Kevin Cunningham doesn’t like the match up of Sergey Kovalev versus Bernard Hopkins in Atlantic City, New Jersey this Saturday. Cunningham says that he would have rather have seen Hopkins in a bout with Adonis Stevenson. Cunningham referred to the youth and power of Kovalev which he felt could be the determining factor , but then explained “If Hopkins took the fight, he sees something we don’t.”
“Bernard is a master of setting traps and taking you out of your game plan.” Cunningham added, it is a merger of the modern era of light heavyweight versus one of the best ever since Ezzard Charles. It is a compelling match-up that will essentially be frowned upon in hindsight, a built in excuse for the loser to demerit the winner. If Kovalev wins he beat an old man, if Hopkins wins Kovalev was never that good or proven to begin with.”
As for Cunningham’s star pupil Devon Alexander’s match up against Amir Khan on December 13th, Cunningham spoke honestly. “There are several things we need to exploit , but Devon has to execute the game plan to exploit these things.” Since losing to Shawn Porter one year ago and losing his IBF welterweight title, Alexander has been in career limbo. It was the second time he lost to a pressure fighter who negated his ability to stall fights and now has him in a must win fight to remain afloat in the top 10 of the welterweight picture.
Khan on the other hand is coming off a dominant win over Luis Collazo after a couple of less than stellar wins following a shocking Danny Garcia knockout in the summer of 2012. Cunningham expressed the seriousness of the bout in December and stated that the fight offers advantages for Alexander, but at the same time the ball is in Alexander’s court.
