Sergey Kovalev made easy work of Jean Pascal in their rematch this past weekend. This hardly came as a surprise. In fact most fans didn’t see their first fight as the type of encounter that warranted a rematch in the first place. Kovalev dominated Pascal when they first met, and was even more dominant this time around hardly losing a second en route to a 7th round stoppage after Pascal’s trainer Freddie Roach admirably told the referee the fight was over to protect his athlete.
During his post fight interview with Max Kellerman, Kovalev referred to fellow light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson as “Adonis Chickenson” and then proceeded to repeatedly quack like a duck. Stevenson, who just so happened to be in the ring, then instigated a poorly orchestrated ‘confrontation’ as he half-heartedly sprang towards Kovalev’s direction, all the while screaming he was the real champ. This comical episode, which resembled something from WWE was quickly dismissed by the excellent HBO broadcasting team that consisted of Bernard Hopkins, Jim Lampley, and Max Kellerman.
Dismissing the prospects of Kovalev vs Stevenson as “unrealistic”, the HBO commentating trio all expressed desires to see a fight between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev. In theory, this contract is already basically a go, it’s just a matter of when with the prerequisite that both fighters continue winning. If it happens and things go according to plan in the eventual lead-up to this clash of boxing titans, it would undoubtedly represent the greatest fight that can be made in the sport today and one which would also certainly produce a rightful heir to Floyd Mayweather’s vacant Pound4Pound throne.
Meanwhile, in a recent interview with ESNEWS, Bernard Hopkins has indicated that he is coming back against a live body for one final fight. Hopkins wasn’t overly outward with the details, but he did say that an announcement should be expected soon and that it would be a fight in which Hopkins would once again find himself in the role of an underdog. Hopkins also specifically indicated that Arthur Abraham expressed no interest in facing him and that the opponent he would be fighting is someone “more dangerous than Arthur Abraham”. This leaves some extremely interesting possibilities. Who will it be?.
This edition of Rummy’s Corner explores all of these issues in greater detail: Kovalev’s victory over Pascal, Adonis Stevenson’s post fight attempt at creating drama, the prospects of an ultimate mega bout between Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward, and some ideas on who Bernard Hopkins swan song mystery opponent might be. Please watch and enjoy the video!