By Keith Idec, photo Jeff Fusco/Hoganphotos

Oscar De La Hoya has quite a different perspective on the Sergey Kovalev-Bernard Hopkins fight than most people who watched it.

Kovalev, then undefeated, dominated a 49-year-old Hopkins during their 12-round light heavyweight championship unification fight two years ago in Atlantic City. Hopkins, whose chin has been one of his greatest strengths throughout his Hall-of-Fame career, suffered a first-round knockdown against Kovalev, who won their bout by huge margins on all three scorecards at Boardwalk Hall (120-106, 120-107, 120-107).

De La Hoya – Hopkins’ promotional partner, friend and onetime opponent – told a group of reporters Monday in Philadelphia he thinks Hopkins performed better against Russia’s Kovalev than Andre Ward (31-0, 15 KOs). The retired six-division champion was in Philadelphia to help promote Hopkins’ return to the ring – a 12-round fight against Long Island’s Joe Smith (22-1, 18 KOs) on December 17 at The Forum in Inglewood, California (HBO).

The undefeated Ward withstood a second-round knockdown and beat Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) by unanimous decision in their 12-rounder November 19 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The 32-year-old Ward’s win was close (114-113 on all three scorecards) and controversial, yet he clearly was a more difficult foe for the hard-hitting Kovalev than a past-his-prime Hopkins (55-7-2, 32 KOs, 2 NC). That didn’t stop a hyperbolic De La Hoya, unsolicited, from discussing Hopkins’ outing against Kovalev in flattering terms.

“If he can, and his body allows him to, why not?,” De La Hoya said in response to a question about why this is a good time for Hopkins to fight again. “It’s not like if anybody’s hurting him. I mean, he fought Kovalev. And I think he did much better than Andre Ward did against Kovalev. And he’s 51 years old. It just proves to everyone that I think age doesn’t matter, as long as you do the right thing – meaning eat right, always take care of yourself and always stay active.

“Bernard Hopkins, when he leaves boxing, is gonna leave a long, lasting impression on the youth, on middle-aged men or whatever it is. He’s just gonna leave that impression that, ‘Look, you can do whatever you want, literally. Accomplish whatever you want, whether it’s in sports, anything.’ ”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.