Does Kovalev beat every version of Hopkins?

Well, he did...

 

I think what you meant to ask is:

Does Kovalev beat every version of Hopkins?

His victory over Hopkins already demonstrates he can beat any version of the future HOFer.

 

I'm a little confused...
Hopkins is cunning and good at spoiling but he still gets beat especially prime for prime.
Yes he looked great against Tarver but that's forgetting that Tarver looked terrible and listless in that fight. Wasn't that after he'd just shot the Rocky Balboa movie? putting on weight for the role? Yeah Tarver looked awful.

 

Hopkins was pretty good but prime Kov buries any version of Hopkins. Bernard was good at head butts, elbows and dirty tactics. He and Andre Ward would have been a good matchup. Two dirty fighters.

 

Ya , Hopkins lost to Calzaghe & Dawson too & struggled with Pascal who Kovalev played with.. Kovalev would have battered Tarver

 

I'm a big admirer of both of these boxers.

Hopkins was the first guy to go the distance with Kovalev at almost fifty years of age and quite perceptibly diminished from the version who boxed Tarver almost a full decade prior. Of course the 2006 Hopkins has a significant chance of defeating Kovalev (I never thought he lost that second fight with Taylor, for what it's worth, though he obviously needed to move up by then).

It's actually a great 50/50 fight.

 

I suppose I should clarify before a wiseass cuts in;

I refer to the modern championship distance, of course.

 

Yes, 175 isn't Hopkins ideal weight. But still remarkable how he went the distance at that age

 

Kovalev had a relatively short prime and obviously ranks way short of Hopkins from a career p4p perspective. He was, however, exceptional at his peak. I'd favour a prime Kovalev over every natural MW in history, including Hopkins.

 

That's why they never wanted to fight each other..it would have been a foul ridden snooze fest.

 

The version of Hopkins that beat Tarver beats any version of no heart having kovalev

 

Not the Hopkins that beat Tarver.

 

How is the version that beat Tarver somehow better than Kovalev .. Tarvers performance in that fight was Pitiful .. he'd had to lose more than 40 pounds to get down to 175 after the Rocky movie role.. he would then go on to get schooled by Chad Dawson twice not long after ... Kovalev would have battered Tarver .. & any version of LHW Hopkins.. hopkins has 15 fights at light heavyweight.. his record is 9-4-1-1 ... and a handful of them weren't even light heavyweights like him anyway ... the guys he did beat were mostly tailor made for him , anyone with decent skill & physicality he struggled & cheated with.. Tarver trained for that fight with Hopkins making a movie with Sylvester Stallone .. I commend what Bhop did at that age but his light heavyweight run is slightly overrated in my opinion , he even dropped rounds to ancient Roy Jones.. has multiple rematches because the first performances weren't convincing & cheated in numerous contests.. no fkin way does Hopkins beat prime Kovalev... too strong , athletic & skilled..