'Alien' Bernard Hopkins trying to avoid 'moon' shot by big hitter Sergey Kovalev

Scroll down the list of the 25 men whom Sergey Kovalev has beaten in his professional boxing career and, if you're a hardcore boxing fan, there are a few recognizable names.

One is Nathan Cleverly, who was undefeated at the time he was stopped in the fourth round of a one-sided 2013 match.

Another is ex-light heavyweight champion Gabriel Campillo, whom Kovalev dropped three times before stopping him in the third of their 2013 fight.

And then there is Darnell Boone, largely a journeyman but who is remembered for dropping the great Andre Ward.

But that's about it. If you're just a casual fan who watches only the biggest fights, chances are you may not have even heard of Kovalev, the power-punching WBO light heavyweight champion.

Undoubtedly, most sports fans will have heard of Bernard Hopkins, the nearly 50-year-old WBA/IBF light heavyweight champion who meets Kovalev on Saturday at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., in a fascinating match televised by HBO.

Hopkins, already the oldest man to win a boxing world title, is attempting to claim another belt just weeks shy of his 50th birthday.

The names on Hopkins' résumé are much more easy to recognize. There's Joe Calzaghe, Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad, who in June were each inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

There's Roy Jones Jr., twice, who is a lock for induction once he finally gives up the ghost and retires.

And then there are guys like Antonio Tarver and Winky Wright and Jermain Taylor and Glen Johnson and John David Jackson, a Hopkins knockout victim in 1997 who will just so happen to be in the opposite corner on Saturday, working as Kovalev's trainer.

There are more highly recognizable names, but the point is easily made: Hopkins has faced, and beaten, far better competition than Kovalev has ever dreamed of.

The story is, of course, about Hopkins, who has taken to referring to himself as "The Alien" because of his amazing physical conditioning at such an advanced age.

During HBO's 24/7, Hopkins was shown being examined by Dr. Adam Pasternack, who said, "He really does have the health of a 20-year-old."

Kovalev is OK with all the attention being on Hopkins, because all he cares about is winning. Less attention on him means fewer interviews, fewer distractions and more time to prepare.

"It is not easy to overlook Hopkins," Kovalev said. "I think when he's 60 years old he'll be in the same condition. He's an alien, but I have to send him to the moon and maybe from there he'll go by himself to Mars."

Kovalev is favored by slightly better than a 2-1 margin, but the odds don't reflect whom oddsmakers believe will win but rather how the public is betting on the fight.

And it's hard for the public to believe that a 50-year-old man can stand up to the withering assault that Kovalev has delivered to his biggest-name opponents.

But among his six losses in 65 fights, Hopkins was only clearly, convincingly beaten twice: He lost a wide decision to a prime Jones in a 1993 middleweight title fight, and he was routed by Chad Dawson in a 2012 light heavyweight match when he was 47.

Other than that, he either won or the fights were extremely close.

The question is whether Kovalev can deal with Hopkins' guile as much as it is whether Hopkins can stand up to Kovalev's punches.

Any fighter, even ones with the greatest chins, can be knocked out if they're hit cleanly with a good shot, particularly one they don't see coming.

Kovalev hits hard. Saturday could be a case of Hopkins finally getting old and showing his age and getting caught, or it could be just that Kovalev is good and lands a punch at the right time in the right place.

Hopkins, though, has made a career out of dealing with power hitters. His signature wins were demolitions of guys who punched hard enough to knock down a wall, but couldn't hit him cleanly enough to get him off of his feet.

Hopkins is good enough at it that he's never been stopped and rarely been in trouble in his fights. He calls his skill in the ring artwork, and said one of the secrets to his success has been his day-in, day-out consistency.

"Come [Saturday] on HBO, you'll get to watch artwork," Hopkins said. "You're watching Miles Davis and Louis Armstrong with gloves on."

He's that way because nobody has ever studied the game the way he has. He's as thorough as anyone who has ever set foot in the ring.

Hopkins can talk with authority about what Kovalev did in his 10th bout, or his 15th. Many fighters proudly admit to not knowing a thing about their opponent, as if physical skill will simply cover up for shortcomings in preparation.

Hopkins has the physical skill, but there have been better, more skilled fighters. None, though, have put in the work the way he has, and the way he continues to do. It's the only way he knows.

And so when he steps in on Saturday and is hit for the first time by Kovalev, it won't be a shock. He'll be ready for the way Kovalev moves and the way he turns his shoulders as he throws and where he keeps his head when he readies to punch.

Nothing that happens will be new to him, or will surprise him.

"I've been in the game for almost three decades," he said. "I look for more of what a guy brings to a gunfight other than bullets. ... The sweet science is not based on only one thing you can do particularly well.

"I've been watching this guy. I dug up amateur fights of this guy, and I know how he breathes, I know how he sits down, I know where he sits down, what he thinks. I know everything about him."

But it's an intriguing fight for one simple question: Can all of this knowledge prevent him from being clobbered by arguably the sport's hardest pound-for-pound puncher when he's less than 90 days from being eligible for an AARP card?

If Hopkins were 31, as Kovalev is, this might be a simple prediction: No way would a young, in-his-prime Hopkins allow a big puncher to take him out. He proved that countless times throughout his career.

But at almost 50, well, every long-running show eventually comes to an end.

The intrigue is, is this the night?

Hopkins insists it's not. Kovalev believes deep in his soul that it is.

Only one of them will ultimately be proven correct.