The biggest fight remaining on the 2014 schedule is the light heavyweight title unification bout between Bernard Hopkins and Sergey Kovalev. The HBO main event will take place at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The fight is fast approaching and it has already garnered plenty of attention from fans and media, but there are plenty of fighters who have weighed in with their analysis and predictions.
Fighters in all weight classes will likely tune in to the fight on November 8th, but Philadelphia heavyweight Bryant Jennings has some deeper admirations for the fight, particularly for his hometown hero Bernard Hopkins.
Philadelphia is one of the US’s greatest fight towns and the fighters have a great affinity for one another, especially for the greats that came before them. Jennings is not just a fan of Hopkins, his admirations extends beyond the respect he has for Hopkins’ in-ring ability and enters a realm of true appreciation.
While Jennings favors Hopkins in the fight, he does appreciate the threat Kovalev presents to Hopkins’ reign. The combination of Kovalev’s dangerous power, Hopkins’ age, and his affinity for a childhood role model leaves Jennings with a desire to see Hopkins hang it up soon.
“I think [Hopkins-Kovalev] is a great fight. I think I would want Bernard to call it quits after this [Kovalev fight]. It’s a scary situation for me just being how much I respect Bernard and all that. He’s done great so far, but it’s kind of like alright you’ve done enough, don’t go back out there and then he comes back out with a win like he always does or a beautiful performance and I’ll just be like alright just stop, please, you’ve done enough because it kind of gets a little more scarier,” Jennings said.
Jennings has a point, and I don’t think he is being disrespectful or overly concerned. He isn’t saying Hopkins should retire because he can’t hack it or is showing signs of aging, he is simply making the point that Hopkins doesn’t have to risk it. More so, the risk is no longer worth the reward.
True, the fight with Kovalev is huge and will certainly add to his legacy, but to what extent? Win or lose Hopkins is a Hall of Famer. What is worse is the drawback from beating a fighter with little to no name recognition from boxing’s commercial audience. One of the worst things that could occur is Hopkins winning and then having the win diminished by fans and media that will say Kovalev was never really that great to begin with, something we’ve seen happen in the past. The worst thing that could happen is Kovalev knocks out the nearly 50 year old Hopkins.
“He’s the “alien” and he always does things that’s unheard of, you know fighting at the age of 50 is unheard of so it’s okay for people to think like the way I’m thinking because it’s a positive way of thinking. It’s like you did a lot and once he gets past this I’m gonna raise my hands up and say look, I ain’t got nothing to say because at the age of 50 he’s taking on a guy like Kovalev.”
Hopkins will be 50 in January and if he competes at the same level he’s been competing at then nobody has the right to call for his retirement, I actually believe that regardless of circumstances a fighter should dictate his own retirement.
The problem with this, and it goes to Jennings’ point, at Hopkins’ age a single mistake could be devastating. What Hopkins is doing is unbelievable, but we’ve seen fighters fighting at an older age and we’ve seen fighters age overnight. If Hopkins waits too long and ages overnight then consider the decrease in ability for a 50 year old past his prime. Hopkins won’t be able to fight forever, but will he realize it while vacationing in Hawaii or will he realize it in the 7th round of a major fight against a big puncher like Kovalev.
The one good thing for Hopkins is the boxing style and skillset he possesses should keep him out of serious harm. Jennings believes that and his prediction is right along the lines of a typical Hopkins outing, and a typical outing for Hopkins typically means a win.
“I would think that Kovalev will try to be smart and Kovalev trying to be smart will waste a majority of the rounds and then Kovalev may get desperate. I don’t know how serious a desperate Kovalev could be, but it could be very dangerous for Bernard, but at the end of the day Bernard will have won at least three quarters of the fight and the last quarter of the fight will make the difference.
“We’ll see if Kovalev can actually have some precision in his [desperateness]. Hopefully, [Hopkins] will continue to outsmart him as he would’ve done in the beginning rounds. Bernard can definitely make you look bad and Kovalev is going to be afraid to be looked at in that way,” Jennings said.
