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Campillo, Cornelius White, Ismayl Sillah, Cedric
Agnew and Blake Caparello, all by stoppage,
all within the distance. That’s no easy feat,
but the opponents do often get dismissed.
This truly is one of the most anticipated and intriguing matchups in recent times and the reason why is simple, there are so many questions
that nobody knows the answers to until the final
bell rings: can Kovalev keep up with the boxing smarts of Hopkins? Can Hopkins, at his age,
take Kovalev’s power? Can Kovalev even land
enough with that power? Will Kovalev gas? And
is Hopkins truly an Alien? I say yes, undoubtedly.
A lot has been made of Kovalev’s power and
comparisons have been made to Hopkins-Pavlik where Pavlik, a then undefeated banger, was
a big favourite but Hopkins dominated the action throughout and won a lopsided decision.
Kovalev, however, has a lot more than Pavlik. The
‘Krusher’ is more than just a big punch, his timing
is exceptional. He cuts off the ring very well and
adapts to opponents very quickly. It is true that
Kovalev hasn’t faced anyone as good as Hopkins
and Hopkins’ form has been brilliant recently,
but, Cloud, Murat and Shumenov really are not
on the level of Kovalev either and the defeat to
Dawson really wasn’t too long ago to dismiss yet.
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issue #14
I don’t think this will be a fight of the year contender, but rather an intriguing battle of wits
in the centre of the ring, a series of adaptations, at least for as long as Hopkins can take
Kovalev’s power; Hopkins has always had a
terrific chin, but with Kovalev it doesn’t matter, even blocking the punches doesn’t matter!
Approaching 50 years old this could be a potentially dangerous fight for Hopkin’s health
and career, it’s entirely possible that Kovalev
could just dominate and stop him, but Kovalev is also in a lose-lose situation: if he wins
they’ll say age finally beat B-Hop, not Kovalev, and if he loses then he lost to an old man.
Will the torch be passed to Kovalev? Or will
the Executioner turned Extraterrestrial continue to defy the clock en route to achieving his goal of becoming the undisputed
champ at 50 years old? Either way, this is a
can’t miss event so make sure you tune in!
issue #14 NOVEMBER 2014
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