By Mark Havey: It’s common for us to see boxer start to decline between the ages of 30 and 35. Some don’t last quite so long, others last a little longer. If a boxer is lucky enough to hit 35 years old we speak of him being on borrowed time. before long the legs start to go, followed swiftly by a decline in reflexes. I hear it all the time, “boxing is a young man’s game”, and I agree.
It’s the law of nature. As we have seen tonight, that law doesn’t apply to Bernard Hopkins. Hopkins had already set the record as the oldest man to win a world title. As if that wasn’t enough, tonight he beat Tavoris Cloud on points. it was no ordinary win. Hopkins beat his own record at 48 years of age. I don’t think anyone will ever beat that. To call Hopkins a tremendous example of an athlete is a understatement, he is a freak of nature.
When you look back at this man’s record and career you can’t make a case for not seeing him immortalized in the hall of fame. It’s inevitable that this will happen as soon as the time is right. He must first retire, but that doesn’t look like it will happen any time soon. He has shared a ring with Roy Jones Jr, Joe Calzaghe, Chad Dawson, Oscar De La Hoya, Jean Pascal, Kelly Pavlik, Glen Johnson, Jermain Taylor, the list is endless. After defending his middleweight title a record 20 times, he was rated as 3rd greatest middleweight of the last 50 years.
I don’t know when Hopkins is likely to retire. He always said he would hang up his gloves at 40, he is now 48 years old. His style is safety first, so he doesn’t take much punishment. He prefers to throw single shots instead of combinations. This is the reason he has lasted so long and the reason why he can keep going. Of course there will be a time when he is just too old. Who knows when that will happen?
Comments are closed.