Hopkins wants Golovkin to fight Kovalev-Ward winner

09/17/2016 by Boxing News

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By Dan Ambrose: Bernard Hopkins says he wants IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin to move up to the 175lb division to take on the winner of the November 19 fight between IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-0-1, 26 KOs) and Andre “SOG” Ward (30-0, 15 Kos).

Hopkins also says that if he had fought Golovkin, he would have beaten him. The fact that Hopkins is in his 50s now suggests that he’s never going to get the chance to fight Golovkin, so it’s not even worth it to speculate.

Hopkins tears into Golovkin for criticizing Canelo

08/07/2016 by Boxing News

By Dan Ambrose: Bernard Hopkins of Golden Boy Promotions thinks IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) is a hypocrite for criticizing Golden Boy fighter Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in the past for him fighting Amir Khan in their fight last May on HBO pay-per-view.

Golovkin thought it wasn’t a good fight for boxing due to Canelo fighting a much smaller fighter than himself in Khan, who had already shown that he had problems taking shots from lightweights, light welterweights and welterweights. Hopkins thinks Golovkin is a hypocrite because he’s now fighting welterweight Kell Brook (36-0, 25 KOs) on September 10 next month. Hopkins sees the Golovkin vs. Brook fight as the same thing as Canelo vs. Khan.

Ward: I’m a combination of Mayweather, Jones Jr and Hopkins

08/07/2016 by Boxing News

By Patrick McHugh: Andre Ward (30-0, 15 KOs) broke down the guys that he’s patterned his fighting style after last night following his 12 round decision win over Alexander Brand at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. Ward said that he’s a combination of Floyd Mayweather Jr., Roy Jones Jr. and Bernard Hopkins. It was interesting to hear Ward explain where he got his fighting style.

Hopkins is someone that jumps out at you when you look at how Ward fought last night and in his previous fights. Mayweather and Jones Jr. are fighters that completely different from how Ward fights like. I don’t see any of those fighters’ styles inside Ward’s style.

Hopkins: Ward must smother Kovalev’s offense

08/07/2016 by Boxing News

Byn Allan Fox: Andre Ward (30-0, 15 KOs) must disarm IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev to beat him in their fight on November 19, according to Bernard Hopkins. He feels that Ward has to take away Kovalev’s right hand immediately to be successful. From there, Hopkins thinks that Ward can smother the 33-year-old Kovalev all night long in their fight on HBO pay-per-view.

What this means for boxing fans is that they would likely see Ward clinching a lot, and wrestling on the inside for 12 rounds. We saw a lot of the wrestling last night with Ward’s 12 round unanimous decision victory over Alexander Brand (25-2, 19 KOs) at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.

Bernard Hopkins could fight this year

07/23/2016 by Boxing News

By Allan Fox: After nearly two years out of the ring, Bernard Hopkins is planning on potentially making a ring return in 2016. Hopkins, 51, lost his last fight to Sergey Kovalev in 2014, and he’s not fought since then. It’s unclear whether Hopkins (55-7-2, 32 KOs) has been picky or what.

Hopkins probably could have stayed active if he was willing to fight the top contenders, but whatever reason he’s not continued to fight. That’s unfortunate because he seems to be following the same path we saw from former world champion Winky Wright in his final years of his career.

Hopkins thinks Golovkin should give Canelo the catch-weight handicap he wants

05/05/2016 by Boxing News

By Dan Ambrose: Bernard Hopkins of Golden Boy Promotions says IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin should give Golden Boy promoter Saul “Canelo” Alvarez whatever catch-weight handicap he asks for in order for them to face each other.

Canelo maintains he’s a junior middleweight rather than a middleweight, and he feels he should be able to get a weight handicap for a fight against Golovkin. Hopkins came down in weight to fight the more popular Oscar De La Hoya at a 158lb catch-weight in September 2004. De La Hoya had just recently moved up to middleweight at the time three months earlier in beating WBO middleweight champion Felix Sturm by a controversial 12 round decision in June 2004.

Golovkin closing in on Bernard Hopkins’ record for title defenses

04/23/2016 by Boxing News

By Dan Ambrose: IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs will be looking to make his 16th consecutive title defense and his 22nd consecutive knockout tonight against IBF mandatory challenger Dominic Wade (18-0, 12 KOs) on HBO from the Forum in Inglewood, California.

Golovkin is within five title defenses to tie the record for most title defenses of 20 set by Bernard Hopkins at middleweight. Golovkin will likely break Hopkins’ record by 2017.

Kovalev says Hopkins gave him experience to use for Ward

03/28/2016 by Boxing News

By Allan Fox: IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (29-0-1, 26 KOs) believes he got some valuable experience in facing the crafty Bernard Hopkins in their fight in November 2014. Hopkins has a fighting style very similar to that of the 32-year-old Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs), and Kovalev had little problems in beating Hopkins by a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores of 120-106, 120-107 and 120-107. Hopkins was focusing on his defense a good portion of the fight, and not throwing a lot of punches.

In watching Hopkins fight, it was very similar to how Ward fought Sullivan Barrera (17-1, 12 KOs) last Saturday night at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. Ward was focusing on his offense only around 25 percent of the time.

Hopkins: Andre Ward will KO Sullivan Barrera

03/20/2016 by Boxing News

ward555 By Dan Ambrose: Bernard Hopkins is picking Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) to defeat unbeaten Sullivan Barrera (17-0, 12 KOs) by a 5th round knockout in their fight this Saturday night on March 26th on HBO Championship Boxing from the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.

Hopkins doesn’t go into why he thinks Ward will win the fight by a knockout, but he obviously believes he’ll have too much talent for the 34-year-old Cuban Barrera. This is Ward’s debut at light heavyweight, and a lot of eyes will be on him to see how he does in this fight.

If Ward wins, a fight against IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev could be his next opponent in November. Hopkins doesn’t want Ward to take the fight with Kovalev yet, however, because he thinks the fight needs to be build up more to make it a bigger fight.

Hopkins also sees Kovalev as having too much momentum at this time because of his recent win over him as well as other fighters. Hopkins wants to see Ward get comfortable in the 175lb division before he faces a wrecking machine like Kovalev.

“The king of that division [Ward] moved up to light heavyweight and that’s Andre Ward, and he’s making his debut at light heavyweight,” said Hopkins to Fighthype.com. “I think he’ll beat him by a knockout by a mid-round knockout, late knockout,” said Hopkins.

Hopkins: Ward shouldn’t fight Kovalev right now

03/19/2016 by Boxing News

By Dan Ambrose: Former world champion Bernard Hopkins doesn’t think it’s a good idea for former WBA/WBC 168lb champion Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) to face unbeaten IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev at this point in his career.

Hopkins reasons that Kovalev is doing really well with his career in recent fights, and he thinks that Ward should just look to get some fights under his belt at 175 before he starts thinking about fighting Kovalev right now. Hopkins is looking at Ward’s career from a business standpoint, and he feels it’s a bad idea for Ward to take the fight right now with Kovalev without milking the fight for as long as possible before taking it.