That was Floyd wasn't it? He said that HBO wants a white champion and they want Andre Ward to lose . He made this statement a few months ago.
So... the idea here is that they had some unspoken agreement (which means, they never discussed it, and just both mutually agreed to it, through purely face offs) that Kovalev would carry Hopkins so that..... Hopkins would.... talk good about him? No Hopkins is just taking his loss like a man, and also giving credit to a damn good fighter.