Bernard Hopkins proved once again why he will go down as one of the greatest boxers of all-time after yet another dominating performance over a younger fighter. Over the past couple of years, Hopkins has generally fought at a slow pace, but we did not see that at all on Saturday night. At the age of 48, Hopkins proved that he could still brawl in the ring.
In a slugfest, Hopkins dominated Karo Murat en route to a clear unanimous decision victory to retain his IBF light-heavyweight championship and break his own record of being the oldest boxer to defend a world championship in front of 6,324 fans at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
Unfortunately for Hopkins, there really aren’t many opponents at this point that can face him without having some sort of business-related conflict. Hopkins would love to take a crack at either Andre Ward or Sergey Kovalev, but they are allied with HBO. Hopkins is with Showtime.
What about Floyd Mayweather Jr.? The promotional and network stars are aligned, and Hopkins has said he’s willing to fight Mayweather at 160 lbs.
It may be a hard fight for some fans to wrap their heads around, but Mayweather vs. Hopkins makes sense. Hopkins may be approaching 50 years old, but the man is as expert of a fighter who has ever graced our presence. In fact, Hopkins may be the last guy that I can see putting a blemish in the legacy of Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Still, Floyd would be silly not to take this fight. Two expert boxing technicians of two entirely different generations meeting up in the ring has all the makings of a memorable affair. While Mayweather would be facing a larger man, and one of the cagiest fighters in history, his advantage in youth and athleticism still give him an edge.
But in boxing, things don’t always play out according to plan. It’s not like racing where the fastest car will be fastest in the race. You never know what is going to happen when two great fighters are in the ring and I hope they will agree to a bout. Will it happen? We’ll have to wait and see. But at this point, Mayweather vs. Hopkins is as good as it gets for either man.
