Smith knocks Hopkins Out and Down-Boxing Challenge

Joe Smith ended the career of Bernard Hopkins with a defeat as Smith knocked Hopkins through the ropes and Hopkins could not beat the 20 count (it's 20 when a fighter is knocked out of the ring) in the eighth round of their light heavyweight fight in Los Angeles.

I had Smith ahead five rounds to two before several right hands drove Hopkins through and to the floor,where he was unable to return to the ring.
It was a sad ending to Hopkins career as he offered three excuses all at once as why the fight should not have ended via TKO (Pushed through the ropes not punched,hit his head on the fall and injured his ankle on the fall).
Hopkins has not always been the best loser when things didn't go his way,so I suppose that I should have seen that one coming,but it was still sad to see him go out in that manner.
The surprise to me (and considering boxing judging,I should never be surprised) was that judge Pat Russell had Hopkins ahead in the fight!
Ramon Malpica and I scored no points for the Smith victory.

The undercard saw Olesandr Usyk make his American debut as he retained his WBO cruiserweight title with a ninth round stoppage over Thabiso Mchunu.
The bout saw a slow start,but Usyk soon established a bigger physical presence,scoring a knockdown in the sixth before two knockdowns in the ninth finished off the challenger.
Usyk looks like the next great cruiserweight and I'd love to see a title unification bout with IBF champ Murat Gassiev.
Ramon and I each earned two point for the Usyk knockout.

The other bout saw featherweight Joseph Diaz easily decision Horatio Garcia as all three judges gave Diaz every round.
I scored it 98-92 for Diaz.
Diaz seems like a solid fighter that does nothing spectacular and might come up short at the elite level.
I'd rate him as a underdog against three of the four featherweight champions (Carl Frampton,Gary Russell and Oscar Valdez should he challenge them now.
I added two points for the Diaz decision with Ramon adding just one...

I lead the challenge 152-127 as this is the end of the televised year.
There will be one more card for the challenge as several titles are on the line for New Years Eve from Japan.
New Years Eve is the biggest television night of the year there,so there are some good bouts on that evening...

Kovalev dominates Hopkins

Sergey Kovalev dominated the legendary Bernard Hopkins for all 12 rounds and took away his WBA and IBF Lt.Heavyweight titles via a 12 round unanimous decision.
Kovalev dropped Hopkins in round one and sent the 49 year old staggering around the ring in the final round,nearly stopping him.
Kovalev won every round on the judges cards and mine as well.
I scored the bout 120-106 for the Russian,who despite not being the lineal champion , is clearly the best 175 pound fighter in the world,
The bout was the first time ever that Kovalev went the 12 round distance after entering the bout never before going beyond the eighth round.

In the boxing challenge,the point difference remained the same as R,L,Malpica and I only gained one point for a 62-60 scorecard.
Each of us gained one for the Kovalev victory,but neither of us would gain another.
Both of us thought Luis Abregu would defeat Sadam Ali,but Ali controlled the welterweight fight and stopped Abregu in the ninth round.
Neither of us would get a point for the European bout between Felix Sturm and Robert Stieglitz as the 168 pound fight was fought to a 12 round draw....

I hope to be back later with the huge Ohio State win over Michigan State,if not I'll get a review up tomorrow....

Hopkins-Kovalev Preview/Boxing Challenge

Tonight's Light Heavyweight title unification bout from Atlantic City is easily the most anticipated bout of the fall

Long time middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins has revitalized himself at 175 pounds by winning the WBA and IBF belts with a stated goals of winning all four (we recognize only three) major organization belts at that weight.
Wins over Tavoris Cloud (a bigger win at the time than it turned out to be) and Beibut Shumenov garnered two titles,but most thought the end game was the WBC champion (and lineal champion) Adonis Stevenson,who had viciously knocked out Chad Dawson in one round.
The same Dawson,who had decisioned Hopkins in a bout that was thought to be Hopkins' exit stage right moment from the boxing stage,so Stevenson-Hopkins was looked at to be too much for the "Executioner turned Alien".
Stevenson isn't much bigger than Hopkins naturally,so at least that bout made sense to make,especially with Hopkins winning two belts.
So that bout appeared to be the bout that was made after Stevenson leaped to Showtime where Hopkins had made his TV home,

Few saw it coming when Hopkins passed on Stevenson to battle the one man that didn't seem to fit the plan-WBO champ Sergey Kovalev.
Kovalev wasn't promoted by Golden Boy,was with rival television network HBO and was showing the kind of devastating power that hadn't been seen in the division since the days of Michael Spinks
Signing for the Kovalev bout showed that Hopkins was serious about his goal even if it meant signing to fight on HBO to get the belt.
Whether Bernard Hopkins wins this fight or not,you have to give full credit to him for taking the bout that he never had to take-credit that cannot be given to Adonis Stevenson-more here.

The problem for Hopkins now becomes this-Sergey Kovalev.
Hopkins has consistently defeated fighters that he was the underdog against,fighters that had a huge advantage in age (Bernard Hopkins is three years OLDER than me!) but for the first time,he is facing a devastating puncher that is a natural at the weight that the bout is held at and Hopkins continues to get older.
Is this the fight that Bernard Hopkins finally goes away in?

I think-yes.if.
Sergey Kovalev fights his fight,doesn't let Bernard Hopkins get into his head and uses the talents that got him here-I think Kovalev wins.
In fact,I've even seen this fight before- A strong powerhouse Russian against a proud and aging champion?


There are two other bouts today for the boxing challenge with one from Europe and the other on the HBO telecast.
The challenge currently stands with R.L.Malpica leading 61-59.

WBA and IBF Lt.Heavyweight titles.12 rds
Bernard Hopkins vs Sergey Kovalev

TRS:Kovalev KO 8
R.L:Kovalev KO 9

Welterweights.10 rds
Luis Abregu vs Sadam Ali

TRS: Abregu unanimous decision
R.L: Abregu KO 6

Super Middleweights. 12 rds
Felix Sturm vs Robert Steglitz

TRS; Steglitz unanimous decision
R.L: Sturm unanimous decision