No he hasn't. This is going to be Hopkins last fight. Sergey is going to knock him out within 4 rounds.
Nobody can take Kovalev's bombs. All they can do is avoid them. Hopkins is capable of doing that, but if he gets hit flush by a Kovalev bomb, it's good night. Even Hopkins know this. He said that if he makes a mistake, he could get knocked out.
Funny belt line Calzaghe SLAPPED Hopkins right in the family jewels DELIBERATELY. He didn't like being put on his assatsch
No, but he will avoid them. Kovalev is strong and resilient, but not very skilled and relies too much on bombing his opponents out. He simply doesn't care, Kovalev doesn't care about anything and i doubt a lost means much to him. I see Hopkins making it an ugly fight, with all kind of fooling, low blows, headbutts, infinite clinching, hitting after the bell, elbowing and rabbiting, and cruising to a decision. Kovalev is clueless.
I have a hard time seeing Hopkins not get hit for 12 rounds and Kovalev doesn't need much to do the trick
I know what you mean, and apparently it makes sense, but this is a mental image. You don't ko someone like Bhop with a single punch, and when you land one you'll be all tied up by him, while he swings wildly on your flank or on the back of your head. Kovalev is strong, but he always landed dozens and dozens of heavy clean punches before stopping someone. He will hurt bhop, occasionally, but that won't be enough. Bhop will ran more than Lara if necessary. And, this will tire Kovalev. He will committ even more, move more than usual, wrestle more, throw more. He'll have to drop his workrate immensely in the second half of the fight, after having spent the first half hitting arms or only partially the body or the gloves. He won't be stopped by bhop, but probably kd. And he'll lose the decision, even if the match were close or slightly in his favour. There's also another very probable outcome, Kovalev is all about aggression and doesn't even know what defence or smart tactics means. Hence, he will be totally open and unprepared to bhop's savage headbutting. Kovalev is one of the most open boxers that are so high in the rankings, if not probably THE most open one. More than many outside top 100 bums. One, three, five, ten of them, and he'll cut. The referee will then stop the fight a couple rounds later, after bhop will focus all his dirty tactics on the cut. This couldn't happen to many bums, but could well happen to him. I'm gonna put all my vcash on Hopkins.