By Jake Donovan

Bernard Hopkins knows that there will eventually come a day where he's forced to step away from the ring for good, but is still in search of the perfect way to cap his Hall of Fame career.

The 50-year old living legend was on hand at 2300 Arena in his hometown of Philadelphia to promote what served as the penultimate edition of Golden Boy Live, which aired Tuesday evening on Fox Sports 2 and Fox Deportes. Minutes before watching unbeaten light heavyweight and former sparring partner Vyacheslav Shabranskky twice climb off the deck to knock out Paul Parker in three rounds, Hopkins took the time to confirm that he will in fact fight once more.

"Unlike my business partner Oscar de la Hoya, I'll be confirming that I'm not retired," Hopkins told Fox Sports' Jessica Rosales.The comparison was made on the heels of de la Hoya earlier this week backing off of recent claims of a planned comeback, confirming he is in fact done with the sport.

de la Hoya had good reason to stay away for good. His last fight came in Dec. '08, ending on his stool in between rounds as he suffered a one-sided stoppage loss to Manny Pacquiao. The defeat was a humbling reminder that Father Time had long ago caught up to him, although it had no bearing on his otherwise incredible career which was properly honored in his Hall of Fame induction in 2014.

Hopkins will undoubtedly gain entrance into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligiblity, whenever that may be. It was supposed to happen as early as nine years ago, following his upset win over then-top light heavyweight Antonio Tarver in 2006.

The win was his first fight back at light heavyweight following a historic middleweight title reign, racking up a division-record 20 defenses of at least one alphabet title from 1995-2005.

The past 10 years have only added to his incredible career, a run that has included two separate light heavyweight title reigns. A win over Jean Pascal in their May '11 rematch earned Hopkins the distinction of becoming the oldest fighter in boxing history to claim a world title, winning the lineal light heavyweight championship.

His reign was short-lived, fighting to a No-Contest with Chad Dawson in Oct. '11, before losing the crown in their rematch the following April. Hopkins wasn't done making history, however; he would go on to become the oldest fighter to win a title, doing so at age 48 following his 12-round win over previously unbeaten Tavoris Cloud.

Hopkins' next two fights saw two more geriatric records added. He became the oldest to successfully defend a major title, although his Oct. '13 win over Karo Murat was trumped by his next title defense. Three months after his 49th birthday, Hopkins manhandled Beibut Shumenov, becoming the oldest to unify at least two titles in a weight class.

Even a legend like Hopkins cannot forever outlast Father Time, however. His reign reached an emphatic end following a 12-round thumping at the hands of unbeaten Sergey Kovalev last November.

The loss was enough to force the legendary veteran to give serious consideration to continuing a career that began way back in 1988.

Several ideas have been floated through the first half of 2015, but none having yet to come to fruition. For now, the plan remains to fight one more time, preferably before year's end before finally heading off into the sunset and concentrating full time on the continued rebuilding of the Golden Boy brand.

"I'm looking to do one more historical, meaningful fight before I close out my 27-year career," Hopkins confirmed. "Stay tuned; it will be against a well-known name. I'm looking to get a stamp approval on my legacy, from beginning to the end."

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox