Bernard Hopkins: When longevity becomes uncontested

By Boxing News - 06/17/2015 - Comments

hopkins63by Shaun La: It is easy to get soaked into the instant gratification age that we live in and forget about the news hot off of the press in order for the next headline to rapidly come into our attention span. So, imagine the forgetfulness that can come to a veteran in a sport that is still active, but when he boxes, the sports headlines slightly reminds the casual boxing fan what the hardcore boxing fan already knows: Bernard Hopkins is a living legend.

There are various layers to Bernard Hopkins(55-7, 32 KO’s, 2 Draws, 2 No Contests). The Executioner, B-Hop and his modern nickname that came from boxing coach Angel Garcia’s (Danny Garcia’s dad) speech during a press-conference, “The Alien.” Now, Bernard’s personal story on how he survived the hard streets of Philadelphia, handled a prison sentence while gravitating to boxing while imprisoned, earned his release and guidance into boxing as a professional is one that someone from the streets such as myself mentally applaud every time his success is mentioned.

However, the throwback attitude to the boxers from the 20th Century is a core element in his career. As a middleweight, his name was always on the minds of boxing fans who knew that his boxing style may be boring to the casual fan, but if you know the sweet-science, the man has a master’s degree in figuring out his opponents. Wearing an executioner’s mask to the ring is traditional boxing psychology at its peak. His discipline is unrelenting, even when he does interviews, his chin is tucked in and he stands as if he is angling himself for a counter-punch delivery to his opposition. I have been watching him box since he was under the late great boxing coach, Bouie Fisher.

I can clearly remember how I was convinced that Félix Trinidad was going to defeat Bernard Hopkins. The year was 2001, & the United States had just went thru the horrific World Trade Center attack. Such an incident lead to a justified postponement for their middleweight championship bout. Now, I was well aware of Bernard’s skills as a calculating boxer but for some reason I thought that Félix’s power was going to negate whatever Bernard had in his calculations. Before he boxed Félix Trindad, some months earlier, without blinking, I watched him school Keith Holmes, while at the same time remembering that Félix Trinidad had the punching power to turn out the lights. I was not surprised at Bernard winning; however, I was surprised at how he stuck to his game-plan, one that has to go down as one of the best mentally and physically prepared middleweight fights for the newly 21st Century.

The precision of the left-hook from Bernard to the well-respected Oscar De La Hoya’s rib-cage section made boxing fans wonder what happened? Oscar was a former champion in a previous weight-class that he stepped out of with the challenge to meet Bernard at middleweight, but how did Bernard get that punch to drop Oscar to the point that he was out of breath? That is old-school boxing from Bernard Hopkins. The man did not make claims to be the fastest or speediest puncher, nor did he say that he had hands with punching power that is steaming with the intent to knockout his opponents, crisp and clear. However, when he surprises the boxing world, even the most dedicated boxing fan can sit back and let their mind respect the unknown possibilities in boxing that is due in large part to his experience as a throwback professional boxer; especially in a modern boxing world where matchmaking is professed by the fame of a boxer & their A-side benefits can become more prominent than being called a world-champion that earns or defends his titles. With such ramifications in this sport of boxing, to see the old-school carrying the books with lessons on being a champion is a shape of optimism that a young up and coming boxer might want to pick up on and where Bernard Hopkins left off at in terms of passing the tradition on how to be a word champion.

As Bernard elevated into the light-heavyweight division, his traditional boxing values followed in terms of convincingly defeating proven and former world champions from Winky Wright to Antonio Tarver and even another boxer who reminds us of the old-school way of boxing, Kelly Pavlik.

By far, Bernard’s professional boxing career has not been perfect. Losses to Roy Jones Jr. (which he evened the score at light-heavyweight) & Jermaine Taylor (two times) at the middleweight division, along with losing to Chad Dawson, Joe Calzaghe, & Sergey Kovalev at the light-heavyweight division has been a profound measuring tool that could be used when debating where he fits in, when discussing the former greats. It would be an imbalance to rate his career solely on his wins, for the losses, draws and no contests explain that his defensive skills has kept him from being knocked out; thus giving the bouts to official judges to score–this is an important clause for boxing fans to debate, because losses can be definitive to a boxer’s legacy. When a champion loses to another champion, you cannot reduce the winner’s fortitude that they displayed to win, but at the same time, you cannot misplace the other (former) champion who lost, efforts in trying to come out as the winner as well.

Even though Bernard Hopkins is not retired and his bout with Sergey Kovalev looked as if he clearly lost more rounds than he won, one has to remember that he was one of the very few opponents to go the distance with the hard hitting Sergey who is 18 years younger than Bernard. The most promising aspect to Bernard’s legacy is that it does not matter if he boxes again or not. At 50 years of age and in ring shape, his contributions to the sport of boxing has been consistently successful and if he does professionally box again this year, do not be surprised if he find a way to win by boxing like the old-school is the new champion.



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