During preparation for his November 22nd meeting with Manny Pacquaio in Macao, China, Chris Algieri spoke with Sean Zittel from Tha Boxing voice about the fight taking place two weeks before his own in Atlantic City, New Jersey between Bernard Hopkins and Sergey Kovalev. His opinion echoes that of many with the sport, and he spoke glowingly of the veteran’s ability.
“I got Bernard on not only experience but ring smarts. The guy is a genius in there.”
Algieri went on to address the main criticism that surrounds many of Hopkins’s performances.
“I hear people groan about his style and say he doesn’t do a lot or he doesn’t fight the whole round, I think that’s complete bullsh*t. I think he fights for three minutes of every round and every little thing he does is pre-worked out in his mind and is orchestrated, every little step. You could watch a round of Bernard for twenty minutes because he’s literally doing so much. The guy is a mad scientist.”
The Huntington, New York native then specified what he believes separates top-level fighters from the absolute elite, and what he strives to emulate as a fighter himself.
“I love thinkers. Andre Ward, Bernard Hopkins, even Floyd Mayweather, those guys are smart and those guys are the best fighters in the world, the pound-for-pound guys. [They’re] the smartest guys, they take the least damage, they inflict the most damage, they’re thinking you know? Those are the guys I aspire to be like.”
Ward, Hopkins and Mayweather. These three names have provoked interminable moans from fans who demand action-packed fights, and that is fine because each and every individual spectator has different demands and expectations whenever they tune in to a boxing match. These guys rarely if ever provide a gung-ho, shootout type scenario because of their cerebral approach to the game, an approach that is geared towards not only success, but longevity. Hopkins himself is 49 years old. His only two losses since early 2008 are to Chad Dawson and Joe Calzaghe, and he is about to face a man eighteen years his junior who has stopped all but two of his twenty-five opponents. He would not have pushed for this fight if he did not share Algieri’s opinion.
