That's how I see it. Hopkins is not as complicated as people make him out to be. Calzaghe had him gassing so bad that he had to fake fouls to get time to rest. And that was years ago. You have to make him expend energy, throw a lot of jabs, throw a lot of punches, don't let him strut around the ring and take breathers. I don't see Hopkins being able to handle a high pace for 12 rounds, especially against a big puncher that might be able to hurt him with jabs and grazing punches. So can he get the KO? I think Hopkins' power is somewhat underrated (he dropped Calzaghe, Pascal, and Shumenov), so I'd give it a 15-20% chance of happening.
I don't think it necessarily matters who's the better boxer. Jermaine Taylor was a better boxer than Carl Froch but couldn't handle the pace and got caught.
Hopkins is not that complicated but you don't have to be, you just have to be better at what you do than what your opponent is trying to do. And Hopkins is a master at making his opponents tire themselves if they throw big punches. You have to throw lighter punches in volume as Calzaghe does to win the round, limit countering ability, and not get tired, but at this age I'm not sure if Hopkins can counter effectively enough to make his opponent pay even if they're throwing big punches.
Call me crazy but currently I see kov as the far superior boxer. My eyes tell me Kov does everything better than hops and I don't even think hops truly has the power for a possible tko vs kov. People on here, (that obviously are pretty new to kov the killer) talk about him like he has a suspect chin, where does that come from ? I've never seen kov truly hurt (have to claim ignorant on the boone kd since I never really saw it cleanly ) Between kov and hops I've seen only 1 of them hurt and multIple Times vs so so bangers. Kov is going to retire hops in a very very bad career ending fight for hops. Hops is highly over rated and Kov highly under rated on esb. Not sure of other forums since this is the only waste of Time site I frequent
Hopkins couldn't counter Chad Dawson well at all en route to losing 10 rounds and Dawson looked hardly motivated on that night (as usual). I really think Kovalev should be a decisive favorite here (although, that is why 'Nard is still around, huh?).
So all boxers are as great or awful as their worst performance? Besides, Boone is no stranger to casting doubts in fighters' young careers.
http://www.boxingforum24.com/showthread.php?t=514249 Kovalev has 65% of the votes , he is 2 and a half to 1 favourite at sports book....
Call it a hunch. We've seen him go 7 rounds twice without looking tired and without lowering his volume. Someone like George Foreman would have looked tired by then.
No but kovalev is no way a better boxer than Hopkins. That fight is an example. Better puncher yes but in reference to the art of hit and not getting hit, Hopkins is obviously the better boxer