WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (25-0-1, 23 KOs) says he has no specific game plan for his fight next month against the more experienced and much older 49-year-old IBF/WBA 175 pound champion Bernard Hopkins (55-6-2, 32 KOs) on November 8th at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA.
Kovalev’s style of fighting is one oriented around him going all-out in an attack mode to try and score a quick knockout. He’s throws a lot of heavy combinations, putting a massive of pressure on his opponents. His opposition generally fold pretty quickly even with them fighting 100% a defensive fight. They’re unable to stand up to Kovalev’s power for long with him throwing combinations with huge power.
“I don’t have any strategy because every fight is like a street fight, Kovalev said. You don’t know what the fight will be. It’s not a book, it’s not a magazine. It’s a fight. I just go into the fight. What will happen, will happen. I’m not scared to lose.”
Hopkins style of fighting with his single pot shots are going to leave him a huge disadvantage in this fight unless he can change his game plan. Hopkins’ pot shots worked for him against guys like Karo Murat, Jean Pascal, Tavoris Cloud and Beibut Shumenov, because those aren’t combination punchers. Those are all pretty much limited fighters that didn’t have the skills to put the pressure on Hopkins the way that Kovalev will be doing on November 8th.
“I’ve never seen him [Hopkins] lose to an aggressive style,” Doug Fisher of RingTV said to esnewsreporting.com. “That’s kind of the style that he’s been able to neutralize…but Tavoris Cloud, if you go back and watch that fight, he was able to touch Hopkins, even hurt him to the body a few times. Karo Murat…he was able to put hands on Hopkins. It makes me think what’s going to happen when Kovalev puts hands on Hopkins. It’s not just that he’s a puncher, but he’s a combination puncher. He has power in both hands. He’s going to the body; that’s what you do against cagey boxers – you outwork them, combinations, you touch the body if they’re going to move around. So I favor Kovalev. To me, it’s a victory if Hopkins can go 12 rounds. I think that’s a moral victory for Bernard if he can go the distance in this fight and not succumb to the power of Kovalev.”
Kovalev is going to force Hopkins to adapt in some way if he wants to win this fight. This could mean that Hopkins is going to fall back to his punch and grab technique that he’s used from time to time during his career or it could mean that Hopkins is going to try and use constant movement to avoid Kovalev. At 49, it’s doubtful that Hopkins will be able to move enough to avoid Kovalev for 3 minutes of every round. Hopkins can move a little bit, but definitely not for three minutes of every round for 12 continuous rounds.