Kovalev vs Hopkins fight ?

Idk man. Some of those shots Kovalev threw were vicious. And he did let his hands go in the 12th.
Hopkins wasn't quite in survival mode but His whole gameplan was to make Kovalev miss and then capitalize. But when Kovalev did miss, he would reset and not give Hopkins a chance to retaliate.

I am not buying the whole "Kovalev carried him" argument. It's hard to KO someone who is basically in survival mode.

 

Through the first 11 rounds Kovalev was clearly taking it easy on Hopkins, since he wasn't punching Hopkins with anywhere near the bad intentions he would later be hitting Pascal or Ward with, but considering Hopkins being 49 and what he accomplished over a long career it seemed Kovalev was showing him some mercy by letting him go the distance. However, near the end of the 12th round Hopkins foolishly started taunting Kovalev, which resulted in Kovalev losing his sh*t and almost killing Hopkins.

 

Not buying it. Hopkins made Kovalev miss a lot of shots. That's why Kovalev was being more tentative.
And some of those right hands that he did land, were murderous. Kovalev scored a KD in the 1st and almost scored another one in the 8th(If I remember right).

 

Hopkins had not even one good round in this fight.
He got utterly dominated,knocked down,manhandled and ragdolled by Kovalev.
Kovalev clearly did not want to hurt feelings by knocking Hops senseless.

 

Had Kov had fought like he did in the 12th for the first half, Kov would have laid him out.

Kov turned it up big time and beat Hopkins around the ring. Hopkins had nothing for him.

 

Yeah, Kovalev didn't carry Hopkins, Kovalev though was respectful of the fact that if he opened up as to go all out for a KO, the old man still was capable of placing a good shot.

As for Hopkins, I think he was in survival mode. Hopkins fights cautious in most of his fights, but when you know you're behind and know you're being thoroughly outboxed, then its time to take some chances if you're anywhere of the mentality that you can still win this thing.
Hopkins was content to go the distance and that to me was clear to see.