Bernard Hopkins wants to fight Mayweather at middleweight

By Boxing News - 09/16/2013 - Comments

hopkins34734By Dan Ambrose: Having seen Floyd Mayweather Jr. (45-0, 26 KO’s) soundly beat a 165 pound WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-1-1, 30 KO’s) in a fight last Saturday night where Mayweather appeared to win 11 of 12 rounds, 48-year-old IBF light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins is throwing his name inside the hat as one of the potential opponents for Mayweather to consider for his next fight on May 3rd.

Hopkins says he can get down to 160 to weigh-in and he feels the fight would be a real chess match. I’m not sure if Mayweather would be up for fighting a guy that might rehydrate to 180, but you can’t blame Hopkins for at least trying to get the payday fight.

Hopkins told RingTV “I’ll train like a dog, and I’ll be myself and I’ll in there, and I’ll do what I’ve got to do, and I’ll make the most historic unique fight between a 37-year-old who can fight…give me until May to make 160, and you’ll see another chess player beat another chess player.”

Hopkins fights at 175 right now, and you’ve got to figure that he’s in the neighborhood of the 190s when he gets into the ring. So even if Hopkins could get down to 160 by dehydrating and watching his weight, it’s still likely that he’d be close to 180 when he stepped inside the ring to fight Mayweather. Last Saturday night Mayweather weighed 150 lbs. when he fought the 165 lb. Canelo. That’s 15 pounds. But if Mayweather were to fight Hopkins, it would be closer to 30 pounds Mayweather would be giving up.

That’s WAY too much weight for Mayweather be sacrificing against an opponent. Can he do it? Yes, but why would Mayweather want to waste his time fighting someone that big and that old. It would be a no win situation for Mayweather if he beat Hopkins, because the guy will 49-years-old in January, so Mayweather won’t get much credit. Also, Hopkins’size would make it difficult for Mayweather because Hopkins is not only much heavier than him, but he’s also 5 inches taller with a longer reach.

If Mayweather could get Hopkins to agree to come down to 154 for the weigh-in, and then agree to a rehydration limit to keep Hopkins from ballooning up to the 180s, then I could see it as a doable fight. But that’s not going to happen here. Hopkins couldn’t make 154, and even if he did, I doubt there would be a way to keep Hopkins from rehydrating to 180. Mayweather would be fighting a light heavyweight and it would be a tough fight, and not a fair one due to Hopkins huge weight advantage.



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