Sergey Kovalev proved that he is the best light heavyweight fighter in the world after scoring a dominating victory against Bernard Hopkins in their title unification bout on Saturday night at Boardwalk Hall in New Jersey.

Kovalev dominated from the opening bell to run away with a lopsided decision win with all judges giving all 12 rounds to the Russian champion to become the World Boxing Association, International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organization light heavyweight champion.

Kovalev dropped Hopkins late in the opening round, which dictated the tempo of the whole bout as Hopkins became too tentative from then on as he only threw 196 punches, landing just 65 during the entire fight.

"He had a really good game plan," Hopkins said of Kovalev via ESPN. "When he got hit with some of my shots he would step back. But he used his reach and his distance and that was the key to his victory. He has very good mechanics and patience. It was smart that he stayed patient. He had a really good game plan. I will give him that."

Kovalev, who improved his record to 26-0-1 with 23 knockouts, praised Hopkins for fighting competitively at the age of 49, but the Chelyabinsk, Russia native believes that "The Executioner" should strongly consider hanging up his gloves for good.

"He was a really tough opponent," Kovalev said of Hopkins. "He is very good at keeping distance. I really respect him for the fight, but he needs to stop his career, I think, because he's already done a lot in the boxing world and he needs to give an opportunity to younger fighters to be champions."

When asked if he is still planning to fight after losing to Kovalev, Hopkins said that he is still "50-50," but he sounded like he is still ready to fight again in the near future.

"I don't really want to say anything," said Hopkins, who holds a 55-7-2 record with 32 knockouts. "Everybody will have a long time to talk about my career when it is over. It's been 50-50 for the last nine years. I've done what I had to do. I'm fine. Really, I'm fine."

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