Sergey "Krusher" Kovalev will face Bernard "The Alien" Hopkins on Saturday night in Atlantic City in the biggest fight of his career. The title fight is as unlikely as it is intriguing.
In the not-too-distant past fights pitting HBO fighters against Showtime fighters were non-existent, which would preclude Kovalev vs. Hopkins from happening. The light heavyweight division had another star rising up at least as quickly as Kovalev--Adonis Stevenson.
Kovalev and Stevenson, both HBO fighters, were on a collision course for a unification bout, after which the winner would then try to end boxing's "Cold War" and figure out a way to fight Hopkins. All of a sudden, Stevenson jumped ship at the last minute to Showtime in an effort to face Hopkins instead.
Stevenson's handlers claimed they wanted the bigger profile fight, but Kovalev told Sports World News that Stevenson had other motivations.
"First of all I want to say that Stevenson turned to Showtime not for a fight against Hopkins, he just wanted to avoid me," Kovalev said. The Krusher admitted he was a bit surprised that Hopkins chose to face him, and commended the bravery that he is showing at the age of 49.
"Bernard is a smart man, or sorry, a smart Alien," Kovalev joked. "He thinks forward. A fight against me will be the most interesting right now this year. It's a better fight than against any champion in my division."
While Stevenson has lost momentum after gaining steam in 2013, Kovalev has already knocked out two opponents in 2014. When he faces Hopkins Saturday night, he thinks other aspects of his game may come to light.
"I am in boxing since I was 11," Kovalev told SWN. "This fight will give me an opportunity to show my boxing, because this fight might be all 12 rounds. Or no...maybe early."
Hopkins plans on testing Kovalev's ability to go all 12 rounds, saying he likes to "disarm" opponents of their best weapon-in this case that would be Kovalev's knockout power.
"Whatever gun he has I'm not gonna run from the gun, I'm gonna disarm him," Hopkins said on a conference call with media.
"You have a big punch, I'll disarm you. If you got a plan B, buckle up because the people are gonna get their money's worth. He's a human, I'm not. I'll disarm him. Let's fight."
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