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They say fights are won in the gym, and perhaps this is why Bernard Hopkins’ old trainer working with Team Krusher is quite the controversy. John David Jackson worked with Hopkins for his bout against Antonio Tarver in 2006. Now that he’s training Kovalev, he feels confident in knowing how to beat Hopkins because he’s trained him before.
To him, the solution is simple:
“It is what it is, Bernard is old, it’s just that nobody is treating him like an old fighter. No one hits him everywhere–hit him in his arm, in his biceps, in his shoulders and his chest. It sounds kind of sick when I say it, but hit him in his heart, make that heart skip a beat. He’s an old man, treat him like an old man.” -John David Jackson
Jackson makes a point that younger fighters going up against Hopkins treat him like he’s their age when Hopkins has physical vulnerabilities they don’t think of tapping into. However, I think Jackson’s remedy is easier said than done. Hopkins isn’t going to make himself an easy target, and he’s no stranger to punches thrown outside the traditional areas of the body. Usually he’s the one throwing them.
Hopkins isn’t giving much weight to Jackson’s comments, maybe because he beat him by TKO in 1997. When asked if Jackson being Hopkins’ former opponent, sparring partner and trainer gave Kovalev an advantage, Hopkins responded confidently:
“At least 90 percent of those times of our relationship, he has been on the end of two bad relationships. One of them was as a sparring partner in Philadelphia when he was a champion and I was an up-and-coming prospect in boxing. Second, but not least, he was one of my 20 (Middleweight title) defenses. What can a guy who flunked the test tell a guy that’s taking the test the next day? What can he actually give this guy for positive information when he failed himself? He can’t tell the guy anything about success. He had none.” -Bernard Hopkins
Aside from the tension between Hopkins and Jackson, Kovalev seems confident in his own abilities to beat Hopkins. “I don’t study anybody,” he told ESPN.com, “It is better to go to the gym to do some work for my shape or spend time to cook my breakfast or sleep in my bed. Why [do] I need to spend the time?”
When asked about his strengths in beating Hopkins, Kovalev said, “My hands are my weapons. It’s my weapon in the ring. Hopkins thinks that I only have two bullets but I will bring some more.”
