There was yet another first for Bernard Hopkins on Saturday night as he became the only man to take Sergey Kovalev 12 rounds but unfortunately for the 49 year old, that was as good as it got for him in Atlantic City.
In the same ring in which he had schooled William Joppy, Antonio Tarver and Kelly Pavlik, there was no magic left in boxing’s oldest ever world champion.
Logic was emphatically and painfully restored.
Kovalev claimed a unanimous decision to add Hopkins’ IBF and WBA light heavyweight titles to his own WBO strap and underline his status as the premier operator in the division.
A decision for the Russian wasn’t a popular pick beforehand, most predicting that should the fight go the distance then Hopkins would be the man celebrating, while his 31 year old opponent’s best chance of success lay in making his decisive superiority in power count with a stoppage.
Yet while Kovalev’s stone fists were consistently a factor, he showed he is much more than just a puncher with a measured, mature strategy which accentuated his own advantages and never gave Hopkins the chance to make it his type of fight.
Kovalev sent Hopkins to the canvas in the first round with an overhand counter right, and while the American clearly slipped, there was enough juice in a clumping shot to help him on his way. It was only a flash knockdown but it set the tone, with ‘the Alien’ brought down to earth and visibly wary of his opponent’s firepower.
Despite the early breakthrough Kovalev was commendably patient, boxing at range, choosing quality over quantity but landing hard, withering shots whenever he chose to engage or counter.
It was the seventh before Hopkins returned fire, the 10th before we saw another flurry and in the 12th there was finally some bravado from the Philadelphian as he stuck his tongue out to goad Kovalev.
Big mistake. The Russian came on strong and the fight could have been stopped at any point in the final frenzied minutes as he pounded away until the final bell.
There was never any doubt about the outcome. It wasn’t even close.
This was a younger, bigger, stronger, heavy handed champion beating up a veteran.
That’s not to suggest Hopkins is physically shot. A jaded fighter would never have withstood 12 rounds of that ferocity.
It was, however, the worst beating of his career and, previously indignant in defeat, Hopkins’ grace was telling.
“He had a good game plan, I’ll give him that,” he said.
“He used his reach and distance and that was the key. He has very good mechanics and patience.”
Hopkins described the chances of him fighting again as 50-50, the age he will turn in two months. It really should be the end, but as usual he sounded like anything but a 66-fight veteran afterwards.
Turning promoter – Hopkins has a stake in Oscar Del La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions – he added: “We both would fight anyone and that’s how we ended up here.
"That’s the way boxing should be. That’s what brought us together.
"That’s what the people want to see: one title, one belt, one champion.”
Hopkins could get his wish.
Kovalev now has three versions of the light heavyweight world title, with Canadian Adonis Stevenson, the WBC champion, holding the other.
A fight between those two in 2015 would unify all the major belts, something which has so rarely happened in the era of four major sanctioning bodies.
Hopkins, in fact, was the first man to do it when he hoovered up his partner De La Hoya’s WBO middleweight title in 2004.
That is just one of a plethora of benchmarks he has set and if he does retire then induction to the Hall of Fame at the earliest possible opportunity will follow.
A four-time, two-weight world champion; holder of a record 20 title defences at middleweight; the oldest winner, holder, defender and unifier of belts. Hopkins has done things likely to never be matched.
And as Kovalev’s trainer John David Jackson, himself a former Hopkins victim, said: “He just went 12 rounds with one of the hardest punchers in boxing today. What is left for him to accomplish?”
Very little, is the answer.
