Bernard Hopkins

[OutlawImmortal]

A little late but did anyone see the fight? Bernard went out on his feet despite being completely outmatched by Kovalev. Unlike De La Hoya, Bernard never quit in this fight even with his corner letting him know that he needed a knockout. He kept moving forward, even though he was thoroughly outmatched.

I don't know if Hopkins will retire, he probably should, but that was a fine final match for a boxer. 49 years old and went the full 12. Was on the verge of being knocked out and still didn't back down.

Also, lots of props to Kovalev after this fight. A lesser fighter would have (and many did) lost to the wiley veteran. He never underestimated Hopkins, even when he had him on the ropes. He's a good boxer, no doubt about it.

This sums it up pretty well: In the 12th round, Kovalev landed 38 punches, the most by a Hopkins opponent in 41 fights CompuBox has tracked.“Had you asked me before the fight, Could Kovalev land that many shots? I would have said no,” Richardson, Hopkins' longtime trainer said. “And if you’d have asked me, If he does land that many shots, will Bernard be standing? I’d have said no.”

 

[Edonidd]

Hard not to respect Hopkins as a boxer. He was the one that made that fight happen, and he did it because other fighters were ducking him. Now he says he wants one more fight, he wants to go out as a 50 year old. He was 49 and like 50 weeks or something for that fight. You'd think with the career he had, he would fight some tomato can and go out a winner. People would still watch the fight as a sort of send off. But no. He apparently has 3 targets for his last fight, depending on how much weight he can lose. He still wants Mayweather, but doubts he can lose that much weight. Thinks he can get back to middleweight, or at least close enough to do a catch weight fight with GGG. If not he will "settle" for fighting Andre Ward.

The three baddest men in boxing today. Or 3 of the top 4 if you include Kovalev who he just fought.

 

[Inimical]

This was scary to watch. That last round i got a bit squeemish. Thats how guys die in boxing. Have permanent injuries. The announcers, some Australians i believe, were pretty horrified lol. Ref gave Hopkins mad respect. I think he has one more in him, hes got to much heart to quit now. One of the greatest ever. Also i would like to note. Hopkins said he never ducked anyone and fought everybody.....hmm i wonder why he said that. And looking at his sheet, he faced several of the top guys in their prime.

 

[OutlawImmortal]

Any other boxer and I would have been asking why the ref didn't stop the fight. But since this might have been B-Hop's final fight, and he was at least putting up a fight until that twelfth round, I was rooting for the ref to let him finish it out on his feet. Stopping the fight with only a minute to go would have been a tough pill to swallow as the final fight in a great career.

 

[Schmoopy1000]

Any other boxer and I would have been asking why the ref didn't stop the fight. But since this might have been B-Hop's final fight, and he was at least putting up a fight until that twelfth round, I was rooting for the ref to let him finish it out on his feet. Stopping the fight with only a minute to go would have been a tough pill to swallow as the final fight in a great career.

he will fight another fight after he is 50 just to do it. It isn't his last fight.

 

[DJ]

He got his ass handed to him and needs to retire, I blogged about it.

 

[OutlawImmortal]

he will fight another fight after he is 50 just to do it. It isn't his last fight.

But it potentially could have been. After battling for 11 rounds it would have been tough to stop the fight with a minute or two to go.