Hopkins was surprising

Hopkins really tried a little bit of everything but soon realized he was just overmatched.
Hopkins did try the clinch routine but Kovalev was to strong inside.
Normally Hopkins ties your arms up, but Kovalev easily got his hands free and hammered Hopkins with his loose hand to the side of his head.
Out goes that gameplan.

Inside Kovalev was too strong for dirty tactics to benefit Hopkins. Outside Kovalev was a little bit quicker, faster and reflexively more alert to everything.

Hopkins said it best afterward by saying something to the effect that Kovalev was smart, he did'nt fall into my punches and was smart enough to reset when the opening closed.

Did'nt really matter what route Hopkins used, he was going to get beat by Kovalev no matter what Hopkins tried.

 

Wow, that's cool talk.