Bernard Hopkins wants to thrash James DeGale

By Boxing News - 06/05/2015 - Comments

1-HopkinsKovalevFinalPC_Hoganphotos1By Scott Gilfoid: Bernard Hopkins (55-7-2, 32 KOs) wants to add IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale’s pelt to his collection by facing him in the fall in order to capture his IBF strap. Hopkins, 50, is making it known that he wants to fight DeGale and give him a royal beating and dethrone him as the IBF 168lb champion.

Hopkins didn’t come out and say it, but it’s possible that he wants to avenge Andre Dirrell’s recent defeat at the hands of DeGale. Frankly, Dirrell should have won the fight if he wasn’t knocked down a couple of times in the 2nd.

I mean, I only had Dirrell getting dropped once. The other time was a shove by DeGale. But anyway, Hopkins wants to beat DeGale up now and bring his IBF title back to America.

“I’m interested in beating a guy up – the same guy that beat up [Andre] Dirrell,” Hopkins said to Philly.com. Hopkins said he would retire “unless something comes along that was interesting enough and big enough to bring me back for a final fight in 2015. I have to make my decision before the end of June.”

The big question is will DeGale risk his hide by facing a talent like Hopkins? It might not even be up to DeGale. His promoter Eddie Hearn is the one that makes his fights for him, and he’s probably not going to be too keen at the idea of throwing DeGale into the ring with a hungry talent like Hopkins. Forget the age; Hopkins still has all that ring experience and intelligence that would create nightmares for DeGale.

Hopkins lost his last fight against Sergey Kovalev at light heavyweight, but that’s a big fighter with huge punching power and big jab. I mean, anyone could lose to a murderous puncher like Kovalev. If you threw DeGale into the ring with Kovalev, I think it would really badly for DeGale, even with him running 24/7 around the ring. Kovalev would just make mincemeat out of DeGale and leave in a heap on the canvas, in my estimation. The fact that Hopkins could go the full 12 rounds with Kovalev without getting knocked out is a testament to Hopkins’ talent.

Here’s the way I see it: Hearn is going to listen to Hopkins’ offer for a fight against DeGale, and then do an about face and head in the opposite direction to likely put DeGale in with a couple of old fighters that are no longer a threat to him like Lucian Bute or Mikkel Kessler. Of those two, Bute gets the fight because even Kessler at 50% of what he used to be is likely more than enough to beat DeGale.

Believe me, if Hearn makes the mistake of letting Kessler fight DeGale, he’s going to be very sorry he did so because Kessler will beat him, and that will ruin Hearn’s dreams of matching DeGale against George Groves and/or Carl Froch.

I think Hopkins is just too smart, too talented and too experienced for a limited super middleweight like DeGale to beat him.



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