A Fighter Profile: Bernard Hopkins

A Fighter Profile: Bernard Hopkins

By Simon Graham

During a promising amateur career Bernard Hopkins could not escape the lure of the gangster lifestyle in his hometown of Philadelphia. After a string of felonies he found himself in the State Correctional Institution – Graterford prison on a 13-year stretch.

Determined to turn his life around Hopkins changed his mindset and turned back to boxing, after good behaviour he was released from prison after serving 5 years and quickly turned professional in 1988 losing his first bout as a light heavyweight against Clinton Mitchel.

Dropping down a weight to middleweight, Hopkins made the choice that if boxing was to be his salvation, he needed to dedicate all his attention to his goal, to become a boxing world champion !! with a newfound faith and determination his mission began in 19990.

22 fights later with a string of knocked out victims in his wake, Hopkins had catapulted himself into contention for a shot at the vacant IBF world middleweight title against Roy Jones Jnr the latter becoming the new champion in what was a pretty uneventful bout.

However, after Jones vacated the title Hopkins would be crowned IBF champion after knocking out Segundo Mercado in 1995.

Hopkins defended the title an unprecedented 12 times before entering the middleweight world championship series in 2001. The tournament would decide who would be the undisputed king of the division which was previously held by Marvin Hagler some 15 years previous.

Hopkins the IBF champion beat Keith Holmes the WBC champion on a points decision while Félix Trinidad who had stepped up from super welterweight after dominating the division dispatched of the highly-rated William Joppy the WBA champion with a 5th round stoppage.

At the age of 36, the odds were stacked against Hopkins beating the younger fellow champion who was considered too fast and powerful. The intensity of the bout was fuelled even further with pre-fight antics by Hopkins to antagonise the younger man a tactic that would work in his favour.

The undisputed middleweight championship took place September 29, 2001, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Hopkins would turn back the clock and hand out a superb show of boxing technique and ring craft. After a couple of cagey opening rounds Hopkins edged the rounds consistently out jabbing Trinidad at range.

As the fight continued Hopkins settled into a rhythm where round after round he would beat his opponent to the punch on the outside, out punch him at mid-range with superb combinations before quickly moving back out of range. Hopkins dropped Trinidad in the 12th and final round forcing the referee to stop the contest, it was a masterful performance by the Executioner.

In a career that lasted 28 years, Bernard Hopkins should be considered as one of the greats to enter the square circle. A very underrated fighter when you consider his achievements during times when many boxing experts would write of his chances against younger opponents, Trinidad and Antonio Tarver come to mind.

Controversial losses to Jermaine Taylor, contestable defeats to Roy Jones Jnr and Joe Calzaghe did nothing to blemish his incredible achievements as he continued to defy the odds late into his forties and beyond.

Apart from Kovalev, there is no one fighter who dominated Hopkins inside the ring such was his desire and determination, love him or hate we may never see another like him again, he was a one of a kind boxer, full of consistency and total dedication.