Bernard Hopkins - Sergey Kovalev

Earlier, the possibility of a Kovalev fight with the WBC and The Ring world champion was considered by Canadian Adonis Stevenson, who is also a boxing puncher. But Stevenson switched from HBO to a rival Showtime channel, and the prospects for his fight with Kovalev have become less certain. However, before the fight between Kovalev and Australian Kaparello (Kovalyov’s third defense of the WBO title) it became known (from promoter Sergey Katie Duv) that he had signed a contract with the legendary American Bernard Hopkins, the title holder of the WBA Super and IBF titles. After Sergey and Kaparello’s fight, it was announced that the Hopkins-Kovalev fight will take place in November 2014, and Hopkins promised: “This will be a show!” It was expected that this fight would be very intriguing. His winner was to become the owner of three of the four belts in the light heavyweight. The fact that the current coach Kovalev, John D. Jackson, in 1997 by technical knockout lost the fight to Bernard Hopkins, who was then IBF world middleweight champion, also added fuel to the fire.

Reputable bookmaker William Hill gave the Russians a odds of 1.40 vs. 3.00 for the American.

Before the fight was not without a verbal battle. Hopkins acted as a natural provocateur, calling himself "Ukraine" before the "Russian hammer." "He is another young, hungry fighter, and just like all my previous opponents, he will leave the ring without a belt," the American boxer said smugly. Kovalyov, although he admitted that he did not consider himself a “talker”, did not yield to his opponent. “It’s time to send Hopkins to the moon”, “Hopkins is a deer, he is butting all the time” - these are just a few of the sharp phrases that Kovalev released to the American boxer.

In October 2014, a 24/7 episode on the HBO channel was dedicated to the fight ^[1] .

Kovalyov confidently led all 12 rounds and won the fight with an overwhelming advantage (120-107, 120-107 and 120-106). Won skillfully, leaving Hopkins no chance. The pauses between the well-coordinated serial attacks of Kovalev were very short. Sergey did not let Hopkins start the “dirty boxing” that was usual for Bernard (with his head in the clinch). Already in the first round, Sergey sent a veteran (Hopkins lacked two months to the 50th anniversary) in a light knockdown. In the third round, Hopkins applied a wrestling trick, which resulted in Kovalev being on the floor. In the eighth round, Kovalev shook Hopkins right-handed through his hand. In the remaining rounds, Kovalyov methodically tapped Hopkins, forcing him to take care only of protection. At the end of the twelfth round, Sergey conducted several powerful attacks in a row: before the final gong, Hopkins drifted along the ropes on the legs, searching for the “fifth corner”. But did not fall.

According to the statistics of the light heavyweight unification match strikes between Bernard Hopkins (55-6-2, 32 KO) and Sergey Kovalev (26-0-1, 23 KOs), the Russian boxer threw and delivered much more punches than the American veteran. Thus, out of 585 Kovalyov's thrown strikes, the goals reached 166 (28%). Hopkins from his 195 discarded strikes was able to convey to the goal 65 (33%).

• Weighing before the fight
• Sergey Kovalev defeated Bernard Hopkins
• Fees