Mancini on Hopkins vs Kovalev http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8vEfSD9S3E&list=UUsoYHzH8EEes9EVatWSRBWA Totally with him concerning Hopkins retirement, Hop just doesn't have it anymore and he needs to get out before he gets hurt
Thanks for the video. Bhop was totally out-slicked by Kovalev. Kovalev had him jumpy with those feints. Best case scenario people envisioned for Kov is that he would knock out the better skilled Bhop. But Kov did even better than that and out boxed Bhop along with showcasing his power, activity and discipline. If Kov stays away from the drugs and alcohol and drama he will be a champion for a long time. That pilates stuff he does looks interesting. Despite what I've heard some say he seems like a level headed guy with a good sense of humor. Congrats to him.
Ray's analogy for why guys shouldn't fight past 30 is ******ed, it implies it's perfectly safe for a 21 year old guy to get hit in the head with a baseball bat by anyone past 30 years old. I'm tired of hearing this ****. a 40 year old is not HALF of what he was at 20.
Mancini is'nt implying its safe for the younger guys, he's saying it is'nt safe for the brain for the older guys to keep on taking the hits to the head they've allready taken for so long. The human body can only take so much trauma before its affected negatively and worse, permanently.
Kim and Mancini were both suprisingly complimentary to Kovalev. I have heard them both dump on E.E. fighters in the past. Perhaps they realise they are not going anywhere and will only continue to make bigger and bigger impacts.
When you see a fighter thoroughly beat still a pretty good Hopkins, you've got to give that fighter his due. Mancini went as far as saying that Kovalev out-thought Hopkins, and I agree with him, though its easier to put your plan into action when you have every physical advantage.
Mancini mentions the size difference and everybody ignores it and goes back to what they were doing...talk about some seriouis denial.
Did you whine this much about the size issue when Hopkins was fighting smaller guys like DLH and Trinidad.:-(
Yeah about that. C M likes to ignore the fact that 6'0" and 188 isn't all that big for a LHW - certainly Shumenov and Dawson were bigger and weren't able to dominate, even though Dawson won. In fact it seems Kovalev actually did pile on 3 or 4 extra lbs for this fight (he's usually the smaller guy in the ring at 183-4), but to argue that somehow allowed him to control the fight in the way that he did is reaching to say the least. Also worth noting that when Hopkins beat Pascal they both came to the ring at 186 lbs - could it be that Hopkins deliberately came in smaller against Kovalev hoping to maximise his advantage in speed and mobility?
Yep, they could have eached stepped inside the ring weighing exactly the same and Kovalev would have still dominated. It was'nt one specific thing that led to Kovalev dominating, it was a mountain of things which included Kovalev actually being understanding of what it is to box against a great boxer.