Kovalev dominates Hopkins

Atlantic City, NJ (SportsNetwork.com) – Sergey Kovalev dominated 49-year-old Bernard Hopkins and won a 12-round unanimous decision to unify the world light heavyweight titles.

Kovalev (26-0-1, 23 KOs), who came into the bout as the WBO champion, floored Hopkins with a right hand to the face in the first round. Although Hopkins has never been knocked out in his career, he showed little aggression in this fight and lost by counts of 120-107 from two judges and 120-106 from the other scorer.

Hopkins (55-7-2, 32 KOs), who turns 50 on Jan. 15, lost the WBA and IBF versions of his belt and couldn’t rally against a boxer 18 years younger. The crowd at Boardwalk Hall chanted “B-Hop! B-Hop!” in round seven when Kovalev was unrelenting.

In the eighth round, Kovalev landed a solid right to the top of the head, causing Hopkins to stumble, but he managed to stay on his feet.

Kovalev, who hadn’t lasted past the eighth round in any of his previous bouts, tried to knock out the Philadelphia native in the final round. He landed 38 of his 89 punches thrown and sent Hopkins to the worst decision loss of his career.

After the fight Kovalev said Hopkins “needs to stop his career” to give younger fighters an opportunity.

Hopkins said he was “50/50” on whether he’d retire.

Categorized in: Boxing