49-Year-Old Hopkins Loses by Unanimous Decision
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Digital Vision/Thinkstock(ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.) — Sergey Kovalev dominated through all 12 rounds of his light heavyweight bout with Bernard Hopkins, winning by unanimous decision to retain his WBO title on Saturday. The bout also unified the IBF and WBA belts which Hopkins previously held.
“I give him a lot of respect,” said Hopkins, the 49-year-old who turns 50 on Jan. 15. “We both would fight anyone and that’s how we ended up here tonight. That’s what brought us together. That’s what the people want to see, one title, one belt, one champion.”
All three judges gave each of the 12 rounds to Kovalev who dedicated the win to his newborn son who was born while he was in training for the fight.
“I’m very happy,” Kovalev said. “This victory was for my son Aleksandr. I was very excited [Hopkins] didn’t get into my head.”
The 31-year-old dropped Hopkins in the first round, setting the tone for a dominating performance. Kovalev (26-0-1, 23 KOs) continued to pound on the soon-to-be Hall of Famer, connecting on 166 of 585 punches (28 percent) while Hopkins connected on just 69 of 196 strikes (33 percent).
Despite being dominated by a fighter nearly two decades younger, Hopkins (55-7-2, 32 KOs) said retirement is only a 50-50 possibility.
“I don’t really want to say anything,” noted Hopkins. “Everybody will have a long time to talk about my career when it is over. It’s been 50-50 for the last nine years. I’ve done what I had to do. I’m fine. Really, I’m fine.”
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