Tonight's a savage night for Boxing fans!

Talib Fiasco

Greetings everyone!

I see nobody has posted a thread yet for tonight's proceedings.

Everyone knows about the big one later tonight/tomorrow morning



Father time Hopkins (55W 6L 2D 32KOs) vs. the father of a newborn child Kovalev (25W 0L 1D 23KOs) going at it for the IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight titles and hopefully set up a unification match with Adonis next year.


Also on tonight is former LHW and CW World Champ Tomasz Adamek (49W 3L 0D 29KOs) against fellow countryman Artur Szpilka (16W 1L 1D 12KOs).


Another big fight on tonight is Felix Sturm (39W 4L 2D 18KOs) vs Robert Stieglitz (47W 4L 0D 27KOs) in a must win fight for both men.


All in all a very decent night of boxing is ahead of us and we're only one week away from Klitschko-Pulev! Happy days!

Henno30

I hope Kovalev wins. Big test for him, despite B-Hop's advanced age.

supersean1999

I can't stand Hopkins, and I don't buy the nonsense either, Hopkins is very smart inside and outside the ring to still be doing what he is doing, I won't say much more, just hope he ends up beaten tonight,

Talib Fiasco

Hopkins will only win if it's a messy fight. I don't think Kovalev will fall for most of his mind games in comparison to guys like Pascal but we all know Hopkins is gonna have to rough it up. Kovalev's power is too much for B-Hop to just box him and Kovalev has very underrated boxing skills. He's as skilled as GGG in that regard. I can see Hopkins win but I still think Kovalev will win by mid to late KO

Henno30

I can only see Kovalev losing if he's packing glass or has no gas tank. I don't see how Hopkins can get brave and start trading against a guy with that power.

It's gas seeing all the comparisons to the Pavlik fight all week as well, as if there's any comparison between Pavlik and Kovalev whatsoever. Kovalev is far more dynamic than Pavlik and throws short shots in volume. Pavlik was far more straightforward and predictable in his range of shots.

Kovalev has flaws, and he hasn't faced a defence this slippery. But unless he runs out of gas he should be able to keep things ticking over regardless of how hard Hopkins proves to hit.

It's a significant fight. Kovalev could potentially take Hopkins out, or he could be on the fast-track to obscurity himself. Major pressure to deliver.

Talib Fiasco

Definitely. Kovalev has a lot to lose tonight. He has even more to gain though.

Talib Fiasco

Sturm easily up on the cards so far...surprised I must say

Talib Fiasco

Wow what a fight. Definite FOTY contender there. Sturm the accurate one but gassed towards the latter rounds and Stieglitz' heavy activity must have swayed a round or two. I had Sturm winning by at least two but it's a draw. Probably a fair call, there better be a second fight! Great start to the night, Sturm impressed me, I thought he was finished.

Chrissybhoy

Really fancy Hopkins tonight. Just think he's that bit more clever. Hopefully we get a good fight

willmunny1990

Hopkins badly punished in the end.

lolie

How the **** did he not go down in the 12th. Ref shouldve stopped it.

DaithiMa

Brilliant from Kovalev. Well deserved. Some heart from BHop in the last round though. Probably won more fans tonight by going the distance than he has from many of his wins. Looking forward to seeing more of Kovalev now.

rebelomar

Brilliant from both Kovalev and Hopkins.

Think Stevenson could cause the Crusher some problems with speed and power with counter punching ....Kovalev looked a wee bit shakey around the whiskers tonight once or twice imo but I could be completely wrong.

Still fancy Kovalev but not as sure despite a superb performance tonight which is strange I know.

That fight needs to happen now.

How on Earth Hopkins stayed on his feet in round 12....what a legend

djhaxman

Terrible fight. At least the judges got the scoring right.

megadodge

Just watched it now and I have to say, having voiced my doubts about him previously, I was hugely impressed with Kovalev. Moreso with his skill than anything else.

His feinting was as good as any I've seen in a long time. It was this that kept Hopkins constantly confused and flinching and unsure of when to counter. It also helped Kovalev land his very deceptive jab over and over again.

I also believe the tactics Kovalev had of always punching with Hopkins whenever Hopkins threw were perfect. It prevented any occasional punch Hop landed from lingering in the memory cos Kov would be coming immediately back and making Hop look like he was just throwing an occasional punch to keep him in the fight - like a cute journeyman who knows how to survive against a young prospect.

Fair play to Hopkins though for surviving the 12 rounds. If it was anybody else the fight would most likely have been stopped in the 12th, but in a way I'm glad it wasn't. I'm no lover of Hopkins but his interview afterwards was very gracious (considering his previous form) and I hope he retires. He will be remembered as an all-time great.

Talib Fiasco

Kovalev took B-Hop to school last night. Very impressed. I always knew Kovalev could box well but that was very impressive. I still think he could have KO'd Hopkins if he decided to ditch the plan. Fair play though, he got the job done effectively. I only see Beterbiev having a chance at beating Kovalev at LHW currently.

Chrissybhoy

Really poor from Hopkins last night showed us absolutely nothing other than it's time to hang up the gloves. He deserved to be stopped in the 12th ref was sentimental which he shouldn't. Saying all that Kolalev fought a very good fight and looked very good look forward to seeing him in the future

Talib Fiasco

pac_man wrote: »

Id still think Stevenson would have a chance against him. Stevenson is alot faster than Kovalev and can punch. I would still have Kovalev as the favourite though.

Stevenson is all hype in my opinion. I'd actually think Hopkins could beat Stevenson even after last night. We shall see but I'd be shocked if Kovalev didn't KO Stevenson

Henno30

pac_man wrote: »

What impressed me most from Kovalev last night was his controlling of range and distance. I don't know if this was down to his power or the faints/jabs to the body. I still think his chin is questionable and would love to see how he'd get on against Stevenson.

Darnell Boone said Kovalev is a better boxer than Ward and Stevenson. It was something else seeing the yanks dismiss him as a flat-footed brawler all last week and smugly declare that Hopkins was going to 'school' him.

It's the Mayweather disease. A generation of fans listening to a boring fighter try to justify how boring he is by denigrating offensive fighters as crude and predictable.

Being a great offensive fighter takes incredible skill, precision, and timing. I was happier to see Kovalev completely shut Hopkins out in that fashion in a disciplined performance than blow him out quickly, because it leaves no doubt. Hopkins had all night long to 'expose' and 'school' this guy and he came up with nothing.

I still respect B-Hop though, even if I'll never really like him. Taking a fight of that nature at nearly 50 took balls. He was in survival mode for the most part, but surviving 12 rounds against a guy like Kovalev is no joke. Careers have ended worse.

Chrissybhoy

Henno30 wrote: »

Darnell Boone said Kovalev is a better boxer than Ward and Stevenson. It was something else seeing the yanks dismiss him as a flat-footed brawler all last week and smugly declare that Hopkins was going to 'school' him.

It's the Mayweather disease. A generation of fans listening to a boring fighter try to justify how boring he is by denigrating offensive fighters as crude and predictable.

Being a great offensive fighter takes incredible skill, precision, and timing. I was happier to see Kovalev completely shut Hopkins out in that fashion in a disciplined performance than blow him out quickly, because it leaves no doubt. Hopkins had all night long to 'expose' and 'school' this guy and he came up with nothing.

I still respect B-Hop though, even if I'll never really like him. Taking a fight of that nature at nearly 50 took balls. He was in survival mode for the most part, but surviving 12 rounds against a guy like Kovalev is no joke. Careers have ended worse.

The mayweather disease is a lot lot better than what Hopkins performance was last night

Diddley Squat

I was surprised by Kovalev's speed - quick puncher

Littlehorny

Henno30 wrote: »

Darnell Boone said Kovalev is a better boxer than Ward and Stevenson. It was something else seeing the yanks dismiss him as a flat-footed brawler all last week and smugly declare that Hopkins was going to 'school' him.

It's the Mayweather disease. A generation of fans listening to a boring fighter try to justify how boring he is by denigrating offensive fighters as crude and predictable.

Being a great offensive fighter takes incredible skill, precision, and timing. I was happier to see Kovalev completely shut Hopkins out in that fashion in a disciplined performance than blow him out quickly, because it leaves no doubt. Hopkins had all night long to 'expose' and 'school' this guy and he came up with nothing.

I still respect B-Hop though, even if I'll never really like him. Taking a fight of that nature at nearly 50 took balls. He was in survival mode for the most part, but surviving 12 rounds against a guy like Kovalev is no joke. Careers have ended worse.

+1 on this point when American fighters like Mayweather and Hopkins fight they are called professors and they put on a clinic of boxing.
But when its one of the Klitchkos they are called boring and are robots.

megadodge

pac_man wrote: »

What impressed me most from Kovalev last night was his controlling of range and distance. I don't know if this was down to his power or the faints/jabs to the body. I still think his chin is questionable and would love to see how he'd get on against Stevenson.

That's an interesting one, as in this week's Boxing News they mentioned "rumours" of multiple knockdowns suffered by Kovalev in sparring against Golovkin. I know without seeing it it's hard to be sure, but it does raise questions.

I don't actually think Kovalev was remotely hurt last night. In the 12th just watch his feet and you'll realise it was purely an off-balance issue and it was similar earlier. However, I do think Stevenson has the speed and power to bother Kovalev early. The longer it goes the more I'd fancy Kovalev, but Stevenson is not to be taken lightly.

Henno30

pac_man wrote: »

Boone fought Ward on his sixth pro fight. I think it's safe to say Ward has improved considerably since then. Ward is a far superior boxer to Kovalev. I thought he was shaken once or twice from Hopkins last night. Stevenson has alot more power than Hopkins and is a lot quicker than Kovalev.

That's not my point. Kovalev was being derided as a face-first brawler who couldn't box. Boone and anyone else who's been in with him emphasised that he was a serious boxer. Last night he proved they were right.