Hopkins: I need a knockout

By Boxing News - 10/25/2013 - Comments

HopkinsMuratPC_Hoganphotos1(Photo credit: Hogan Photos) By Dan Ambrose: IBF light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (53-6-2, 32 KO’s) badly wants to score a knockout this Saturday night against Karo Murat (25-1-1, 15 KO’s). It’s as if the 48-year-old Hopkins realizes that it’s no longer enough just winning his fights by decisions in dominating his opponents. For him to win over fans and create any kind of interest in what he’s talking about in wanting to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr., then he’s going to need a knockout over Murat. Not only for that reason though.

Murat is the type of opponent that the top light heavyweights like Adonis Stevenson and Sergey Kovalev would demolish in 2 or 3 rounds tops and that’s why Hopkins needs to make quick work of him. If Hopkins wants to be seen in the same class as Kovalev and Stevenson, both of which are winning over new fans at rapid pace, Hopkins absolutely needs to KO Murat.

Hopkins said via RingTV “I need a stoppage definitely. I haven’t had a knockout since 2004, and I don’t want to go 12 rounds just because.”

It’s been nine years since Hopkins last knocked anyone out, and that’s just too long for him to have gone between knockouts. The problem that Hopkins has had is he’s been facing younger guys for the most part with better speed than him or better knockout skills, and he’s had to play it safe in some cases to avoid getting hurt. When you try to score a knockout over an opponent you’ve got to put yourself at risk of running into something that could potentially get you knocked out.

Hopkins hasn’t been willing to take that kind of risk, so we’ve seen a lot of tactical fights from him with movement, in and out attacks and plenty holding. Hopkins is now concerned about his legacy and wanting to be thought of well when he retires from the sport. I don’t know if he’s going to be able to change the minds of fans at his age.

At 48, Hopkins has been fighting the same way for a ton of years and he’s not going to be able to stay around the game long enough to change people’s perceptions. He might as well stick to his normal fighting style and just look to win because he’s probably not going to be able to score stoppages in the future when he steps it up against Adonis Stevenson and Sergey Kovalev, if he ever does face them.



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