Kovalev will not show any respect to Hops with out of the gate, swarming style and would likely ko Hops or win every round based on activitt. Hops will not take the fight and yes will be a duck
Hopkins deserves plenty of respect for being competitive at this age, but let's be real, he beat a paper champ in Cloud to gain the title. Everyone knows Campillo was robbed in their fight and Sergey in turn koed Campillo. So Sergey definitely deserves his shot. If this sport wasn't so corrupt, he'd be the one holding the belt.
Yep. Hops relies on people showing him respect, and Kovalev, the LHW Matthysse will come out and mow down Hops. He will not fight his BS fight
I seem to recall the last guy he fought affect him with 1 straight right (at end of round forget which one) and a jab. The guy was not a puncher by any stretch of the imagination either. I think that someone who can bring it to this guy is going to crack that egg.
Chad isn't Bad anymore, and it's Kovalev. Looks like Alex Kovalev's cousin, actually. The leverage & weight transfer behind Kovalev's right crosses and left hooks trumps anything current Chad can throw, any of the day of the week and twice on Sunday.
According to John David Jackson, a mutual acquaintance of his and Lionell Thompson's told him that Thompson told them that no one hits as hard as Kovalev. Thompson has sparred against the likes of Dawson, Pascal, Bute, Froch, Hopkins, Troy Ross, and David Lemieux amongst others. I also vaguely remember hearing Thomson say he sparred against Adonis Stevenson too, although I'm not quite sure if it was definitely him or another fighter who said that. It seems plausible though seeing as he's sparred against Stevenson's (GYM) stablemates Pascal and Lemieux.
Would be nice to confirm he's sparred Stevenson. When Stevenson first got to Kronk, he would spar and KD one guy after the other, that's how he got Steward's attention. Steward taught him to properly sit on his punches, and had since said he was the biggest puncher he had had the chance to train since the Hitman. Where as I believe a jab, straight right and left hook from Kovalev would put Stevenson down for a couple of minutes, I would love to see a big puncher take it to Kovalev to test his chin.
Kovalev would have to be wary of Stevenson's left hand and pay it the respect it deserves. However, assuming he did so, I genuinely can't see Stevenson being able to hang in there too long with Kovalev. Not saying Stevenson can't win, anyone who hits as hard as him can. It's just that I think Kovalev brings more to the table and would be too much for him.