De La Hoya Doesn’t Think Bernard Hopkins Will Retire

by David P. Greisman

While Bernard Hopkins said he doesn’t yet know what he’ll do with his career — it had been barely an hour since he’d lost to Sergey Kovalev — Hopkins’ promotional colleague, Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions, believes the nearly 50-year-old legend isn’t done yet.

“I don’t know what he’ll do,” De La Hoya said at the post-fight press conference. “But one thing for sure I know is he’s not going to retire.”

De La Hoya said he thinks Hopkins could drop down in weight to 170 or 168 to face someone like Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. or Gennady Golovkin.

“Fighters like that, why not?” De La Hoya said.

He also felt Hopkins still had a chance to beat Kovalev, even while he was being shut out on all of the scorecards and even as he was being battered in the final round.

“My thoughts were still Hopkins is going to land that perfect punch, he’s going to make him fall into the trap,” De La Hoya said. “I was thinking that until the last second.”

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