By Cliff Rold

It took too long but, after an awkward stretch where the aging didn’t seem interested in acting their part, a youth movement appears afoot in boxing.  The sport needs it.  Young fighters have a way of doing something older, wiser fighters sometimes forget to do.

Still with a chip on their shoulder, still working towards riches, matches of quality fighters whose physical peaks and mental acuity are near congruent have often been special.  Just a couple of weeks ago, fight fans were reminded as Victor Ortiz and Andre Berto took turns swinging for the gates and putting each other on the deck.  A couple weeks before that, Flyweights Luis Concepcion and Hernan Marquez beat the hell out of each other and God bless them for it.

That doesn’t mean the vets don’t have their place. 

Erik Morales showed Marcos Maidana he wasn’t ready for the rocking chair just yet.  Juan Manuel Marquez might just snare his dream third match with Manny Pacquiao, still reigning as the Lightweight king. 

And when the smoke clears from next week’s big event, arguably the two most intriguing matches over the next four weeks in boxing will feature men closer to 50 than they are to thirty.  On May 21st, the great Bernard Hopkins (51-5-2, 32 KO) will challenge Light Heavyweight champion Jean Pascal (26-1-1, 16 KO) for the second fight in a row. 

Pascal’s still 28. 

Hopkins’ calendar now reads 46. 

The first fight saw Hopkins come off the floor twice early on, ultimately earning a draw.  The rematch will be a marvel of wondering whether the old man has another classic outing in him.  Two weeks later, a bona fide Fight of the Year contender arrives. 

Defending his second WBC Super Middleweight belt for the first time on June 4th, 33-year olkd Carl Froch (27-1, 20 KO) steps into the Super Six tournament semi-finals to face a 42-year old Glen Johnson (51-14-2, 35 KO).  It was a fight no one predicted.  How could they?  Johnson didn’t enter the tournament until the third round. 

If the “Road Warrior” were to go on now to win it all, few would be genuinely surprised. 

Fight fans decry being stuck with old faces when they produce fights bogged down in age.  Hopkins getting his long awaited rematch with Roy Jones last year is a perfect example.  However, when the old are matched with the right younger men, magic can still happen. 

Johnson showed it in narrowly losing a war to Tavoris Cloud, a blemish squeezed between knockout wins of Yusaf Mack and Allan Green.  Hopkins has been entertaining with the likes of Pascal, Kelly Pavlik, and even Enrique Ornelas. 

So of course it makes sense (really meaning little at all) here to suggest, given the evidence that proper combinations of young turk and grizzled old battler work, to suggest a pairing of elders.  Hopkins-Jones II was sold past its sell by date.  Bernard Hopkins-Glen Johnson II has yet to expire.

It’s still a credible match.  Any time in the last six years, it could have been one hell of a fight.  It’s hard to recall it ever being suggested.

Given the quality of the fights Johnson has been involved in over the last decade, the lack of suggestion is surprising.  True, those who saw the first Hopkins-Johnson fight in 1997 would be able to argue against it easily.  Hopkins dominated and beat up a then undefeated Johnson in defense of his Middleweight belt.  It was, at the time, considered a solid but pedestrian win.

Johnson, years later, developed into one of the best Light Heavyweights of the 2000’s and gave the Hopkins victory value.  It was, in some part, a twisted mirror image of the Hopkins-Jones rivalry.  In that case, Hopkins lost a ho-hum decision in 1993 as Jones collected his first major belt at Middleweight.  Hopkins would not lose again at 160 lbs. for some 12 years.  At least half of them passed before the Jones win exploded as a blow away bright spot on his resume.

Astute observers argued that Hopkins, when he faced Jones the first time, was not yet the fighter he would become.  The same can be said, with even more stridency, of the Hopkins win over Johnson.  Johnson, who has faced almost everyone who has counted across two fistic generations from 160 to 175 lbs., is an example of the old school thinking that hard matches and high quality competition is the learning ground for a serious prizefighter. 

Hopkins was but his first hard match, a lone stoppage loss brought on by a merciful corner, Johnson already showing iron will and beard.  Johnson had not yet learned the lessons that the Hopkins loss, a lot of losses that wouldn’t have been with fair scoring, and some huge gut check wins would give him.  Johnson had not yet won and lost shares of the crown at 175.

At 46 and 42 respectively, it’s safe to say neither Hopkins nor Johnson are still at their best.  It is also safe to say neither has anything left to learn. 

They both can still fight like the dickens. 

If Hopkins and Johnson win between now and the first week of June, Johnson would still have another date etched in.  Should Johnson find himself the Super Six winner, a rematch some 14 years in the hardly of even thought of making could suddenly emerge as one heck of a Light Heavyweight championship fight. 

If neither snares a title within the next month and change, but look good in the trying, it’s still a fight worth thinking about.

It’s been a fight worth thinking about for a while.  Matching old men is sensitive stuff.  This is one place where it might be okay to give it a whirl.  Someone just needed to think out loud.

Weekly Ledger

But wait, there’s more…

Cliff’s Notes… Gary Neal sinking a three to go to OT against Memphis tonight was the first live NBA action this scribe watched in 2011.  True story…Arthur Abraham’s Team protesting the officials could be just a way to make any use of Ward’s head-as-possible-weapon stand out even more.  Seen this show before.  Team Mike Tyson once demanded the late Mitch Halpern be replaced for head fouls before a rematch with Evander Holyfield.  One wonders if Abraham’s confidence is fragile heading into the make or break Super Six semi-finals on the 14th…Congratulations to recently retired former WBA Flyweight titlist Takefumi Sakata of Japan.  He won a local election this week, joining Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines in the far bloodier world of politics.  Best of luck to one heck of a fighter…For the record, a rematch of the 2008 war between Carl Froch and Jean Pascal can also happen whenever, win or lose for either man coming up.

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel, the Yahoo Pound for Pound voting panel, and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com