By Jake Donovan
Even with Floyd Mayweather not paying the suggestion any mind, Bernard Hopkins continues to pursue a showdown with the sport’s pound-for-pound and box-office king.
The 49-year old is fresh off of a light heavyweight title unification win over Beibut Shumenov last weekend in Washington D.C. After the fight, he suggested a catchweight fight with Mayweather once the unbeaten welterweight king reaches 49-0 – at which point Mayweather will have also completed his six-fight deal with Showtime.
Given both factors, all eyes will be on whether or not the best fighter in the world will look to chase after the near elusive mark of 50-0. He hasn’t completely ruled out the thought of such a fight, but for the moment isn’t seriously entertaining Hopkins’ proposal.
That doesn’t mean Hopkins is ready to give up.
“He's going for 50-0. I'm going to be 50 years old. So I see a ‘50/50’ promotion that has a good connection, a good title,” Hopkins expressed while speaking with ESPN’s Todd Grisham during a special Thursday edition of ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights series.
Hopkins is currently eyeing a showdown with lineal light heavyweight king Adonis Stevenson, who first faces Andrzej Fonfara on May 24 in Montreal. Assuming the Haitian-Canadian knockout artist prevails, talks have already begun to set up a potential super fight later this year.
By then, Mayweather – who is an 11-1 favorite to get past Marcos Maidana next Saturday in their Showtime Pay-Per-View headliner in Las Vegas – will have also completed his September fight against the opponent of his choosing.
"Anything is possible as long as Floyd Mayweather keeps winning,” Hopkins believes. “For everybody, you have two of the best minds in boxing that love winning, making records, breaking records. It would be the biggest urban fight ever, transcending racial barriers.”
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com, as well as a member of Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox