By Allan Fox: 51-year-old former two division world champion Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins (55-7-2, 32 KOs) will be wrapping up his boxing career next month against the highly ranked Joe Smith Jr. (22-1, 18 KOs) on December 17 at the Forum in Inglewood, California.
Hopkins has been a pro for 28 years, which longer than the 27-year-old Smith Jr. has been on this earth. Hopkins hasn’t fought in two years since his one-sided 12 round unanimous decision defeat at the hands of former light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev in November 2014.
Hopkins didn’t have the power or the right game plan to handle the style of Kovalev. Hopkins will be turning 52 in January 15. I guess he’s decided he’s had enough of the sport, and it’s a good time for him to retire.
If Hopkins did want to continue fighting, he would have to make the decision whether to fight IBF/WBA/WBO champion Andre Ward, who he highly respects, or go after WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis “Super Man” Stevenson. That would be a tough fight for Hopkins given the speed and power of Stevenson.
“I’m done,” Hopkins said on Wednesday. “This is the final one. And whether it was John David Jackson or Naazim (Richardson training him), I’m going to look great no matter what because I feel I know I can do a lot more than Joe Smith will ever learn in the game of boxing as long as I’ve been in. I want to put on a performance where you all will ask me and beg me to stay. But I won’t. That’s the challenge that I have to meet.”
Beating Smith Jr. wouldn’t mean much for Hopkins, because the guys ahead of him are arguably much better fighters. Smith Jr. kind of came out of nowhere in beating contender Andrzej Fonfara last June in stopping the Polish fighter in the 1st round in front of his own boxing fans at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois.
Hopkins could probably get a shot at Stevenson if he picked up a win over #2 WBC Smith Jr. Stevenson doesn’t have any big names to fight. Hopkins would be one of the biggest fights of his career. It would be a nice payday for Hopkins if he took that fight. However, it would be a really tough one that he would not only likely lose, but he might end up taking a lot of punishment in the process. Smith Jr. could make it tough on Hopkins as well if he can get to him on December 17.
Hopkins will likely stay on the move for 12 rounds like he did against Kovalev in 2014, Hopkins will make it hard for smith Jr. to put his punches together. In the meantime, Hopkins will be looking to counter Smith Jr. at every chance he can get. If Smith Jr. tries too hard to get a knockout, he could wind up getting picked apart by Hopkins. He’s too good to be beaten up by power shots that use a simple approach to getting to him. If Smith wants to beat Hopkins, then he’s going to need to jab and be careful the way that Kovalev was against him.
Hopkins used to be a real good inside mauler like Andre Ward, but he stopped fighting like that after he moved up to the light heavyweight division in 2006 from the middleweight division. You can argue that one reason why Hopkins might have stopped fighting on the inside, because he was fighting bigger guys at 175.
It was different when the 6’1” Hopkins was fighting at 160. It’s doubtful that Hopkins will try and smother Smith’s offense on the inside, because the guy is strong and might turn into a tough fight for Hopkins if he fights like that. He’ll get hit less if he stays on the outside all night long.
Hopkins is 3-2 in his last five fights. He looked bad in losing to Chad Dawson in 2012 after suffering a shoulder injury in their previous fight in 2011. After Hopkins’ loss to Dawson, he beat IBF light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud by a 12 round unanimous decision to pick up his title in 2013, Hopkins successfully defended the title twice in beating Karo Murat and Beibut Shumenov by decision wins.
Shumenov is a fighter who has improved a great deal since his loss to Hopkins. It’s unlikely that Hopkins could beat Shumenov now if the two of them were in the same division. Shumenov moved up to cruiserweight and recently won the vacant WBA World cruiserweight title last May.
Hopkins’ loss to Kovalev was a situation where Hopkins didn’t have the punching power to handle the tools in Kovalev’s game. Hopkins couldn’t take the fight to the inside the way that Ward did in beating the Russian fighter on November 19 of this month.
“I believe timing is everything,” Hopkins said. “I believe timing and my calculation of my career — I proved a whole bunch of people wrong, as you know. And so it gets to a point, where after Dec. 17 there’s nothing to prove. My opinion is I’ve done it my way. When I’m done, there’s no stone that hasn’t been unturned. There will be no regrets. There will be no, ‘Oh, I should have done this or done that.’”