By Jake Donovan
As odd as it may sound for a soon-to-be 51-year old boxer to claim, Bernard Hopkins has every intention of not only going out on his terms but also on top.
The final swan song of one of the most incredible careers in boxing history remains on course for the first quarter of 2016, Hopkins told BoxingScene.com on Thursday. His target has shifted sights, but remains squarely focused on claiming hardware in the super middleweight division.
It could come against Fedor Chudinov, who – while waiting on a rematch with Felix Sturm to materialize – is the one reigning titlist in the division who is free of promotional and political conflict. He also has a clear schedule as long as Sturm continues to stall on plans for a second fight.
“No matter who it’s against, it will be a respectable opponent and hopefully with a world title at stake,” Hopkins told BoxingScene.com in detailing what he promises to be his final career fight.
For now, Hopkins (55-7-2, 32KOs) knows whom the opponent will not be. The ageless former middleweight and light heavyweight king – who celebrates his 51st birthday in less than a month – was angling for a showdown with Arthur Abraham, though forced to wait out the result of his eventual 12-round split decision win over Martin Murray this past November in Germany.
The fight took place hours before Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez – whom Hopkins promotes as a managing partner of Golden Boy Promotions – claimed the World middleweight championship in a unanimous decision over Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas.
There should have been plenty of good news to go around, only for Hopkins to learn that Abraham was ordered to next face unbeaten mandatory challenger Gilberto Ramirez. The two sides are currently in discussion for such a fight, which is also being eyed for the first part of the new year.
With Abraham out of the mix, Hopkins is forced to move on. He’s been out of the ring since a shutout loss to Sergey Kovalev last November, thus ending his second tour as a light heavyweight champ (or third, depending on how title lineage was defined tracing back to the Roy Jones/Dariusz Michalczewski era earlier in the 2000s). His 50th birthday came and went without an accompanying grand finale.
There is no way he plans to celebrate his 51st birthday in the same manner, even if it means limiting his choices.
“We know it won’t be the WBC guy (Badou Jack),” Hopkins confirmed. “He’s looking at other options, one that could take the IBF cat out the mix (James DeGale). Abraham is talking with Ramirez, so that leaves the WBA guy if I want to end my career by winning the super middleweight championship.”
Chudinov (14-0, 10KOs) is stuck in limbo since his last win, a 12-round decision over Frank Buglioni this past September in London. The feat served as his third road game in the span of four bouts, having also fought and won in Germany and Dominican Republic. The win in Germany came over Sturm to claim a super middleweight title this past May, with his victory over Buglioni serving as his lone defense to date.
His promoter, Vlad Hryunov informed BoxingScene.com earlier this fall of the possibility of Sturm seeking a rematch. The thought at the time was that the fight would take place in December, but has yet to come to surface.
In preparing for his win over Buglioni, Chudinov worked extensively with Roy Jones Jr., who split a pair of fights with Hopkins spread out over 17 years. Hopkins hadn’t lost since his pro debut prior to falling short versus Jones in their vacant middleweight title fight in May ’93.
It was the last time Hopkins would see the loss column for another 12 years, but also the last time he’d see Jones in the ring before avenging the loss nearly two decades later in April ‘10.
Hopkins came up aces in his third crack at a middleweight title with a 7th round knockout of Segundo Mercado in their April ’95 rematch, four months after the two fought to a disputed draw in Mercado’s native Ecuador.
The rematch win kicked off a record-breaking championship reign, with Hopkins making 20 successful defenses. The run also included his managing to reestablish World championship lineage following wins over Keith Holmes and then-unbeaten three-division champ Felix Trinidad in the 2001 middleweight tournament.
His reign came to a close in 2005 on the heels of a pair of disputed decision losses to then-unbeaten Jermain Taylor. Upon the second loss, Hopkins sought one more fight before calling it a career – even though it meant breaking a promise to his mother that he wouldn’t fight past his 40th birthday.
A near shutout win over Antonio Tarver in June ’06 proved to be well worth it, bumping off the top-rated light heavyweight at the time. Two more definitive reigns followed, including a World championship title reign following a May ’11 rematch win over Jean Pascal.
His lone successful defense was a knockout loss-turned-No-Contest with Chad Dawson later that year, although suffering a points loss in April ’12 to close out his reign before reclaiming a belt in humiliating then-unbeaten Tavoris Cloud in March ’13. His final reign made him the oldest win a title (versus Cloud), successfully defend it (12-round win over Karo Murat in Oct. ’13, three months shy of his 49th birthday) and then surpassing that mark along with being the oldest to unify in a win over Beibut Shumenov last April before Kovalev put an end to his championship run.
Now, Hopkins sets his sights on Chudinov – or any other top fighter that will be available for his last-ever fight. Whenever that day lands will not come as a surprise to the future Hall of Famer.
“One thing they can never say about me, is that anyone ever caught me off guard,” points out Hopkins, who weighs 183 lbs. at this very moment while just searching for his next – and last-ever - fight. “Even when everyone thought my fight with Felix Trinidad would get canceled due to the 9/11 attacks (in 2001), I stayed ready in the gym, confident that it would get rescheduled, but also mentally aware that Don King would try to pull a fast one on me.
“So now – yeah I’m in shape because I got to look good on TV (Hopkins is filling in for Jones on this weekend’s HBO Boxing After Dark telecast from Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, NY). But also, when that day comes when we ready to move towards that final fight of my (27-plus year) career, I want everyone to know that I stayed ready for that one, too.”
Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
