If Kovalev beats Hopkins..

Yes.
If he dominates him or stops him Kovalev deserves to be in the top 10 p4p.

 

Of course it's a good win. It's amazing how Hopkins at 50 is one of the top most dangerous names in the sport. Sure people in general will bring up age but still it's Bernard Hopkins and he's the WBA & IBF Light Heavyweight Champion.

 

Yes, B-Hop is still one of the best fighters in the division.

 

Father time must catch up with B-hop and I don't like his chances in this one.

 

yep
he can tell everyone his biggest win is against a 50 year old.
to get credit he must KO him quick. to go the distance and win, no credit at all. Chad Dawson did that, so did JT twice.

 

Sure it is. I doubt you'll get to many to admit it isn't(especially with a pubic poll).

That being said, I've always thought that fighting Hopkins for the last decade is a bit of trap. If you beat him, and you aren't shot(a la Jones), then it's .......

"Of course you should have beat him......he's old, he's slower, he gasses, his punch resistance and workrate isn't what it was"

But if you lose, it's......

"How could you lose to an old man? You suck!"

 

No way Hopkins wins this one! this will be his last fight in the ring.

 

People on this forum still aren't giving Calzaghe credit( please don't make this a Calzaghe thread just an observation). I think it will be a good win Hopkins might be past his prime but he's still a good fighter.

Now if Hopkins turns back the clock and wins that would be awesome! I only hope he would have the sense to retire after this fight I do not want him to end up brain dead.

 

yeah its hard not to turn a jones/Hopkins thread into a calzaghe thread once he's in the mix.
calzaghe deserves serious props for beating Hopkins when he did, but he also deserves serious criticism for waiting until he was beaten by someone else before taking the fight
how do we know this?

because he did the same thing with roy jones

 

It's not a a good win scientifically speaking, it's not good for boxing the same way Shumenov's win against Bernard wouldn't have been. Bernard is the mastercraftsman, Sergey is just another kid with hammers on his hands. The evolution of boxing has a reason to it, not an erratic, chaotic sequence of events, there's a reason why Archie Moore beat Joe Maxim and Yvon Durelle. This is not the next weight-lifter from the next comunist block about to fall apart to take over... Sergey is a perfect toy at the hands of the living Legend and I'm not saying this cause I worship the water he baths himself in, I detect one when I see one. The only thing I see for Sergey is weight-lifting power and soviet-school background discipline. Golovkin is a star alright but Kovalev beats Hopkins on sheer physicallity and he loses his next fight either to Ward like Dawson or to Adonis Stevenson.

 

It's a good win but has to be taken into context. While still one of the top fighters at 175lbs he's clearly way past prime. Hopkins opposition of late hasn't been very good so his decline may have been hidden due to weak opposition.

How Kovalev wins also counts. Stopping BHop early would be some achievement, winning a close decision wouldn't be that impressive.

 

Hopkins is something else and a true Warrior going out on his shield. There will not be another fighter like him for a long time.
The fact that Hopkins is still a top contender shows it was a good win for Joe. The Jones fight on the other hand was a meaningless win as Roy was far removed from his prime and was not a top contender before or after the fight. Calzaghe might beat Hopkins H2H but Hopkins is GREATER than Joe. Hopkins is going out fighting a fighter in his prime not some old Roy Jones Jr.

 

:good