I always get nervous when any white fighter fights Hopkins. The Kelly Pavlik fight always comes back to mind. Here was a guy on top of the world and the old man schooled him. I think Kovalev is quite a bit more athletic and certainly has more power then Pavlik, but anything can happen. The old bastard will hold non-stop. If Kovalev is pounding him with heavy shots I expect old bastard to fake some kind of low blow or try and get Kovalev disqualified. The old bastard never goes down without a fight.
Interesting comments, man.
Fortunately, I think BHOP has aged since the Pavlik fight and is not as good as he was then. He was outworked by Joe Calz, outboxed by Chad Dawson and even his recent fight with Shumenov I thought was close to a draw (Predictably the judges gave the old man a UD).
Bernard is slipping.
I also think Kovalev is better than Pavlik. Kovalev appears to be the hardest puncher in the sport (Wlad and GGG also notable but their power is more accumulative whereas Kov just needs to land once). Pavlik at that time was great but he also was dropped hard in the first Taylor fight. Amateurwise Sergey is more experienced and I think he's much better technically.
In my opinion Sergey should win. Bernard can hold all he wants but Sergey just needs litrrally one punch to change the fight. Sergry is a killer and if he catches BHOP BHOP wont be able to recover.
Sergey should also know Bernards 2 weaknesses: He starts slow, and has low offensive output. Sergey must start fast (Id recommend all out attack in round 1) because BHOP usually develops a rhythm as the fight goes on.
As for a prediction its hard to say. I could see Sergey catching the old man and literally knocking him out cold. I could also see Bernard win a decision by making Srrgey miss. I could also see Bernard faking an injury.
Power is the great equalizer though and Sergey only needs to land once to put BHOP down, out, or on queer street. It may be difficult for Bernard to time a fake injury because of this.
Sergey should win this if he lets his hands go a lot, fights with confidence, and the right gameplan.