Round by Round Coverage; Kendall Holt-Demetrius Hopkins

By Rick Reeno (photo by Tom Casino/Showtime)

Later tonight at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic, City, WBO junior welterweight champion Kendall Holt (24-2, 13 KOs) will make the first defense of his title against Demetrius Hopkins (28-0-1, 11 KOs), the nephew of Bernard. For the last few weeks, we were expecting a trilogy between Holt and Ricardo Torres. Last weekend Torres pulled out after indicated to Top Rank that he wasn't able to properly train due to an illness. He was walking around heavy and did the right thing by informing the promoters that he couldn't make the weight.

After Torres pulled out, Hopkins, who was scheduled to fight on the undercard, was quickly placed in the main event slot. For his entire career, Hopkins has lived in the shadow of his legendary uncle. After a very controversial win over Steve Forbes, most people wrote him off. Now he has the chance to redeem himself and show people that he can stand on his own two feet.

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"I have to stand in my own shoes and build my own legacy like he did and just do my own thing. I always wanted to do my own thing. I just want to walk in my own shoes. It’s not going to be difficult for me. It shows that I’m a good fighter and that I’m a true champion. It’s a challenge. I love challenges. It’s what makes great champions," Hopkins said.

For Holt, the fight is a grudge match with some bad feelings involved that nobody knew existed. When they were young amateurs, Holt fought Hopkins about three times, and Hopkins won all of their meetings. The one loss that still burns Holt to this day was their bout in the quarterfinals of the 1999 National Golden Gloves.

"It was a close fight. He was the better man that night. That was a long time ago. We’re both men now. We’re both professionals. This is going to be no easy walk for him. It’s more mentally than anything but with the type of style that I have I’m able to adapt. Champions overcome adversity and this is adversity. I’ve overcome adversity before. I’m kind of used to this. This is what champions do: Adapt and overcome," Holt said.

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