Boxing loves numbers. Floyd Mayweather tries to convince us he will end his career next year at 49-0, to sit alongside Rocky Marciano, and nobody can be sure if he will then walk away or carry on, although the digits that matter are those in eight figures attached to a dollar sign. As for Bernard Hopkins, he really does stretch the boundaries of credulity.
In a professional career that began 26 years and 65 contests ago with a four-round points setback against the spectacularly anonymous Clinton Mitchell in Atlantic City, Hopkins has morphed from The Executioner to B-Hop to The Alien.
If it has seemed at times he has had to try too hard to create an image, there can be no doubting his fistic pedigree. He has, after all, beaten Oscar De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad, Antonio Tarver, an unbeaten Kelly Pavlik and a faded Roy Jones Jr. Lately he has stepped down a few levels but, win or lose in that same city on Saturday night, Hopkins is heading for his sport’s hall of fame – at nearly 50. He deserves the universal acclaim of his tough business.
Victory is far from a given. In front of Hopkins in Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall will be the WBO light-heavyweight champion, Sergey Kovalev, a Russian puncher of frightening natural power – and 18 years younger than Hopkins – who holds the WBA “super” and IBF versions of the championship.
Kovalev has numbers nearly as impressive as Hopkins: 23 stoppages – including one over Nathan Cleverly in four rounds last year to win the title – in 26 bouts, six of which did not get out of the first round. He has a solitary technical draw on his CV, in his 17th bout when the serial loser Grover Young retired in the second round after an accidental foul.
For those who question the quality of his opponents, the combined records of his five most recent victims reads 113-2-1. Two of them, Cleverly and Cedric Agnew, who survived seven rounds, were unbeaten. It’s hard to imagine what else Kovalev could have done to earn a shot at Hopkins.
When they met at the final press conference, Hopkins indulged in his trademark weirdness, and was given a pass for earlier incendiary remarks about race. He still thinks the colour of his skin has diluted the respect he is owed , but he knows raising the subject – as he did before losing to Joe Calzaghe in 2008 – might shift a few more tickets.
“This isn’t about being an athlete, a boxer or whatever it is,” he said. “This is something separate. Me as a man, I’ve been there since 1965 [on the planet, not in boxing]. I have been special ever since. When you’re dealing with the spirit that I carry with me, from my personal life to here, all of that comes together in the ring. An opponent, he can be fast, slick or a puncher, you have to face all of these intangibles that I bring to the ring.
“I don’t mind putting my wits up against anyone’s wits today. I’m so calm and relaxed. I still have that hunger to prove myself. Psychological warfare, you will never win against me. Everyone on this side [nodding to Kovalev] knows you’re never going to win.”
Kovalev could not have been more accommodating. “This fight is dangerous for me but this fight is also dangerous for him,” the WBO champion said, trying not to sound like a challenger.
“I only understand about 10% of what Hopkins says. He speaks in American English and slang. It’s probably a good thing because it doesn’t bother me. After he fights me, he can leave boxing and become a one-man show in the theatre, or comedy. He is a great talker.” That he is. But the talking has to stop sometime.
When Hopkins lost to Mitchell on his debut in a boardwalk casino in 1988 (it was Mitchell’s last fight of a five-bout career), the Philadelphian weighed 177lb. On Saturday, he will not be far off that mark. He is a phenomenon, no question – but, contrary to what he might think, he is not about to become Superman. Kovalev to win by a late stoppage.
