Strengths For Each Man
Photo by Wallace Barron
Hopkins
Bernard “The Textbook/The Clinic” Hopkins has a lot going for him. Despite being 49, he’s learned to train and fight smarter. Hopkins has the health of a guy in his early twenties, practically making his age a non-issue. Some characterize him as a dirty fighter, but he mostly seems to have a good grip on what he’s doing in the ring.
I can see a great deal of this fight consisting of work on the outside, which is certainly doable for Hopkins. He will likely use his jab effectively to keep Kovalev at bay, and land well-timed right hands and lead hooks here-and-there. This will keep Kovalev thinking and make it more difficult for him to set up his power punches. I also think Hopkins will find the holes in Kovalev’s game early, such as his tendency to open up when throwing his jab, and to drop his hands when coming forward.
When it comes down to it, the Alien does what the Alien wants to do in the ring. This is how he is able to frustrate and dominate the younger guys and make it look easy. He is to his core, a “pick ‘em” fighter, picking and choosing his punches to slowly break down his opponent. And this makes sense for Hopkins so that he doesn’t overwork himself should the fight go into the later rounds.
Photo by Naoki Fukada
Kovalev
Perhaps I’m the only one that noticed, but Sergey Kovalev looked dramatically improved in his last fight against Blake Caparello compared to the fight before that against Cedric Agnew. I dare even say that from a technical/stylistic perspective, Kovalev looked slightly Andre Ward-esque. His punches looked much more refined, crisp and carefully placed, and there was greater attention devoted to defense than I had seen in Kovalev before.
Kovalev has talent that can potentially keep Hopkins on his toes. They call him the Krusher for a reason, and I’m curious to see how and if he can execute a game plan that incorporates the power for which he’s known. Kovalev has shown the ability to improve, so hopefully his training has focused on upping his boxing IQ. This will be a real chess match for Kovalev, and he must be completely focused at all times.
In addition to earning Hopkins’ respect early in the fight, Kovalev needs to find a balance between staying busy and fighting with patience. He shouldn’t just look for a perfect opening to land his money punch, because Hopkins will be able to sense that and shut down the situation quickly. Instead he should treat everything as a target (within the legal rules of boxing, of course). He then might also have a chance to break down Hopkins in his own way.
