When 49-year old WBA and IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins (55-6-2, 32 KOs) faces 31-year old WBO Light Heavyweight Champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (25-0-1, 23 KOs) in a unification battle on Saturday, November 8 in Atlantic City, he will bring more than a pair of gloved fists. Hopkins brings almost 30 years of history with him.
The continuing success of “The Alien” can make it easy to forget just how long Hopkins has been a part of the professional boxing landscape.
Hopkins was born in 1965 and has seen:
Nine U.S. Presidents (Johnson, Nixon. Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama)
The world’s population more than double, from 3.3 billion to over 7 billion
The average price of gas rise from 31 cents a gallon all the way up to three dollars and thirty-five cents
A 23-year-old Hopkins turned professional in October 1988. How long ago was that?
Sergey Kovalev was only five years old
Mike Tyson was Ring Magazine’s top fighter in the world pound-for-pound
Ronald Regan was President of the United States
“Rain Man” was the top film of the year
Hopkins earned his first world title shot, a loss to Roy Jones Jr. in May 1993. At that same time:
Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. was boxing’s pound-for-pound king
Mike Tyson was a prisoner in Indiana
The USSR had collapsed
“The Bridges of Madison County” topped the New York Times bestseller list
Hopkins began his historic reign as middleweight champion with a seventh-round stoppage of Segundo Mercado for the IBF crown in May, 1995, the same time that:
Pernell Whitaker followed Chavez Sr. as the pound-for-pound king while Hopkins quietly built his case
Whitney Houston graced the cover of Ebony magazine
Montell Jordan’s “This is How We Do It” sat atop the music charts
Today’s pop sensations Justin Bieber and Harry Styles were only one-year-old and Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez were just two
2001 was a banner year for Hopkins as he earned a place in the middleweight unification tournament. He defeated Keith Holmes for the WBC crown in April and set his sights on WBA Champion Felix Trinidad in September at Madison Square Garden. Their classic encounter was delayed two weeks by the events of 9/11, the then-36 year old Hopkins memorably stopped “Tito” in 12 rounds and tied Carlos Monzon’s record for consecutive title defenses at 14. Hopkins did this while:
A 17-year old Sergey Kovalev won the Russian Junior Championships Silver Medal at middleweight
Hasim Rahman was the heavyweight champion of the world after knocking out Lennox Lewis
The second George Bush had been president for less than a year
“The West Wing” won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series
The year 2004 would be memorable for Hopkins as he rose to the top of the pound-for-pound ranks following Antonio Tarver’s defeat of Jones and in September knocked out Oscar De La Hoya in the ninth round to become the first person to unify four titles in any weight class while at the same time:
Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez had just fought to a draw in their first of four fights
An electric young speaker at the year’s Democratic National Convention named Barack Obama would be elected to the U.S. Senate just months later
LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwayne Wade had all just finished their rookie seasons in the NBA
Michael Phelps won six gold medals in swimming while competing in his first Olympic games
Hopkins finally lost the middleweight crown in 2005 and, at age 41, decided to jump two weight classes to start the next phase of his career. In June 2006, he defeated Antonio Tarver for the Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight title.
In 2009, Sergey Kovalev would turn professional with a first round knockout. By this time, Hopkins had already fought 56 times professionally.
In May 2011, Hopkins defeated Jean Pascal for the Ring Magazine and WBC Light Heavyweight titles. At age 46, Hopkins broke George Foreman’s record and became the oldest world champion in boxing history.
Throughout the Philadelphia-native and five-time world champion’s illustrious career, only one major sports team from Philadelphia has won a championship, the 2008 Phillies.
In the summer on 2014, Hopkins watched former foes De La Hoya, Trinidad, and Calzaghe go into the International Boxing Hall of Fame together.
Then, he signed to fight Kovalev.
Bernard Hopkins belongs to history even as he keeps making it.
OLD SCHOOL’ HOPKINS INSISTS HE ONLY WANTS TO FIGHT THE BEST
Boxing legend Bernard Hopkins insists the reason he chose to fight feared knockout artist Sergey Kovalev is because he only wants to take on the very best.
The reigning WBA and IBF light-heavyweight world champion faces the Russian ace and current WBO champion Kovalev in a mouth-watering unification clash this weekend, live and exclusive on BoxNation.
Taking place at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, the Philadelphian veteran, who is remarkably just two months shy of his 50th birthday, says he is from an era where the best fight the best.
“I want the best. Hagler fought the best. Ray Leonard fought the best. The Alis of the world, they fought the best. I’m from the era where I fought the best and that’s important to me,” said Hopkins.
“I’ve been in the game for almost three decades. I look for more of what a guy brings to a gunfight other than bullets. The sweet science is not based on only one thing you can do particularly well.
“There’s no fighter I wouldn’t put my record up against in this era, in any class. I put the work in to have the track record and be taken seriously. Come November 8 you get to watch artwork. You’re watching Miles Davis and Louis Armstrong with gloves on,” he said.
But the unbeaten Kovalev has been dubbed ‘Krusher’ for a reason having amassed a formidable 23 knockouts from his 25 wins.
The future Hall of Fame fighter Hopkins, however, is well aware of the threat that Kovalev possesses and has called on observers, who are tipping Kovalev to win, to not go back on their words after the fight.
“I have the same thoughts on Kovalev that most people do. He’s a dangerous puncher, he has an over 90 percent knockout rate and anyone who fights this guy has the opportunity to not be the same,” Hopkins said.
“Kovalev is a threat to anybody. It won’t be an easy fight, even if it looks easy to you. I don’t just have to beat the man, but I have to beat a lot of people. They’re either going to watch me win or watch me lose, and I don’t mind playing that game.
“I don’t believe in luck, I believe in whoever brings the best of themselves and whoever sacrifices will win. We won’t take anything away from this guy because he’s real, but on Nov. 9 we don’t want anyone saying what they aren’t saying now,” he said.
The oldest world champion in boxing history at 49-years-old also believes that there will unlikely be another fighter who is able to defy Father Time as he has, and has urged fans to enjoy him while they can.
“This is nothing to sneeze at, that’s the main thing, but just being able to be around as long as I’ve been and still fresh as a daisy, I believe, and I’ll prove it November 8th, there’s no definition really behind it.
“Just enjoy it, understand it, and realise that you might not be alive to see it again,” Hopkins said.
The 31-year-old Kovalev, who won his first world title by devastating Nathan Cleverly when the clashed last year, is adamant that he is going to do the same demolition job on Hopkins when they get into the ring this Saturday night.
“Bernard talks and fights. I just fight,” said Kovalev “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I go into the ring and I get my victory at any cost. If I need to fight, I will fight. If I need to box, I’m going to box. I don’t have any strategy for the fight, just to go into the ring and fight like a street fight. I’m going to kick his ass because he’s my opponent.
“I always have bullets in my arsenal. My hands are my weapons. It’s my weapon in the ring. Hopkins thinks that I only have two bullets but I will bring some more,” he said.
Hopkins vs. Kovalev is live on BoxNation (Sky437/490HD, Virgin 546 & TalkTalk 525) this Saturday night. Visit www.boxnation.com to subscribe.
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