One reason Hopkins has lasted for so long in a young man’s game is because of the fanatical way he takes care of himself. He doesn’t drink or smoke. He eats healthy, trains year-round and stays near his fighting weight between bouts.
He also rarely gets hit cleanly. Kovalev is a monstrous puncher, but Hopkins has all-time great defense.
“I’ve been in the game for almost three decades. I look for more of what a guy brings to a gunfight other than bullets,” Hopkins said. “The sweet science is not based on only one thing you can do particularly well. If he comes in the game thinking a punch is all he’ll need, he might be right, so you should watch. I’m walking a tightrope hundreds of feet in the air. He crushes people. Only three or four people survive his hammer.”
Indeed, Kovalev (25-0-1, 23 KOs), 31, who moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when he left Russia in 2009, owns an 88.5 percent knockout ratio, second best among active titleholders behind only middleweight titlist Gennady Golovkin’s 90.3 percent. He has scored nine consecutive knockouts, including in all four of his world title bouts, since he had a fight end in a second-round technical draw due to an accidental foul in 2011. Only one time has Kovalev been as many as eight rounds, which happened in a 2010 split decision win against Darnell Boone, whom Kovalev drilled in two rounds in the 2012 rematch.