By Dave Lahr: With not a whole of options in front of him other than going after some tough fighters like Chad Dawson and Mikkel Kessler, Bernard Hopkins (49-5-1, 32 KOs) is apparently interested in fighting WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch. Dan Rafael of ESPN is reporting that he spoke to Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, who informed him that Hopkins is now interested in fighting Froch, and that Golden Boy matchmaker Eric Gomez has already had a conversation with Froch’s promoter Mick Hennessy about a potential fight between Froch and Hopkins in July.
The bout would be for Froch’s WBC super middleweight title, and it wouldn’t be necessary for Froch to come up in weight like middleweight Kelly Pavlik did recently in losing a lopsided 12-round decision to Hopkins in October 2008. This would be sensational news if Froch and Hopkins could arrange a fight between them, because right now there’s not a lot of other big fight options out there for Froch.
However, Schaefer is saying that he still needs to speak with HBO and Hopkins about it. HBO is picky about the fights that they show, and might not be interested in a Hopkins vs. Froch fight. I can’t see why they wouldn’t, though, especially after Froch’s impressive 12th round TKO win over Jermain Taylor last Saturday night.
HBO would likely prefer that Hopkins face Chad Dawson, the IBF light heavyweight champion, but Hopkins hasn’t shown much interest in getting in the ring with Dawson for some reason. Also, there’s the problem of Dawson fighting in May with Antonio Tarver, which wouldn’t leave enough time for Dawson to get ready for July bout with Hopkins only two months later.
If Froch is looking for a big money fight, he couldn’t go wrong by fighting 44-year-old Hopkins. This would likely be the biggest money fight that Froch could find other than if Calzaghe would suddenly come out of retirement and give Froch a fight. That’s not going to happen in this lifetime, so hopefully Froch and Hopkins can work something out and get in the ring.
Hopkins is 13 years older than Froch, but would probably be the much faster fighter. Hopkins easily beat Pavlik – a fighter that is similar to Froch in speed and power – in his last bout, using quick combinations and movement to befuddle the slower Pavlik.
One would guess that Hopkins could easily do the same thing to Froch if the two were to meet. Froch may have the power advantage, but if he can’t land his punches with consistency, then I see Hopkins beating him with ease. Hopkins was twice beaten by Jermain Taylor four years ago in 2005. However, that’s different Taylor than the one exists now.
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