Bernard Hopkins was supposed to retire years ago, but instead, at age 48, he is taking the younger fighters to school. Photo by Frank Franklin II/Associated Press
By Jason Lewis
Sentinel Sports Editor
Bernard Hopkins was supposed to retire when he hit 40. That was what he promised his mother, but instead he moved up in weight class from middleweight to light heavyweight, and at age 48, he is just picking off all of the younger guys.
He recently dominated Tavoris Cloud, 31, who was a rising star in the division. Cloud looked like he was going to be one of the fighters who would be the future of the division. Well he may have to wait until Hopkins is done, because Hopkins easily defeated Cloud, who entered the ring with a 24-0 record, including 19 knockouts.
The win gave Hopkins a light heavyweight title, and made him the oldest boxer ever to hold a belt (he broke his own record).
It appears that Hopkins is not interested in moving down in weight to take on super-middleweight champion Andre Ward, who some consider pound-for-pound the top boxer in the world. It looks like Hopkins wants to add to his collection of belts by unifying the light heavyweight titles.
For Hopkins to accomplish that goal, next up may be England’s Nathan Cleverly, 26, who is 25-0 with 12 knockouts. But before that bout can happen, Cleverly has a mandatory title defense next month, and Hopkins will have a mandatory title defense against German Karo Murat.
Chad Dawson, who defeated Hopkins last year, also holds a title, but it does not appear that a bout between the two will happen because there is not much interest from fight fans to see a third match between the two. The first match ended in a no-contest when Hopkins was thrown to the canvas in the second round and could not continue.
Hopkins has some hurdles standing in his way of unifying the titles, and he has said that he would not be fighting at 50 years old. Well, he did say that he would not be fighting at 40.
