guessing
a stoppage in the 8th or 9th round.
Purely a guess--not a diagnostic reading.

Sad to see BHop go. Oh well, bye, bro!

Moving on: Kovalev impressed the hell out of me. He didn't come in
flayling away trying to knock BHop out. He didn't let himself get
suckered into inside fighting, he stayed on the outside! I don't
believe it.

So he blew me away with qualities I really did not imagine he had:
Patience, the ability to follow his corner's instructions. They told
him jab to the body and if you get things going, left hook. For the
next two rounds he did *exactly* that. Following your corner's
explicit instructions is not something most boxers get close to doing.

But the really impressive part is the part nobody had seen: He sailed
into and through the 12th without any show of being run-down, out of
gas or pooped. He looked fresher than most boxers do in the 12th, and
showed not one iota of burnout (to my eyes), during the whole fight. In
fact I thought he was a bit too measured and restrained frankly--but he
still one every single round.

Kudos to Kovalev.

[a***@googlemail.com]

Post by DCI
Bernard Hopkins, a marvel professional boxer at 49 years old, will be going up against
Sergey Kovalev. Ban Hopkins out maneuver Kovalev and avoid the power punches?
I would appreciate the RSB's folks to comment.
DCI

I trust there will be a prediction forthcoming in the next 48 hours or so? :)

[SkippyPB]

Post by a***@googlemail.com

Post by DCI
Bernard Hopkins, a marvel professional boxer at 49 years old, will be going up against
Sergey Kovalev. Ban Hopkins out maneuver Kovalev and avoid the power punches?
I would appreciate the RSB's folks to comment.
DCI

I trust there will be a prediction forthcoming in the next 48 hours or so? :)

Well the old man couldn't do it. It would have been totally amazing
had Hopkins beat the undefeated Kovalev. But with scores of 120-107,
and 120-106 all for Kovalev, it wasn't meant to be. Kovalev now picks
up Hopkins' two titles.

But Bernard still can boast that he's never been knocked out. And he
made Kovalezv go further than he's ever had to do before.

Regards,
--
(o o)
"People who think they know everything are a great
annoyance to those of us who do."
-- Issac Asimov
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Remove nospam to email me.

Steve

[Patrick Kehoe]

Post by SkippyPB

Post by a***@googlemail.com

Post by DCI
Bernard Hopkins, a marvel professional boxer at 49 years old, will be going up against
Sergey Kovalev. Ban Hopkins out maneuver Kovalev and avoid the power punches?
I would appreciate the RSB's folks to comment.
DCI

I trust there will be a prediction forthcoming in the next 48 hours or so? :)

Well the old man couldn't do it. It would have been totally amazing
had Hopkins beat the undefeated Kovalev. But with scores of 120-107,
and 120-106 all for Kovalev, it wasn't meant to be. Kovalev now picks
up Hopkins' two titles.
But Bernard still can boast that he's never been knocked out. And he
made Kovalezv go further than he's ever had to do before.
Regards,
--
(o o)
"People who think they know everything are a great
annoyance to those of us who do."
-- Issac Asimov
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Remove nospam to email me.
Steve

Well, BHop was certainly ready to go at the close of the final round... he was hanging on for dear life... He was fortunate to get to the corner on his feet, frankly...

P

[Juan Anonly]

Post by Patrick Kehoe

Post by SkippyPB

Post by a***@googlemail.com

Post by DCI
Bernard Hopkins, a marvel professional boxer at 49 years old, will be
going up against
Sergey Kovalev. Ban Hopkins out maneuver Kovalev and avoid the power punches?
I would appreciate the RSB's folks to comment.
DCI

I trust there will be a prediction forthcoming in the next 48 hours or so? :)

Well the old man couldn't do it. It would have been totally amazing
had Hopkins beat the undefeated Kovalev. But with scores of 120-107,
and 120-106 all for Kovalev, it wasn't meant to be. Kovalev now picks
up Hopkins' two titles.
But Bernard still can boast that he's never been knocked out. And he
made Kovalezv go further than he's ever had to do before.
Regards,
--
(o o)
"People who think they know everything are a great
annoyance to those of us who do."
-- Issac Asimov
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Remove nospam to email me.
Steve

Well, BHop was certainly ready to go at the close of the final round...
he was hanging on for dear life... He was fortunate to get to the
corner on his feet, frankly...

Yup, yup. For sure. But he DID stay on his feet, and he DID get back
to his corner.

[Patrick Kehoe]

Post by a***@googlemail.com

Post by DCI
Bernard Hopkins, a marvel professional boxer at 49 years old, will be going up against
Sergey Kovalev. Ban Hopkins out maneuver Kovalev and avoid the power punches?
I would appreciate the RSB's folks to comment.
DCI

I trust there will be a prediction forthcoming in the next 48 hours or so? :)

Right... Donn needs to get all the facts - er, results - first... as you know...

:))

P

[Patrick Kehoe]

Post by DCI
Bernard Hopkins, a marvel professional boxer at 49 years old, will be going up against
Sergey Kovalev. Ban Hopkins out maneuver Kovalev and avoid the power punches?
I would appreciate the RSB's folks to comment.
DCI

I know we are getting old (smirk) Donn, but you cannot ever forget that many of us rely on you to tell us who is going to win these encounters...

Cheers Donn,
Patrick Kehoe

[DCI]

Post by Patrick Kehoe

Post by DCI
Bernard Hopkins, a marvel professional boxer at 49 years old, will be going up against
Sergey Kovalev. Ban Hopkins out maneuver Kovalev and avoid the power punches?
I would appreciate the RSB's folks to comment.
DCI

I know we are getting old (smirk) Donn, but you cannot ever forget that many of us rely on you to tell us who is going to win these encounters...
Cheers Donn,
Patrick Kehoe

I have found very well thought wisdom about boxers among the posts from RSB folks.

DCI

PS: Twenty years ago, Kovalev wouldn't stand a chance with Hopkins. :)

[That SOB Van Owen]

Post by DCI
PS: Twenty years ago, Kovalev wouldn't stand a chance with Hopkins. :)

But Kovalev was only 11!

;)

That SOB Van Owen

[DCI]

Post by That SOB Van Owen

Post by DCI
PS: Twenty years ago, Kovalev wouldn't stand a chance with Hopkins. :)

But Kovalev was only 11!
;)
That SOB Van Owen

Duh!

:)

DCI

[Emanuel Berg]

Post by DCI
Hopkins, a marvel professional boxer at 49 years
old, will be going up against Sergey Kovalev. Ban
Hopkins out maneuver Kovalev and avoid the power
punches?
I would appreciate the RSB's folks to comment.

Thi-hi. Though it wasn't in this thread, I hope you
all remember what I wrote on rec.sport.boxing on

Thu, 09 Oct 2014 22:09:14 +0200 (4 weeks, 4 days ago)

namely:

So B-HOP didn't fight anyone really good since
2012-04-28 (the second Dawson fight) ... I
actually think this will be a chock to B-HOP and
Kovalev will ... KO him or win one-sided on the
scorecards.

I have been wrong thousands of time. Well, maybe a
hundred. Let's say 50. But this time I sure nailed it,
so it is only fair I get to boast a little :)

Now, I actually don't think my prediction was in the
least controversial. I knew Hopkins had fought weak
opposition for a long time (again, see if you can find
that old post if you think this is interesting and
didn't read it then), and I knew Kovalev is great. So
I am actually more surprised so many media-people had
Hopkins winning!

The problem with "the technician" style with footwork
and single punches and all is that it works best
against people who themselves are sloppy. Kovalev is
not - on the contrary, he is very solid and sound. His
footwork is very good. He is not easy to hit.

Also, it was a bit silly when the HBO commentators
were saying B-Hop was taking Kovalev to the late
rounds because "Kovalev hasn't been there", perhaps
his stamina will fade... c'mon, dream on! A
professional boxer, aged 31, schooled in
the Soviet Union and then modern Russia - believe me,
he has "been to" all places we can think of (and then
some).

All and all, all well and good: B-Hop didn't look a
fool and save for a few punches the last round he
shouldn't have sustained permanent injury (I hope to
God) - this fight could have gone much, much wore for
him!

I totally disagree with Roy Jones Jr (for the first
time, I think) that B-Hop should fight
Adonis Stevenson. Stevenson is also a hell of a
puncher (as is Kovalev) and he isn't sloppy either so
"the technician" style won't work there either. If
B-Hop does that, he will be at the gods mercy once
more. I think B-Hop loves boxing, so why don't he
start a gym, convert to coach, or even run a whole
amateur project - in the US, or actually wherever? (He
is very welcome to Sweden where his wisdom would be
put to good use :)) But just don't put your health on
the line again, old man - enjoy life with rest as well
as new activity, you earned it!

[b***@gmail.com]

Post by DCI
Bernard Hopkins, a marvel professional boxer at 49 years old, will be going up against
Sergey Kovalev. Ban Hopkins out maneuver Kovalev and avoid the power punches?
I would appreciate the RSB's folks to comment.
DCI

What I thought was interesting was that there was a good deal of talk about Kovalev's possible lack of stamina if the fight went into the late rounds. As it turned out, John David Jackson had his fighter training for twelve 4 minute rounds consecutively. Obviously, no worries on that account.

[That SOB Van Owen]

Post by DCI
Bernard Hopkins, a marvel professional boxer at 49 years old, will be going up against
Sergey Kovalev. Ban Hopkins out maneuver Kovalev and avoid the power punches?
I would appreciate the RSB's folks to comment.

I'm usually keen to make predictions but I felt I did not dare to in
this fight. It was a momentous thing that Hopkins was attempting. I
rooted for him definitely. I leaned neither one way nor the other as
to who might win.

Nobody that called it for Hopkins should feel stupid. I read that a
slight majority of boxing journalists leaned Hopkins, not as an
emotional hang-on to an old champion, but rather a methodic appraisal
of recent performances, styles, and so forth.

The match ended ridiculously one-sided, however to me it was
neverthless a good match. An element of thrill was always present in
that we hoped Hopkins would somehow find the magic.

Kovalev made it his night alone because he rigorously adhered to
fundamentals, an amazingly tight defense, had trained so rigorously
that the uncertainties about his never-tested performance late turned
out to be nothing at all, but of course his ultimate weapon was as
always his fearsome and unequalled power.

It placed boxer Bernard in the unfortunate position of trying to
outbox a wrecking ball.

Jim Lampley nearly apologized (maybe he actually did) for his talking
up the match beforehand as one Hopkins could win, but I thik that was
unnecessary. It was reasonable to suppose that Hopkins could win, but
it turned out Kovalev brought such an incredible arsenal to bear that
it just couldn't happen.

The lamest excuse ever that could be made for a boxer is "you could
have beat him if he hadn't hit you so much" so I'll not inflict that
one on Bernard, but honestly that power shot Kovalev caught him with
in round 1, buckling his knees, to me that was a pivotal event,
because it had to make Hopkins cautious, it would any human, and it
shot Kovalev's confidence into the stratosphere. I think any human
would be viscerally intimidated by that power away from trying
creative or risky new tactics. But an inspired and creative
breakthrough was the only thing that could have saved Hopkins. If that
shot in round 1 had missed, and it might have, it would have been a
more competitive fight. Oh well. More power to Mr. Kovalev, and best
wishes to Mr. Hopkins in whatever he does next.

That SOB Van Owen