By Thomas Cowan: Two weeks ago, Bernard Hopkins won a decision over Beibut Shumenov to unify the IBF and WBA light heavyweight titles, at 49 years old. While Hopkins may not be the most exciting fighter in the world, he is beating top fighters young enough to be his son, and what he has achieved in his career makes him an all time great. I believe his legacy exceeds that of Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
Hopkins dominance over the middleweight division puts him up the middleweight greats, such as Robinson, Greb, Hagler and Lamotta. After failing at the first attempt to become middleweight champion, losing to the great Roy Jones Jr in 1993, Hopkins captured the IBF title against Segundo Mercado. He held the IBF crown for 10 years and became undisputed champion by defeating longtime WBC champion Keith Holmes and knocking out future Hall-of-Famers Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya. He also defeated William Joppy and stopped an unbeaten granite-chinned Glen Johnson. His middleweight reign ended at 40 years old with two disputable losses to Jermain Taylor, but he is a middleweight great nonetheless.
Due to the fact his defining victories came against the naturally smaller Trinidad and De La Hoya, Hopkins moved up to light heavyweight to challenge lineal champion Antonio Tarver. Tarver was a huge favorite but Hopkins battered him in a way nobody had ever seen, knocking Tarver down en route to winning an embarassingly wide decision. He followed that up by defending his title against Winky Wright before a huge fight with undisputed super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe.
Hopkins caused controversy before the Calzaghe fight, claiming he would “never let a white boy beat [him]”. Calzaghe did beat him, although the fight could have gone either way and one judge scored it for Hopkins. At 43 years old, most thought he was finished and expected him to be knocked out when he faced middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, who had knocked out Hopkins’ nemesis Taylor. As he did against Tarver, Hopkins outboxed and humiliated Pavlik to win a near shutout decision.
In 2010, he avenged his defeat to an admittedly shot Roy Jones Jr, before challenging Jean Pascal for the light heavyweight title. Travelling to Pascal’s backyard in Montreal, Hopkins was knocked down twice early on but dominated Pascal in the last 8 rounds, only to be robbed by the judges who scored it a draw. He dominated Pascal again in the rematch in 2011 and was this time awarded the decision. In beating Pascal he became the oldest ever world champion, breaking George Foreman’s 16 year-old record.
After a controversial no contest against Chad Dawson, Hopkins lost his title to Dawson by majority decision in the rematch and looked finished. However, at an incredible 48 years old, Hopkins schooled unbeaten Tavoris Cloud in 2013 to capture the IBF title. Last week at 49 years old, he gave WBA champion Beibut Shumenov a boxing lesson to unify the titles. He will now target WBC champion Adonis Stevenson, who destroyed Dawson in one round last year. Hopkins will be a huge underdog, but his performances against Tarver, Pascal, Pavlik and Cloud show he can never be counted out.
So, why is Hopkins the best fighter since Sugar Ray Leonard? Mayweather is a great undefeated fighter, who haS defeated many great champions but his legacy has many holes. He avoided Shane Mosley until Mosley was 37. He will never fight a prime Manny Pacquiao. His best wins over fighters truly in their prime are Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Diego Corrales. He also didn’t make weight for his fight with Juan Manuel Marquez, which is unprofessional. Hopkins can’t really be accused of ducking anyone and has never failed to make weight.
Pacquiao’s also failed to make weight for his flyweight title defence against Megdeon Singsurat and was knocked out. This was early in his career, but any defeat and world level must be taken into account. He has also never faced Mayweather. His legacy as an 8-division champion is amazing but he has not always been lineal champion, which is THE champion, in every division. Hopkins was lineal champion and middleweight and 2-time lineal champion at light heavyweight. Mayweather and Pacquiao have also never dominated and cleaned out a division like Hopkins did at middleweight.
It is true that Hopkins has 6 losses. One of them was in an irrelevant four-rounder in his debut. The next was to a prime Roy Jones Jr, one of the most talented fighters to lace up a pair of gloves and definitely far better than anyone Mayweather or Pacquiao have faced. I believe Jones’ legacy of starting his career at light middleweight and going onto become heavyweight champion is also better than Floyd or Manny’s legacies. Unfortunately, his lack of competition in the light heavyweight division prevented him from ever really showing his true brilliance, but he was still an amazing talent with incredible speed and power. The next two losses of Hopkins’ career were to an unbeaten Jermain Taylor and both were disputed. The next was to Joe Calzaghe, an undefeated future-Hall-of-Famer in his prime. As with the Jones loss, I would argue a prime Calzaghe is better than anyone Mayweather or Pacquiao have faced. His loss to Dawson was a poor performance but the fact Bernard was in his mid-40s at that stage must be taken into account.
I would also argue that an unbeaten Felix Trinidad and a knockout of Oscar De La Hoya is are better wins than Mayweather’s wins over Corrales, Marquez and Canelo, and Pacquiao’s wins over Cotto and Bradley. Manny also has a win over a prime Marquez, but it was highly controversial. Mayweather and Pacquiao’s wins over De La Hoya and Mosley were when both were well past their prime.
In conclusion, I believe Hopkins’ longevity, the fact he has never ducked an opponent and his dominance of the middleweight division, puts him above Mayweather and Pacquiao as an all-time great. This may not be a popular view but when their records are truly examined, Hopkins comes out on top.
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