By Jake Donovan
Everyone would’ve understood had Bernard Hopkins called it a career following his 12-round shutout loss to Sergey Kovalev. The fact that he even made it to that point – still near the top of the light heavyweight division, 26 years into his pro career and two months shy of his 50th birthday – is a testament to an incredible career heading to the Hall of Fame five years from the moment he retires.
The question that remains now is, when will that day come and what else is there left to accomplish?
Answers provided during a recent boxing show on Fox Sports 1 – a card held in Philadelphia to commemorate his 50th birthday earlier this month – suggested that day isn’t coming any time soon.
Not only will there be a next fight, but it will go well beyond the victory lap just about any other fighter in his position would settle for at this stage of his career. Instead, Hopkins looks to take a step back – not in competition level, but in weight, as he now has designs on conquering the super middleweight division. First on his hit list, none other than fellow throwback tough guy Carl Froch.
“We working for that,” Hopkins admitted during Tuesday’s telecast of ‘Golden Boy Live’ at 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. “I respect Carl Froch. He has a legacy and he wants to add on to his legacy before he leaves the sport of boxing.
“That's the perfect fight for me to jump back in time. I jumped up from middleweight over super middleweight and made history with Tarver (at light heavyweight). So, now I can work my way back and respectfully collect titles.”
Hopkins held at least one middleweight title for more than 10 years during his record-breaking title reign from April ’95 to July ’05. Following back-to-back losses to Jermain Taylor, Hopkins opted to move up two divisions to light heavyweight to take on Antonio Tarver, regarded at the time as the division’s best fighter.
Hopkins had his way with Tarver, scoring a landslide decision in their June ’06 clash. The win was believed to be the final chapter in a storied career, but instead he lingered on – long enough to lose to Joe Calzaghe, and then to come back and upset then-unbeaten Kelly Pavlik, followed eventually by a World championship winning effort over Jean Pascal (after fighting the then-lineal light heavyweight king to a disputed draw), and alphabet title wins over Tavoris Cloud and Beibut Shumenov.
The last three feats were all record-breaking events, though his luck finally ran out last November.
All that’s left in his career is to attempt to claim super middleweight hardware. Froch owns two major belts, but also inactive until this summer due to a recent elbow injury suffered during training camp. The courageous Brit – whose resume in recent years is nearly unrivaled among his peers – has been out of the ring since back-to-back knockout wins over George Groves, including their highly celebrated rematch in front of nearly 80,000 fans at Wembley Stadium in London last May.
Looming overhead for the 37-year old is a mandatory title defense versus countryman James ‘Chunky’ DeGale. Normally, the only exceptions granted by sanctioning bodies – at least the ones who follow their own rules – are when the opportunity arises for a unification bout.
Chances are, a showdown with Hopkins would be met favorably by the alphabets if the opportunity were to surface. It would also go well with Froch’s plans for a major event in Las Vegas before closing the book on his own incredible career.
Those plans were supposed to include Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in the other corner, but a laundry list of issues stood in the way of that fight happening. No sooner than Chavez Jr. was linked to an April 18 fight with Andrzej Fonfara, did the rumors intensify for a Froch-Hopkins clash later this year.
“This is a blessing, something that has never been done,” Hopkins says of the accomplishment of winning belts at middleweight, light heavyweight and then moving back down to super middleweight. “Carl Froch, if he's ready this is going to be a great fight. Not only for Britain, not only for the United States, but for the sport of boxing. 2015 is going to be a great year for boxing.”
The proposed matchup has been so well-received that it even has other fighters in awe.
“I'm thinking about Hopkins and Froch,” quipped Paul Malignaggi, an outspoken former two-division titlist and current color commentator who otherwise experienced a rare moment of being speechless when taking in the thought of such a fight. “That's an old-school fight in a new-school (world). Both guys are cut from that old school cloth.”
There’s no telling if Hopkins would simply stop at a fight with Froch – win, lose or draw – or keep going. He was supposed to call it a career at age 40, a promise he made to his mother than never stood a chance of being honored. Given that he has his mind set on at least one more fight, you can best believe we won’t be hearing a retirement speech anytime soon.
“What way to go out than to go back to a division I skipped over,” Hopkins theorizes. “They better be (afraid) of The Alien. At 50.... just because I'm 50. I'm going to make history.”
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com, as well as a member of Transnational Boxing Ratings Board, Yahoo Boxing Ratings Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
