ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. ? If WBO light heavywight champion Sergey Kovalev has any advantage over the ageless Bernard Hopkins beyond the fact he?s 18 years younger, it may be that he didn?t have a Russian translator with him this week as Hopkins ranted about what is likely to happen tonight at Boardwalk Hall.
That is where Kovalev will risk his WBO title and long-running knockout streak against Hopkins, who will enter the ring wearing the championship straps of the WBA and IBF two months before he turns 50.
Age has never been a concern of Hopkins? and Kovalev insisted there is no advantage for him in the disparity because he is facing one of boxing?s best and most enigmatic figures. Where Kovalev?s advantage lies, if he has any, may be that his English has yet to become as well-tuned as his boxing skills.
?I only understand about 10 percent of what Hopkins says,? Kovalev (25-0-1, 23 KOs) said this week. ?He speaks in American English and slang. It?s probably a good thing because then it doesn?t bother me. Bernard Hopkins is a legend. He is a professor of professional boxing and so this fight is dangerous for me. But this fight is also dangerous for him because of me.?
Kovalev scattered the proof of that in arenas around the world, leaving 23 of his 26 opponents on the floor in a daze. While he has not fought anywhere near the level of Hopkins (55-6-2, 32 KOs), how could he? When fighting his first professional fight in 2009, Hopkins was already entering his 21st year as a professional.
Still, Kovalev is not called ?Krusher? for nothing. He has never had to box more than eight rounds and no one lasted four full rounds with him in three years. Hopkins, in contrast, hasn?t stopped anyone inside the distance since he knocked out Oscar De La Hoya with a body shot 10 years ago, so if the night is a short one it?s unlikely it will be because Hopkins finished the job early.
For Kovalev, this is a difficult fight because of Hopkins? complicated style, stoic patience and total understanding of the many ways to nullify a one-dimensional opponent, which the hard-punching Kovalev is. It is also difficult, however, because if he does defeat Hopkins there is the very likely probability the newly unified title-holder will get little credit as people will say, ?You beat a guy getting an AARP discount card in two months.??
Such talk didn?t seem to bother Kovalev but it certainly riled his promoter, Main Events? Kathy Duva.
?I saw a poll, as I?m told about polls that are being done, and basically the press is about 50-50 on this fight, so when this is over I don?t want to hear about how old Bernard Hopkins is, no matter what the outcome,? Duva scolded. ?This is a competitive fight between two fighters.
?Bernard?s never been stopped. Sergey has knocked out just about everyone he?s fought. It is a tremendous, compelling fight and I?m going to be very unhappy if the press decides that when it?s over they?re going to start raising the fact that Bernard is 50 years old, because they?re not raising it now.?
Her point is well taken so let?s raise a different point: Kovalev has 23 KOs in 25 wins but if you can identify any of his victims you must have a lifetime subscription to Ring magazine. That is not to say Nathan Cleverly, Gabriel Campillo or Cedric Agnew weren?t decent prize fighters. It?s just to point out they bear no resemblance to who Kovalev faces tonight.
Hopkins is the master of taking an opponent so far off his game he?s not even sure what game it is by the end of the night. He doesn?t win anymore so much by fighting as he does by refusing to allow you to fight. He is the adept at grabbing your elbows in close so you can?t punch, of taking your punching distance away, of slowing the pace to a crawl to the point where you stop punching all together, of smothering you on the inside and then giving you a little bump of the head or flick of the elbow on the way out.
Kovalev alluded to fears of that this week when he called upon New Jersey State Athletic Commission head Larry Hazzard to insure ?a clean fight?? because of Hopkins? tendency to re-write the Marquess of Queensberry rules with a certain Philadelphia fighter twist. Even that appeal was turned on its ear when Hopkins snapped at Kovalev, ?You?re the Krusher, you make your own fair fight.?
True, and if he?s that tonight, Hopkins could be in trouble, though punchers have never been what beats Bernard Hopkins.
Boxers like Joe Calzaghe or Roy Jones, boxers who understand the geometry of the ring and the importance of distance and self-control, do.
Guys named ?Krusher??
They usually end up leaving the arena scratching their head, wondering when the fight is going to start.
?I don?t know what I?m going to do,? Kovalev said when asked about his strategy. ?You can keep in your mind one strategy but these fighters can change. I don?t have any strategy for the fight, just to go into the ring and kick his ass.?
If that?s his strategy, this fight is already over.
