Bernard Hopkins could fight this year

By Boxing News - 07/23/2016 - Comments

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By Allan Fox: After nearly two years out of the ring, Bernard Hopkins is planning on potentially making a ring return in 2016. Hopkins, 51, lost his last fight to Sergey Kovalev in 2014, and he’s not fought since then. It’s unclear whether Hopkins (55-7-2, 32 KOs) has been picky or what.

Hopkins probably could have stayed active if he was willing to fight the top contenders, but whatever reason he’s not continued to fight. That’s unfortunate because he seems to be following the same path we saw from former world champion Winky Wright in his final years of his career.

Hopkins could fight in late 2016 if things work out for him. His promoters at Golden Boy will need to find him someone that is decent. It’s not likely that Hopkins would be put in with a dangerous guy for his next and perhaps final fight of his career, but you never know. It could be a farewell fight for Hopkins. With the way that fighters tend to make comebacks after retiring, it seems to be a waste of time to say Hopkins will be retiring after his next fight.

“He wants to fight this year, toward the end of the year,” Golden Boy Promotions VP Eric Gomez said to RingTV.com. “That’s what he wants. But it can go into next year if it’s not the right fight, so it’s up in the air.”

It would be nice to see Hopkins take on a quality super middleweight like James Degale, Badou Jack, Callum Smith, Gilberto Ramirez or Giovanni De Carolis. At light heavyweight, there are guys like Joe Smith Jr, Vyachaslav Gvozdyk, Jean Pascal, or Andrzej Fonfara that would be perfect for Hopkins. It would depend on whether Hopkins wants to fight a top contender or someone that is 2nd tier fighter.

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If Hopkins fights someone good, he would have the potential of losing the fight, because he’s been out of the ring for a long time. Hopkins’ skills might have eroded a little with the time off. However, his mind still has the knowledge to win fights, and he can probably beat a lot of the top contenders at 168 or 175. I think it would be ideal for Hopkins to take on a top guy for his next fight because that would get the attention of the boxing world a lot more than if he chooses to fight a journeyman or guy or a former contender.