Photo by Marilyn Paulino/RBRBoxing
Last Saturday, Bernard Hopkins lost to Sergey Kovalev by a 12 round unanimous decision.
And while this was horrible news for everyone who bet on BHop to win (myself included), no one should ignore that Kovalev might have just single-handedly proven that this next generation of fighters is worth giving a damn about.
This fight wasn’t just The Alien vs. Krusher, American vs. Russian, or even brains vs. brawn. It was the previous generation against the current one.
With Floyd Mayweather likely retiring in late 2015, Hopkins stating he has one more fight in him, and Manny Pacquiao announcing his retirement in 2016, the sweet science can’t help but look like it’s going to be in trouble.
The newer fighters in boxing often times bring in a wild knockout side to the ring, which the veterans put to shame with their mechanical knowledge. To put it in perspective, Mayweather, Pacquiao and Hopkins have all won the majority of their fights by UD since 2006. It may not be as exciting as the gruesome KO, but the method works real well.
These are some of the top names in the industry currently, and once they’re removed, the newer guys will need to make their names just as big. The only way this can happen is if we know for certain that the new guys are just as good.
The Hopkins-Kovalev match was the perfect opportunity to put this to the test.
The Alien picked out Sergey for a reason, and that reason was because he thought the undefeated Russian (26-0-1, 23 KOs) was the best on the scene. With Hopkins calling Kovalev the best, we’d all start to get a little fidgety if the old man won.
He didn’t win though. Kovalev smoked him ’til the end.
If Kovalev had won by knockout, it wouldn’t have meant as much towards the battle of generations. The Krusher got his name from his heavy knockout ratio, and the fact remains that before this fight, the man had never even seen the ninth round in a professional bout. A knockout against The Alien would confirm his power-punch status, and nothing more.
Kovalev would be perceived as an incredible knockout fighter, but also, a one dimensional fighter.
When the analysis of top boxers comes around, the judgment lies on more than just the record, regardless if it’s an undefeated one or not. The best fighters need to carry multiple facets in their toolbox, and work the ring with a multitude of strategies.
When the eighth round ended on Saturday and no knockout had occurred, I think we all grit our teeth at that point and thought, okay, here we go.
It was a round we had never seen Kovalev in, but with the score of 80-72, he had already won the bout, unless we saw a knockout from Hopkins–which was something we hadn’t seen since 2004.
As I watched, I slowly lost more faith in my bet, and gained more faith in the next generation of boxers.
Photo by Marilyn Paulino/RBRBoxing
Kovalev wasn’t playing his usual game of push-push-knockout, but instead was playing Hopkins’ game of wits–and beating him at it, too. The majority of each round was spent trading punches and working the floor, with most of them ending with Hopkins’ back against the ropes.
That’s not to say he didn’t try for the knockout a few times in the fight. Hopkins fell in the first round due to what seemed as a casual punch by Kovalev. In the last few seconds of the 12th round Hopkins was literally saved by the bell.
Kovalev had to win in a 12 round unanimous decision in order to secure the most effective success he could procure. The 31 year old showed that he was more than just a knockout fighter and that he did possess the same ring knowledge as Hopkins. He showed he was a multi-dimensional fighter.
The UD win showed that the next generation of boxers aren’t doomed after all.
If Kovalev, the guy known for knocking out almost every opponent he comes across, can outsmart Hopkins and successfully make it to the 12th round, then other fighters can too.
Header photo by Al Bello/Getty Images
