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Bernard Hopkins vs. Sergey Kovalev

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Alien vs. Krusher
DateNovember 8, 2014
VenueBoardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.
Title(s) on the lineWBA (super), WBO and IBF light heavyweight titles
Tale of the tape
Boxer Bernard Hopkins Sergey Kovalev
Nickname The Alien Krusher
Hometown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. Kopeysk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia
Purse $1,000,000 $500,000
Pre-fight record 55–6–2 (32 KO) 25–0–1 (23 KO)
Age 49 years, 9 months 31 years, 7 months
Height 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 174 lb (79 kg) 175 lb (79 kg)
Style Orthodox Orthodox
Recognition WBA (super) and IBF
light heavyweight champion
The Ring/TBRB
No. 1 ranked light heavyweight
WBO
light heavyweight champion
The Ring/TBRB
No. 2 ranked light heavyweight
Result
Kovalev wins via unanimous decision (120–107, 120–107, 120–106)

Bernard Hopkins vs. Sergey Kovalev, billed as Alien vs. Krusher, was a professional boxing match contested on November 8, 2014, for the WBA (super), WBO and IBF light heavyweight titles.[1]

Background

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On August 1, 2014, reigning light heavyweight champions Bernard Hopkins (holder of both the WBA (super) and IBF titles) and Sergey Kovalev (the WBO champion) reached an agreement to face one another in a unification bout. The deal came together at the behest of the IBF, who gave Hopkins a deadline to either except the unification fight with Kovalev or face their number-one ranked contender Nadjib Mohammedi.[2] The deal was contingent on Kovalev first defeating Blake Caparello in a fight that was scheduled only two days after the agreement with Hopkins had been made. Kovalev would knockout Caparello in the second round with Hopkins in attendance, officially putting the fight on.[3]

Prior to agreeing to face one another, both Hopkins and Kovalev had previously pursued a separate unification bout with Adonis Stevenson, who held the WBC's light heavyweight title and was regarded as the lineal champion, also holding The Ring light heavyweight title. Kovalev and Stevenson had a deal in place with cable network HBO that would see Stevenson first make a title defense against Andrzej Fonfara in May and then face Kovalev in September, however, these plans were cancelled when Stevenson, claiming to be unhappy with the money HBO had offered, reneged on the deal and jumped to the rival network Showtime.[4] Hopkins then expressed interest in a fight with Stevenson, calling him out after defeating Beibut Shumenov in April, but a deal was never reached.[5]

The Hopkins–Kovalev fight marked the first collaboration between Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions, who promoted Hopkins, and HBO after a 20-month estrangement following Hopkins' victory over Tavoris Cloud on March 9, 2013.[6] HBO had severed ties with Golden Boy only days after the Hopkins–Cloud fight when HBO's top draw Floyd Mayweather Jr., whose fights Golden Boy had co-promoted with Mayweather's namesake Mayweather Promotions, left HBO to join Showtime.[7]

The fight

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Kovalev sent Hopkins down with a right hand to head with a minute to go in the opening round and dominated the remainder of the fight from then on. While Hopkins was able to take Kovalev the full 12-round distance for the first time in Kovalev's career, he spent the entire fight on the defensive, not taking any risks offensively and landed only 65 punches through the course of the fight. Kovalev, though his offense was somewhat stymied by Hopkins defensive approach, he nevertheless landed over 100 punches more than Hopkins, scoring 166 punches out of 585 thrown. Kovalev was named the winner by unanimous decision with all three judges giving him all 12 rounds with two scores of 120–107 and one score of 120–106.[8]

Aftermath

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The fight was considered successful, as it was watched by an average of 1.328 million viewers.[9]

Fight card

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Confirmed bouts:[10]

Weight Class Weight vs. Method Round Notes
Light Heavyweight 175 lbs. Sergey Kovalev (c) def Bernard Hopkins (c) UD 12/12 Note 1
Welterweight 147 lbs. Sadam Ali (c) def. Luis Abregú KO 9/12 Note 2
Heavyweight 200+ lbs. Vyacheslav Glazkov def. Darnell Wilson RTD 7/10
Light Heavyweight 175 lbs. Vyacheslav Shabranskyy def. Emil Gonzalez RTD 2/10
Super Featherweight 130 lbs. Eric Hunter def. Daniel Ramirez TKO 6/10
Light Heavyweight 175 lbs. Nadjib Mohammedi def. Demetrius Walker KO 1/10
Light Heavyweight 175 lbs. Sullivan Barrera def. Rowland Bryant RTD 4/8
Super Middleweight 168 lbs. Andrey Sirotkin def. Michael Mitchell UD 6/6
Super Lightweight 140 lbs. Ryan Martin def. Isaias Martin Gonzales TKO 2/6

^Note 1 For WBA (super), WBO and IBF light heavyweight title
^Note 2 For WBO Inter-Continental welterweight title

Broadcasting

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Country Broadcaster
 Australia Main Event
 Hungary Sport 1
 Panama RPC
 Poland Polsat Sport
 United Kingdom BoxNation
 United States HBO

References

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  1. ^ "Sergey Kovalev vs. Bernard Hopkins". boxrec.com. BoxRec. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
  2. ^ Hopkins, Kovalev agree to light heavyweight title unification bout, Sports Illustrated article, 2014-08-01 Retrieved on 2024-08-19
  3. ^ Sergey Kovalev knocks out Caparello, ESPN article, 2014-08-02 Retrieved on 2024-08-19
  4. ^ Adonis Stevenson, Sergey Kovalev camps clash over deal details, The Ring article, 2014-04-02 Retrieved on 2024-08-19
  5. ^ Bernard Hopkins Calls out Adonis Stevenson for Title Unification Fight, Bleacher Report article, 2014-04-20 Retrieved on 2024-08-19
  6. ^ Bernard Hopkins: The Peacemaker Between HBO and Golden Boy, Tha Boxing Voice article, 2014-08-21 Retrieved on 2024-08-19
  7. ^ Floyd Mayweather Defection To Showtime Is Last Straw As HBO Drops Golden Boy, Forbes article, 2013-03-19 Retrieved on 2024-08-19
  8. ^ Challenger Sergey Kovalev Wins Two Titles From Bernard Hopkins, NY Times article, 2014-11-09 Retrieved on 2024-08-19
  9. ^ "Sergey Kovalev-Bernard Hopkins draws big TV ratings - The Ring". The Ring. 2014-11-11. Retrieved 2017-06-14.
  10. ^ "BoxRec - event".
Preceded by Bernard Hopkins's bouts
8 November 2014
Succeeded by
Preceded by Sergey Kovalev's bouts
8 November 2014
Succeeded by