By Matteo Alderson

The Parallels in the careers of Archie Moore and Bernard Hopkins

A 40-year-old Bernard Hopkins successfully defended the World Middle Championship against number one contender Howard Eastman.  This feat, a defense of a world title by a 40-year-old fighter is a very rare occurrence and its significance has been diminished by George Foreman’s record breaking knock out victory over Michael Moorer in 1994.  Before the 45-year old Foreman’s historic win, Jersey Joe Walcott had the record for being the oldest man to win the Heavyweight Championship.  He was 37 years old.  Big George just didn’t break the previous record, he demolished it by 8 years and as a result any accomplishment by an older fighter is going to pale in comparison to Foreman’s almost mythical achievement.  If you really look at George Foreman’s success in the early and mid-nineties you’ll see that yes he scored a knockout victory over the undefeated linear heavyweight champion, but you will also see that he lost to Evander Holyfield and Tommy Morrison, and that he was lucky to get decisions over Alex Stewart and Axel Schultz. 

The late Cus Damato always believed that a great fighter could put it all together on any given night and call back the magic of the past to give one last virtuoso performance.  Great fighters like Roberto Duran and Sugar Ray Robinson did that on more than one occasion in the twilight of their careers. You see it’s easier to put it all together on one night and win a big fight than it is to consistently be successful, which is what Hopkins has done.  Think about it, who was the last fighter in his forties to successfully defend his title?  Not too many men have won titles past the age of forty, and only three men have successfully defended a world title while in their forties: Archie Moore, George Foreman, Bernard Hopkins.  The Executioner’s success at an age when most fighters are retired or regularly losing fights has mirrored Archie’s accomplishments as the World Light Heavyweight Champ. 

Moore had been a professional fighter and a top contender for 15 years when he received his first title shot against Joey Maxim in 1952 and according to whom you believe Moore was either either 36 or 39 when he won the title by decision.  His mother says he was born in 1913, but Moore rebuked his mother’s belief, “Maybe I was three years old when I was born, and if that’s so, then I should know.”  Anyway, even though Hopkins became a champion much earlier in his career, his early title reign was shrouded in skepticism and controversy.  You can’t win the World Middleweight Championship by beating a mediocre Segundo Mercado. 

If the Old Mongoose had fought in this era he surely would have won multiple title in multiple weight classes a lot earlier in his career, but things were different back then because the titles weren’t as splintered and there were only the eight traditional weight classes.  Because of this the media and most of the public were familiar with all the champions and each champion was universally recognized.   Today this type of notoriety is only saved for pound for pounders or undisputed champs.  Technically we can say that Hopkins title reign began in April of 1995 when he won the IBF Middleweight title that had been vacated by Roy Jones, but really Hopkins didn’t earn universal recognition as champion until he unified the title and knocked out Felix Trinidad in September of 2001 at the age of 36.  Coincidentally, both Archie and Bernard became universally recognized champions at the age of 36.  

There are numerous other parallels in their careers.  Specifically the similarities in how they lived and approached their careers.  Bernard lives a clean healthy lifestyle without out alcohol as did the Old Mongoose and both of them utilized their ring knowledge and experience to help them extend their reigns into their 40s.  In an interview with Jeff Ryan in the May 1990 issue of Ring Magazine Archie emphatically stated, “I feel that a man can still do certain things in the ring after 40, just by moving his head and shoulders.  You’re using tricks, feints, you’re fighting with knowledge and experience.  The skills can leave, but experience is something never thrown away.  It stays with you.” 

If you’ve witnessed Bernard’s fights the last few years, Archie’s words still echo loudly because even though Bernard doesn’t have the energy of a young 20-year old fighter and can’t throw a hundred punches a round, and even though he isn’t the fastest fighter in the division, he uses his ring knowledge and experience to win fights.  He doesn’t have to throw one hundred punches because he’s more economical with his punches, he’ll throw 50, but land at a higher percentage, as was the case in his defense against Howard Eastman.  Also, De La Hoya was a lot faster than the Executioner, but the lessons of the ring have taught Hopkins well and he used patience and the knowledge of how to cut off the ring to slowly break the Golden Boy down. 

Hopkins is the 21-century version of the Old Mongoose because he is using his ring smarts and experience to continue his dominance of a division at the advance age of 40.  Who knows maybe the end of the Executioner’s career will follow the same fate as Archie’s and he’ll never lose the title in the Ring and exit the boxing world as an old wise champion, serving the sport as an intelligent ambassador.