Kovalev Has Finally Gotten Hopkins’ ATTENTION

Published

10 years ago

September 2, 2014

Sergey Kovalev was newly arrived in these United States, hoping to make his mark in the country in which his boxing heroes lived and worked. Then the 27-year-old Russian spotted one of those heroes, up close and personal.

Well, sort of.

“One day, when I had just come to America, 4½ years ago in L.A., Hopkins was to me, like big legend. Famous guy,” the WBO light heavyweight champion was saying Tuesday morning at a press gathering in Philadelphia, the first stop in a multi-city media tour to hype the Nov. 8 unification matchup between Kovalev (25-0-1, 23 KOs) and Hopkins (55-6-2, 32 KOs), the WBA/IBF 175-pound titlist. “I had just come from Russia and I never seen before any famous boxers, like (Oscar) De La Hoya or Hopkins or Mike Tyson.

“I was surprised when I saw Hopkins at show, (Sergio) Mora against Shane Mosley. I called Hopkins, like, three times. `Bernard! Bernard! Bernard!,’ to take a picture with him. But he didn’t turn to me. I did not get his attention. So I was, like, `OK. See you one day.’”

If this sounds like the familiar tale of one fighter’s bruised feelings nursed over time into a revenge mode until some payback can be achieved inside the ring, think again. Oh, sure, it’s a reasonable scenario, and certainly one that would have some validity had Hopkins been the aggrieved party, inadvertently or otherwise. A component of B-Hop’s enduring success is his ability to employ any perceived slight as reason to work up a frothy rage against virtually every opponent. But Kovalev is a big teddy bear at all times except fight night, quick with a smile and a distinctively Eastern European blend of self-deprecating humor and modesty. He comes across in interviews like Mr. Rogers with an Ivan Drago accent.

So, does Kovalev – an opening-line 4-to-11 favorite over Hopkins, who turns 50 on Jan. 15, just 66 days after he swaps punches with the “Krusher from Russia” in Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall – believe he can become the first man ever to knock out boxing’s ageless wonder, or to at least beat him bloody?

“I think nothing,” Kovalev said. “Just go to the ring and do my work, my job. As usual.” Except, of course, that this is not really a matchup that can be described as anything usual. It can’t be. As much as he might try to make Nov. 8 sound like just another day at the pugilistic office, Kovalev surely understands that boxing history – one way or the other – is going to be made.

“Is the most important, the most interesting fight, in my career,” he allowed. “When I was a child and I watch some fights on TV, Hopkins was who I saw. I never thought that I could get to fight with Hopkins. But dreams come true in America. Day by day, step by step, I come to this goal. Am very happy to get this fight.”

When Kovalev was a child, how could he have imagined he might someday fight Hopkins? “The Alien,” as the Philadelphian now likes to call himself, was considered an old man, by boxing standards, when he dominated and then stopped the favored Felix Trinidad in the 12^th round of their Sept. 29, 2001, middleweight unification showdown in Madison Square Garden. He was then 36 years old, in some ways just about to enter his prime instead of receding from it.

“They started calling me old when I was 35, remember?” Hopkins said during another of the stream-of-consciousness media sessions in which he holds court by teasing and toying with reporters as if they were so many Morrade Hakkars. “You add five more years to that and now I’m 40. `Well, he got to be slowing up now.’ Add five more years to that and I’m 45, and still going strong. Now I’m almost 50 and still here.

“I’m very, very up on history. I take it seriously. I’m no gatekeeper for no one. People say (to his prospective opponents), `You beat Bernard Hopkins, you’ll be the first to do this or that.’ OK, I understand.

“Look, anybody at the right time and at the right place can get knocked out or severely beaten. It’s (Kovalev’s) job to do what others tried to do and couldn’t. It’s my job to do what I do. I know Kovalev can punch. His record shows he can punch. His (knockout) percentage, I think, is over 90 percent. Have I been in this situation before? Well, yeah. Absolutely. I got 26 years in this business.”

Hopkins – who already holds the record for being the oldest fighter to win a widely established world championship, cites his victories over Joe Lipsey, Trinidad and Kelly Pavlik as proof that he is at his best, and most motivated, when the man in the other corner is undefeated. He said there are few things he enjoys more than erasing the `0’ from someone’s line in the loss column.

“I love fighting guys with undefeated records,” Hopkins continued. “I love it when that fighter no longer can be called a virgin. He’s been had. I have a history of taking those` 0’s’ away.”

So, what does think of Hopkins’ bold talk?

“He is `Alien,’” Kovalev said, cracking another smile. “He is not 49 like regular man.”

Nor is Kovalev apt to fall into the sort of verbal traps that Hopkins has so frequently set so many regular men, good fighters all. He caused Trinidad to fight mad, to his detriment, by twice throwing down the Puerto Rican flag during the prefight buildup to their much-anticipated showdown. Perhaps no fighter since Muhammad Ali has proven so adept at using the well-timed putdown to get under an opponent’s skin, to make him crazy enough to get away from whatever fight plan his trainer might have mapped out. But those sort of mind games work only if the other guy is susceptible to falling for them.

Asked if Kovalev will make the same mistake other straight-ahead, big-punching younger fighters have tried against him, which is to rush forward and try to whack the old guy into the ringside seats, Hopkins said he is prepared to utilize all the tricks at his disposal – and that no one- or limited-trick pony has a repertoire varied enough to match his ring smarts and versatility.

“Last I heard, he can box,” Hopkins said. “He’s shown he can do some things I don’t hear people talking about. People say Bernard do great when guys come to him. But there’s guys I fought who ran and tried to box, and I outboxed them. When you’re dealing with an all-around fighter, a complete fighter, you go to go back to something called `old school.’ To me, `old-school’ is not just about being old. It’s not about age.

“It’s meaningless to me to fight someone that I don’t believe is a threat. I even pondered going up to heavyweight to fight (then WBA champion) David Haye. I talked about fighting James Toney at cruiserweight. They had The Ring magazine cover all ready to go. Couldn’t get the deal done.

“I want to fight the best. (Marvin) Hagler fought the best. Ray Leonard fought the best. (Muhammad) Ali fought the best. And I fight the best. That’s important to me. `The Alien’ likes to walk on a tightrope 50 or 100 feet in the air with no safety net. So let’s go.”

This time, that tightrope is even higher and there’s a strong breeze blowing. At some point, an ancient Hopkins has to start showing signs of decline. And Kovalev, who hits like a mule can kick, at 31 looks like he just might be a big enough hitter to finally put Hopkins down and out, especially if he can keep his emotions in check.

Hopkins’ trainer, Brother Naazim Richardson, said he’s heard tales of his fighter’s imminent demise for so long, he’s not surprised that the picture being painted is again that of Hopkins entering a danger zone from which there can be no escape.

“I respect Kovalev,” Richardson said. “He’s a monster. But he’s more of a monster to other young guys, not this old dude. What’s he going to think when round after round goes by and he can’t get to Bernard? What’s his corner going to be saying? Punch harder? He’ll be thinking, `Man, I’m punching as hard as I can. What’ll I do now?’”

Main Events president Kathy Duva, who promotes Kovalev, thinks her guy will find whatever answer he needs when and if that question arises. In any case, she said the sport of boxing benefits from this fight being made at a time when so many other attractive matchups never get past the discussion stage because of the sport’s numerous internecine conflicts.

“All good things must come to an end, and obviously Main Events believes it’s time for a new era, for the torch to be passed, so to speak,” Duva said. “Bernard clearly disagrees. That’s what makes a great fight, when you have two very different points of view and (people can) walk into the fight saying, `Gee, I really don’t know who’s going to win.’

“That’s what we need – two great fighters putting their titles and their legacies on the line. These guys have already enhanced their legacies by agreeing to this fight.”

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!

Bernard Fernandez

Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

Published

1 day ago

July 25, 2024

David A. Avila

Avila-Perspective-Chap-289-East-L.A.-A-Fight-Town-Claressa-Shields-and-More

Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

East Los Angeles has long been a haven for some of the best fighters around if you can keep them out of trouble. For every Oscar De La Hoya or Seniesa Estrada there are thousands derailed by crime, drugs or drinking.

Boxing has always been a favorite sport of East L.A. Every family has an uncle or two who boxes.

On Friday, 360 Promotions’ Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) fights Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1) in the main event at Commerce Casino, in Commerce, CA. UFC Fight Pass will stream the fight card.

The City of Commerce used to be part of East L.A. until 1960 when it incorporated. It’s still considered to be part of East Los Angeles, but informally.

Plenty of fighters come out of East L.A. but few make it all the way like De La Hoya and Estrada. Will Trinidad be the one?

The first world champion from East L.A. or “East Los” as some call it, was Solly Garcia Smith back in the late 1800s. Others were Richie Lemos, Art Frias and Joey Olivo. There is also 1984 Olympic gold medalist Paul Gonzalez.

Once again 360 Promotions brings its popular brand of fights to the area. On this fight card includes two female bouts. One features Roxy Verduzco (1-0) the former amateur star fighting Colleen Davis (3-1-1) in a featherweight fight.

All that action takes place on Friday.

Elite Boxing

The next day, also in East L.A., Elite Boxing stages another boxing card at Salesian High School located at 960 S. Soto Street in the Boyle Heights area of East Los Angeles.

Elite Boxing has promoted several successful boxing cards at the Catholic high school grounds. The area is saturated by many of the best eateries in Los Angeles. Don’t take my word for it. Check it out yourself and grab some of that delicious food.

Boxing has long been a favorite sport of anyone who lives in East L.A. It’s a fight town equal to Philadelphia, Brooklyn or Detroit. There’s something different about the area. For more than 100 years some of the best fighters continue to come out of its boxing gyms. Some will be performing on these club shows.

For tickets or information go to www.eliteboxingusa.com

Claressa Shields in Detroit

Speaking of fight towns, pound-for-pound best Claressa Shields who won two Olympic Gold Medals in boxing, moves up another weight division to tackle the WBC heavyweight world champion Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse on Saturday, July 27, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

DAZN will stream the heavy-duty fight card.

Shields (14-0) cleaned out the super welterweight, middleweight and super middleweight divisions and now wants to add the big girls to her conquests. She will be facing Canada’s Lepage-Joanisse (7-1) who holds the WBC belt.

The last time Shields gloved up was more than a year ago when she fought Maricela Cornejo. Don’t blame Shields. She loves to fight. She loves to win. The last time Shields lost a fight was in the amateurs and that was three presidential administrations ago.

Shields doesn’t lose.

I wonder if Las Vegas even takes bets on her fights?

The only fight she may have been an underdog was against Savannah Marshall who was the last opponent to defeat her. And that was in 2012 in China. When they met as pros two years ago, Shields avenged her loss with a blistering attack.

Don’t get Shields mad.

Perhaps her toughest foe as a pro was in her pro debut when she clashed with Franchon Crews-Dezurn in Las Vegas. It was four rounds of fists and fury as the two pounded each other on the undercard of Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev in November 2016.

That was a ferocious debut for both female pugilists.

Assisting Shields on this fight card will be several intriguing male bouts. One guy you should pay special attention is Tito Mercado (15-0, 14 KOs) a super lightweight prospect from Pomona, California.

Many excellent fighters have come out of Pomona including Sugar Shane Mosley, Shane Mosley Jr., Alberto Davila and Richie Sandoval who just passed away this week.

Sandoval was best known for his 15-round war with Philadelphia’s Jeff Chandler for the bantamweight world title in 1984. Read the story by Arne K. Lang on this link: https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/featured-boxing-articles-boxing-news-videos-rankings-and-results/81467-former-world-bantamweight-champion-richie-sandoval-passes-away-at-age-63 .

Fights to Watch

Fri. UFC Fight Pass 7 p.m. Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) vs Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1).

Sat. ESPN+ 12:30 p.m. Joe Joyce (16-2) vs Derek Chisora (34-13).

Sat. DAZN 3 p.m. Claressa Shields (14-0) vs Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse (7-1), Michel Rivera (25-1) vs Hugo Roldan (22-2-1); Tito Mercado (15-0) vs Hector Sarmiento (21-2).

Omar Trinidad photo by Lina Baker

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!

Arne’s Almanac: Jake Paul and Women’s Boxing, a Curmudgeon’s Take

Published

2 days ago

July 24, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Arne's-Almanac-Jake-Paul-and-Women's-Boxing-a-Curmudgeon's-Take

Jake Paul can fight more than a little. The view from here is that he would make it interesting against any fringe contender in the cruiserweight division. However, Jake’s boxing acumen pales when paired against his skill as a flim-flam artist.

Jake brought a 9-1 record into last weekend’s bout with Mike Perry. As noted by boxing writer Paul Magno, Jake’s previous opponents consisted of “a You Tuber, a retired NBA star, five retired MMA stars, a part-time boxer/reality TV star, and two undersized and inactive fall-guy boxers.”

Mike Perry, a 32-year-old Floridian, was undefeated (6-0, 3 KOs) as a bare-knuckle boxer after forging a 14-8 record in UFC bouts. In pre-fight blurbs, Perry was billed as the baddest bare knuckle boxer of all time, but against Jake Paul he proved to have very unrefined skills as a conventional boxer which Team Paul undoubtedly knew all along. Perry lasted into the eighth round in a one-sided fight that could have been stopped a lot sooner.

Jake Paul is both a boxer and a promoter. As a promoter, he handles Amanda Serrano, one of the greatest female boxers in history. That makes him the person most responsible (because the buck stops with him) for the wretched mismatch in last Saturday’s co-feature, the bout between Serrano and Stevie Morgan.

Morgan, who took up boxing two years ago at age 33, brought a 14-1 record. Nicknamed the Sledgehammer, she had won 13 of her 14 wins by knockout, eight in the opening round. However, although she resides in Florida, all but one of those 13 knockouts happened in Colombia.

“We found that in Colombia there were just more opportunities for women’s boxing than in the United States,” she told a prominent boxing writer whose name we won’t mention.

The truth is that, for some folks, Colombia is the boxing equivalent of a feeder lot for livestock, a place where a boxer can go to fatten their record. The opportunities there were no greater than in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1995. It was there that Peter McNeeley prepped for his match with Mike Tyson with a 6-second knockout of professional punching bag Frankie Hines. (Six seconds? So it would be written although no one seems to have been there to witness it.)

Serrano vs Morgan was understood to be a stay-busy fight for Amanda whose rematch with Katie Taylor was postponed until November. Stevie Morgan, to her credit, answered the bell for the second round whereas others in her situation would have remained on the stool and invented an injury to rationalize it. Thirty-eight seconds later it was all over and Ms. Morgan was free to go home and use her sledgehammer to do some light dusting.

The Paul-Perry and Serrano-Morgan fights played out in a sold-out arena in Tampa before an estimated 17,000. Those without a DAZN subscription paid $64.95 for the livestream. Paul’s next promotion, where he will touch gloves with 58-year-old Mike Tyson (unless Iron Mike pulls a Joe Biden and pulls out; a capital idea) with Serrano-Taylor II the semi-main, will almost certainly rake in more money than any other boxing promotion this year.

Asked his opinion of so-called crossover boxing by a reporter for a college newspaper, the venerable boxing promoter Bob Arum said, “It’s not my bag but folks who don’t like it shouldn’t get too worked up over it because no one is stealing from anybody.” True enough, but for some of us, the phenomenon is distressing.

—

The next big women’s fight happens Saturday in Detroit where Claressa Shields seeks a world title in a third weight class against WBC heavyweight belt-holder Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse.

A two-time Olympic gold medalist, undefeated in 14 fights as a pro, Shields is very good, arguably the best female boxer of her generation which makes her, arguably, the best female boxer of all time. But turning away Lepage-Joanisse (7-1, 2 KOs) won’t elevate her stature in our eyes.

Purportedly 17-4 as an amateur, the Canadian won her title in her second crack at it. Back in August of 2017, she challenged Cancun’s Alejandra Jimenez in Cancun and was stopped in the third round. Entering the bout, Lepage-Joanisse was 3-0 as a pro and had never fought a match slated for more than four rounds.

Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse

True, on the women’s side, the heavyweight bracket is a very small pod. A sanctioning body has to make concessions to harness a sanctioning fee. Nonetheless, how absurd that a woman who had answered the bell for only 11 rounds would be deemed qualified to compete for a world title. (FYI: Alejandra Jimenez was purportedly born a man. She left the sport with a 12-0-1 record after her win over Franchon Crews Dazurn was changed to a no-contest when she tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol.)

Following her defeat to Jimenez, Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse, now 29 years old, was out of action for six-and-a-half years. When she returned, she was still a heavyweight, but a much slender heavyweight. She carried 231 pounds for Jimenez. In her most recent bout where she captured the vacant WBC title with a split decision over Argentina’s Abril Argentina Vidal, she clocked in at 173 ¼. (On the distaff side, there’s no uniformity among the various sanctioning bodies as to what constitutes a heavyweight.)

Claressa Shields doesn’t need Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse to reinforce her credentials as a future Hall of Famer. She made the cut a long time ago.

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!

Former World Bantamweight Champion Richie Sandoval Passes Away at Age 63

Published

4 days ago

July 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Former-World-Bamtamweight-Champion-Richie-Sandoval-Passes-Away-at-age-63

Richie Sandoval, who won the WBA and lineal bantamweight title in one of the biggest upsets of the 1980s and then, not quite two years later, suffered near-fatal injuries in a title defense, has passed away at the age of 63.

News circulated fast in the Las Vegas boxing community on Monday, July 22, the grapevine actuated by a tweet from Hall of Fame matchmaker Bruce Trampler: “Boxing and the Top Rank family lost one of our own last night in the passing of former WBA bantamweight champion Richie Sandoval. It hurts personally and professionally to know that Richie is gone at age 63. RIP campeon.”

Details are vague but the cause of death was apparently a sudden heart attack that Sandoval experienced while visiting the Southern California home of his son of the same name.

Richie Sandoval put the LA County community of Pomona, California, on the boxing map before Shane Mosley came along and gave the town a more frequently-cited mention in the sports section of the papers. He came from a fighting family. An older brother, Albert “Superfly” Sandoval, became a big draw at LA’s fabled Olympic Auditorium while building a 35-2-1 record that included a failed bid to capture Lupe Pintor’s world bantamweight title.

Richie was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic boxing team that was stranded when U.S. President Jimmy Carter (and many other world leaders) boycotted the event as a protest against Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan.

As a pro, Sandoval’s signature win was a 15^th-round stoppage of Jeff Chandler. They fought on April 7, 1984 in Atlantic City. Chandler was making the tenth defense of his world bantamweight title.

Despite being a heavy underdog, Sandoval dominated the fight, winning almost every round until the referee stepped in and waived it off. Chandler, who was 33-1-2 heading in and had avenged his lone defeat, never fought again.

Sandoval made two successful defenses before risking his title against Gaby Canizales on the undercard of Hagler-Mugabi in the outdoor stadium at Caesars Palace. In round seven, Sandoval, who had a hellish time making the weight, was knocked down three times and suffered a seizure as he collapsed from the third knockdown. Stretchered out of the ring, he was rushed to the hospital where doctors reduced the swelling in his brain and beat the odds to save his life. This would be Richie’s lone defeat. He finished his pro career with a record of 29-1 (17 KOs).

Bob Arum cushioned some of the pain by giving Richie a $25,000 bonus and offering him a lifetime job at Top Rank which Richie accepted. And let the record show that Arum was good to his word.

A more elaborate portrait of Richie Sandoval was published in these pages in 2017. You can check it out HERE. May he rest in peace.

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!