Sergey Kovalev's miraculous journey lost in hype of Bernard Hopkins' potential feat

It's been only a bit more than five years, but it seems as if Sergey Kovalev had been wandering the boxing wilderness for a lifetime.

The WBO light heavyweight champion is finishing preparations for the fight of his lifetime on Saturday at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall against WBA/IBF champion Bernard Hopkins.

But it was odd at the beginning of his career to see the Russian-born fighter looking for bouts throughout the southern U.S., fighting in non-traditional boxing outposts such as Greensboro, N.C., Columbia, S.C., and Lafayette, La.

It's a long way from fighting guys like Michael Birthmark, Ayodeji Fadeyi and Micky Stackhouse, as Kovalev was doing in 2009, to meeting one of the greatest boxers ever to lace on a pair of gloves. Kovalev had his doubts whether the mega-fight he so desperately wanted would ever materialize, but he knew that if manager Egis Klimas could deliver it, he'd be prepared.

Kovalev, along with considerable help from Klimas and shrewd promoting by Kathy Duva, has put himself in a perfect position. He's 25-0-1 with 23 knockouts and while the buildup to this fight is almost all about Hopkins' quest to win a world title at nearly 50 years old, it's an underdog story for Kovalev, too.

"You never know what tomorrow [will bring], but if you believe in it, it can happen," Kovalev said. "If I trust and believe [myself] and you have a goal and you're working [toward a] goal, then, yes, this can happen. It can happen and then you push more, then you do more, and it's your dream to be getting close to you, closer and closer to you when you work as hard and push yourself. When we fought three, four years ago … and we were traveling all over the country in America and fighting anyone who was ready, I didn't think that this fight would be possible.

"But I believed that I can to do it, and I tried to do it. …That is when my fight began. I'll tell you why. I waited a long time at this level and waited for this fight, a huge fight. When I was a child I had a dream. When I watched TV, I watched it and I had a dream. I wanted to be there. I wanted to be there, and I will try to be there, and I'm here. Everything from your head and everything from your heart, if you want it, you can do it."

Kovalev is one of boxing's hardest punchers. However, Hopkins has feasted on powerful punchers, from Joe Lipsey nearly 20 years ago to Felix Trinidad to Kelly Pavlik, and despite the odds favoring Kovalev by a 2-1 margin, many experts believe the bout will be a walk in the park for Hopkins.

Kovalev has done everything humanly possible to be ready for the fight. Virtually every fighter says he's in the best shape of his life as a key bout approaches, and Kovalev is no different. But Kovalev is more attentive to detail, perhaps more obsessive, than most.

A few years ago, as he was barnstorming the south collecting knockout victories and building his résumé, he asked Klimas for some help. He felt he needed to be able to hit harder than he was doing in order to be viable at the high end of the game. So Klimas called Don Turner, the highly regarded coach who trained former undisputed heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield, and asked Turner to show Kovalev how to hit with power.

It wasn't long before Turner picked up the phone and called Klimas.

"We were going to North Carolina to Don Turner's boxing camp, his question was, 'Egis,' he says, 'I don't have power. Can you ask the trainer to work on my punches?' …

"And then we came in the first sparring he did in North Carolina [and] Don Turner turned to me and he says, 'Where the hell did you find this guy? This is [baloney]. He doesn't need to know how to throw punches. He has everything he needs.' That was a story I will remember probably through the rest of my life."

A year ago, Kovalev and Klimas were frustrated chasing after WBC champion Adonis Stevenson, who talked a great game but seemed to have little interest in taking a risky fight. They couldn't get the fight with Stevenson they so desperately wanted and which they felt would have helped turn Kovalev into a star.

Boxing fans love knockout punchers – witness the adoration toward middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin – and Kovalev, Klimas and Duva believed a win in a high-profile fight over Stevenson would help accomplish that.

But Stevenson had cold feet and chose to purse B-level opponents. And while that first seemed bad for Kovalev, out of the blue Hopkins called and asked for the fight.

Now, Kovalev is facing the biggest fight in the light heavyweight division and it's Stevenson everyone is ignoring.

And while Kovalev is no doubt thankful for the opportunity Hopkins has provided, he's not going to take it easy on him when the bell sounds.

"Anyway I need to get the victory, [by fighting a] dirty fight or clean fight, for me it doesn't matter," Kovalev said. "I will fight dirty if Hopkins fights dirty. I'm going to fight a clean fight, but who knows what will happen [on Saturday]. It will be interesting, very interesting. I can't imagine what will happen. I don't know who the referee is or who the judges are, [if they are] American or international. If I win, I will get the referee to hold up my hands. If I lose, I lose. But I'm not going to lose."