Ageless warrior Bernard Hopkins does it again!

09/15/201603/10/2013 Geoffrey Ciani

by Geoffrey Ciani – During the eighth round of the IBF light heavyweight title bout between reigning champion Tavoris Cloud and 48 year old challenger Bernard Hopkins, HBO commentator and boxing pound-for-pound superstar Andre Ward duly noted, “It’s not quantity for Hopkins, it’s quality—he makes every punch count”. That more or less sums up the nature of this fight. Another day at the office for Bernard Hopkins translated into another page in the history books, as he once again became the oldest boxer to ever win a major world championship—and he did so in style. It was yet another masterful performance from the Future Hall of Famer who at times made it look easy in dethroning the undefeated 31 year old Cloud via unanimous decision.

The action began slowly, but right from the start Bernard controlled the pace and the range. Hopkins was simply brilliant at maintaining optimal distance, constantly shifting and maneuvering Cloud to his liking. As a result Cloud’s activity was totally hindered. Throughout the entire encounter Cloud would have difficulty closing the gap, and he was also frequently off balance and out of position. This forced him to eat more shots and punch less, and when Cloud did throw he was usually either overextending or quickly smothered. Hopkins effectively used his feet to create angles and dictate Cloud’s movements, which enabled him to sneak in leather of his own with varying frequencies of power and volume against his befuddled foe. This all spelled disaster for Cloud, who was ultimately broken down both physically and mentally as matters progressed into the later stages.

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Hopkins defeats Cloud; Thurman decisions Zaveck

03/10/201303/09/2013 ESB

hop11 hop11 By Bill Phanco: 48-year-old Bernard Hopkins defeated IBF light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud by a 12 round unanimous decision to capture his IBF title at the at the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York, USA. The final judges’ scores were 116-112, 117-111, 116-112.

Undefeated welterweight Keith Thurman (20-0, 18 KO’s) put in an impressive power punching display in pounding out a nice 12 round unanimous decision on against #1 WBO Jan Zaveck (32-2, 18 KO’s) in an WBO title eliminator bout. The victory locks Thurman in as the mandatory challenger for WBO 147 lb. champion Tim Bradley.

The judges scored the fight 120-108, 120-108, 120-108. Thurman kept a constant flow of power shots raining down ont he shorter Zaveck through the full 12 rounds.

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The Biggest Bernard Hopkins Fight That Never Happened

03/11/201303/08/2013 ESB

hop11 hop11 Bernard Hopkins is fighting tomorrow, March 8, 2013, possibly for the last time, depending on the outcome of the fight. The Bernard Hopkins-Tavoris Cloud fight is a win-win situation for Bernard, because if he wins the fight, he sets a record for being the the oldest man to ever win a major world title in boxing and breaks the standing record, which he holds right now, and he continues to make money as a boxer and a promoter.

If he loses his fight tomorrow, he still gets respect and praise for taking on a young, undefeated champion who is in the prime of his life, and he can devote all of his time to being a boxing promoter, instead of splitting his time training for fights and maintaining his weight.

Bernard Hopkins could get another age-related injury tomorrow night and have to quit fighting for health reasons. He says his surgically-repaired shoulder is 100 percent healed now, but it wasn’t fully healed in his last fight – the Chad Dawson rematch. If Bernard Hopkins last fight is not tomorrow, but he decides to have one last fight after this one, what well-known opponent could he fight to maximize his last boxing purse?

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Bernard Hopkins and Cloud: A Battle of Old Versus New

03/11/201303/08/2013 ESB

hopkins9291 By Jack Scales: Age and time eventually catching up with us are two inevitabilities we are faced with in this life. However, one man who has continued to evade this fact, is none other than Philadelphia’s treasured son, Bernard ‘The Executioner’ Hopkins. For years, critics, fighters and trainers alike, have predicted his fall from the upper echelons of the sport, but as every boxing fan knows he has constantly proven his doubters wrong, whilst simultaneously defying common trends in human biology.

Throughout his 40s, he has systematically broken down a vast number of much younger fighters who were touted to finally put an end to his illustrious career. Despite the best efforts of these young pretenders, at 48, B-Hop remains a major force in the Light Heavyweight division, and on Saturday night he will again challenge for a world title. This time, it will be against the IBF belt holder, Tavoris Cloud. Judging on Bernard’s performance against Chad Dawson, perhaps father time is finally catching up on the slick veteran, but as history has shown us, his opponents should count him out at their own peril.

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Can 48 year old Bernard Hopkins once again make history?

09/15/201602/27/2013 Geoffrey Ciani

by Geoffrey Ciani – In the sport of boxing it is not uncommon to see a truly great boxer hang around for too long. This largely stems from the fact that it takes a very special athlete with an unrelenting mindset to excel and become a dominant world champion. Among other things, it takes courage, confidence, determination, and the ability to maintain one’s composure and overcome adversity in the heat of battle. It also requires a great deal of consistency, dedication, and sheer willpower. These are key ingredients in the mental makeup of any elite fighter. Unfortunately, these very same traits that enable standout boxers to regularly succeed at the highest level are also the exact same that can get them into trouble later in their careers when their physical tools have eroded. Remarkable champions throughout boxing history have often suffered this fate, and Roy Jones Junior represents a good recent example.

Bernard Hopkins just turned 48 in January. That is considered old in any professional sport, and by boxing standards it is absolutely ancient. Nevertheless, even at age 48, Bernard Hopkins still remains a formidable force. He is not some old gatekeeper just looking to cash out on his name. He is actually still competing at a championship level and always making strong accounts of himself. Sure, he has suffered some losses, and he has also begun to show his age a bit more with each passing year. But to this day, Bernard Hopkins has still never been dominated inside the squared circle, and for someone who has been campaigning at an elite level since early-on in the first term of former President Bill Clinton—well, that is an absolute marvel! It is simply mindboggling stuff.

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Hopkins to challenge Cloud for IBF 175 lb title on 3/9 in Brooklyn

12/17/201212/16/2012 ESB

By Bill Phanco: 47-year-old Bernard Hopkins (52-6-2, 32 KO’s) faces IBF light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud (24-0, 19 KO’s) on March 9th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Hopkins wants to win another world title, and he’ll be 48 by the time this fight takes place, making him one of the oldest world champions.

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Hopkins doesn’t think Pacquiao will ever be the same after his KO loss to Marquez

12/13/201212/12/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: Bernard Hopkins came out tonight on the Jim Rome show and gave his thoughts on whether Manny Pacquiao will be the same fighter after being knocked out viciously in the 6^th round last Saturday night by Juan Manuel Marquez. Hopkins doesn’t see Pacquiao being the same fighter after that knockout. Pacquiao was unconscious for close to two minutes, face down on the canvas from Marquez’s right hand.

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Bernard Hopkins to fight on March 9th in Brooklyn, Cleverly, Shumenov and Cloud possible opponents

12/12/201212/11/2012 ESB

Bernard Hopkins to fight on March 9th in Brooklyn, Cleverly, Shumenov and Cloud possible opponents By Bill Phanco: Former two division world champion Bernard Hopkins (52-6-2, 32 KO’s) will be fighting on March 9th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The possible opponent will be picked from one of these fighters: Nathan Cleverly, Beibut Shumenov and Tavoris Cloud.

It’s safe to say that Cleverly won’t be the one getting the fight because he has a mandatory title defense coming up against his mandatory challenger Robin Krasniqi in February, and he’s got to take that fight if he doesn’t want to risk getting stripped by the World Boxing Organization for failure to defend against his mandatory.

Hopkins will be turning 48 in January, and that’s pretty old for a fighter still looking to compete at the world class level. Hopkins looked like he’d lost something from his last two fights with Chad Dawson. He was beaten by Dawson last April by a 12 round majority decision, and before that Hopkins had fought to a 2nd round no contest with him in October last year.

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Hopkins to fight on March 9th, Cleverly a possibility

11/13/201211/11/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: 47-year-old Bernard Hopkins (52-6-2, 32 KO’s) is scheduled to retire to the ring on March 9th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York and his opponent is rumored to be WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (25-0, 12 KO’s).

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Cleverly has to settle for Uzelkov after Froch, Bellew, Shumenov and Hopkins fights failed to materialize

09/14/201609/04/2012 ESB

Cleverly has to settle for Uzelkov after Froch, Bellew, Shumenov and Hopkins fights failed to materialize By Marcus Richardson: WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (24-0, 11 KO’s) is having to settle for a fight against #9 WBO Vyacheslav Uzelkov (27-2, 16 KO’s) on October 27th instead of much bigger fights against Carl Froch, Bernard Hopkins, Tony Bellew and Beibut Shumenov. Cleverly’s promoter Frank Warren attempted to line up a fight between Cleverly and each of those fighters but they either showed no interest in facing him or they backed out.

Warren said to thesun.co.uk “A huge purse was put to Froch to move up a weight division — which he turned down — and Bellew rejected the offer of a rematch. It’s proved frustrating. We had Hopkins lined up and then he pulled out, while Shumenov didn’t want to come over.”

Cleverly and the 33-year-old Uzelkov will be meeting up at the Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It’ll be a home fight more or less for the 25-year-old Cleverly, although he probably won’t need the cheering from his fans in order to get past Uzelkov. All it’ll take is a good chin to hold up under Uzelkov’s occasional big right hand shots and a steady workrate to beat him down.

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