The mask has changed, but the man underneath it remains the same. Bernard Hopkins attempted a rebranding two fights ago, ending his two-decade run as ?The Executioner? to become ?The Alien.? His days of dressing like he?s fixing to stick up a Wawa or hang out in Zed?s basement are over, and somehow he?s traded in that look for something even more ridiculous. But a new nickname and get-up are not nearly enough to hide that this is the same old Bernard Hopkins.
And when you?re two months shy of your 50th birthday and daring to exchange punches with one of the best light heavyweights in the world, you want to stave off all the change you can.
Hopkins?s mind won?t slow down, his mouth won?t slow down,1 and if his body is slowing down, it?s doing so imperceptibly. And that?s why a 49-year-old man can emerge ever so slightly favored in a media poll as he prepares to take on an undefeated 31-year-old knockout artist.
Hopkins vs. Russia?s Sergey ?The Krusher? Kovalev is a fascinating fight, one in which the two most likely circumstances are Hopkins proving far too sweetly scientific and outclassing Kovalev, or Kovalev steamrolling Hopkins the way that punchers in their prime are supposed to bludgeon dudes approaching AARP eligibility. Nobody knows which way it will turn out, but most observers expect one extreme or the other. It?s like previewing a football game and saying, ?One of these teams is going to win by three touchdowns, but I don?t know which one it will be.?
Sometime around midnight in Atlantic City on Saturday, we?ll get our answer. Until then, here are the flip-floppy cases for both scenarios: Hopkins will win because speed kills, and Kovalev doesn?t have it.
The two best wins of Hopkins?s 26-year, 65-fight career came against undefeated, relatively one-dimensional punchers with slower hands and feet than B-Hop: Felix Trinidad in 2001 and Kelly Pavlik in 2008. His most difficult fights came against Roy Jones in ?93, Jermain Taylor in ?05, Joe Calzaghe in ?08, and Chad Dawson in 2011, all of whom had Hopkins pipped in the speed department. Kovalev is a near-perfect fit for the Hopkins-friendly profile.
Even as the years tick by, Hopkins remains faster than most observers give him credit for. Against Oscar De La Hoya, a smaller man esteemed for his exceptional hand speed, Hopkins routinely got his shots off first. And even when he doesn?t have a pronounced speed advantage, Hopkins can dominate with his timing. Few in the sport set up the right hand as effectively as Hopkins does by freezing his opponents with a pawing jab. Needless to say, it?s in Kovalev?s best interest not to cover up and take his eyes off Hopkins, because the old man remains quick enough to make him pay.
Everyone?s natural instinct is to favor the younger, stronger fighter. But technique often matters more than youth, as the occasional bald guy with a beer gut and a half-zip pullover will remind us:
