By Jim Dower: With Joe Calzaghe’s recent retirement it leaves 44-year-old Bernard Hopkins (49-5-1, 32 KOs) pretty much out in the cold without a lot of options for important fights. When I say important, I mean big money fights, which is what he’s probably interested in getting at this point in his career. Like many fighters like Hopkins, Calzaghe and Ricky Hatton, they’re after big money fights but the problem is, most of the talent is now younger fighters that still haven’t built up a big name for themselves yet.
Hopkins has been hoping that Calzaghe might change his mind and give him a rematch. Unfortunately for Hopkins, Calzaghe opted to retire, saying that he had no more challenges ahead of him, despite having beaten Hopkins by a controversial 12-round decision in April 2008, and leaving many other top fighters in the super middleweight and light heavyweight division without a change to prove themselves against him.
Hopkins will now have to seek out another option, likely one that will give him a much smaller payday than a fight with Calzaghe. First off, International Boxing Federation light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson would seem like the most obvious choice for Hopkins considering that Dawson is considered far and away to be the best fighter in the light heavyweight division.
Hopkins, however, doesn’t wish to fight him, saying that he doesn’t want to beat any more younger fighters and take away from the future of the sport. That’s very thoughtful of him, except that Dawson would be a very tough fight for Hopkins and one that Bernard would be pushed to the fullest extent of his ability in order to get a win.
I don’t think he would win, which is convenient for him that he’s not interested in this fight.
Jermain Taylor would be a good option for Hopkins, especially because Taylor holds two prior victories over Hopkins and is fighting at super middleweight – only a stone’s throw from the light heavyweight division where Hopkins currently fights in.
This would be a great fight for Hopkins and for boxing fans, but it’s probably not a good option for Hopkins. Taylor appears to have Hopkins’ number, and has too much speed for Hopkins to deal effectively with. Taylor made Hopkins look like an old man in beating him twice in 2005, and now four years later, I can’t see Hopkins improving on his losing efforts.
Hopkins may have just beaten a limited Kelly Pavlik recently, but he shouldn’t get things twisted and belief that a win over Pavlik means that he’s improving as a fighter and getting younger. More likely, he beat a one-dimensional fighter that has been far too hyped for his limited ability. I hope Hopkins does decide on going after Taylor, but I don’t think he will. Being beaten a third time by Taylor would make Hopkins look really bad, and that’s probably something he doesn’t want to entertain.
Glen Johnson and Antonio Tarver are useless fights for Hopkins, because Hopkins has already beaten Tarver by a one-sided 12-round decision in 2006, and Johnson was recently beaten by Dawson. Though it was an exciting fight and Johnson made it close, Dawson was the clear winner as he pulled away from Johnson in the last four rounds of the bout. If Hopkins doesn’t mind getting old meat, then I say go for it, but I doubt he will.
Besides, the money won’t be there for this fight. Nor will it be there for a bout against Mikkel Kessler, the WBA super middleweight champion. Don’t get me wrong, it would be a great fight, but Hopkins probably is interested in making big money, and Kessler won’t bring in the PPV numbers that he’s looking for. Kessler also was beaten by Calzaghe in his big American showing, and looked pretty limited.
I think Kessler would give Hopkins a great fight, though, and would have an excellent chance at beating him, but Hopkins probably won’t fight him. Lucian Bute, Carl Froch and Tomasz Adamek would all be great opponents for Hopkins and would have a good chance at beating him, but given their lack of popularity in the U.S., I don’t see Hopkins fighting them.
That’s about it. Unless Shane Mosley or Oscar De La Hoya wants to fight Hopkins, he really has few chances and might as well fold up his tent and retire. If he’s looking for a big payday, that is. If he wants to fight some exciting fights for lesser money, then there’s a ton of great fights out there for him but they won’t bring in the kind of cash that he’s become accustomed to getting in recent years. My advice is that he should simply retire.
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