Bernard Hopkins is pushing 50...Why is he still dominating ?

[ИATAS]

Tavoris Cloud, Chad Dawson, and Jean Pascal were all world champions. The Pascal fights he took in Canada.

I don't think those were safe opponents or cherry picks at all.

If you've ever read his column in Ring magazine you know how smart he is when it comes to boxing. He understands all of the distances and angles and knows what to do to hit and not be hit from any of them.

That and staying in shape year round is what I attribute his success to.

He doesn't blow up into a fatass between fights like Ricky Hatton did, for example.

Ray is a good guy but he's like Larry Merchant in some ways, not just because he's almost 100 years old but because he really only likes sluggers.

[DosRounds]

skills, smarts, dedication, to celebrate he doesn't eat cake but he eats nice seafood instead.

[KillaMANE704]

skills, smarts, dedication, to celebrate he doesn't eat cake but he eats nice seafood instead.

^^^^^^

[dde91]

Because he's a F*in Legend. Only a couple of fighters were great after 40 and Hopkins is the best out of that bunch. Sure he lost to Dawson, and a SD to Calzaghe that is debatable (i had him winning 6-6 but he had the KD in the 1st) but every great fighters loses sometimes, but he always bounces back from losses like they didn't happen. when he lost to Taylor they said he was done (debatable fights again, i scored the first fight a draw, second 7-5). he dominated the LHW champion Tarver the next fight. When he lost to Calzaghe , everbody thought it was suicide for him to fight Pavlik. Then he but on a boxing Lesson. After the Stinker him and jones did for the rematch, He came back and drawed and beat Pascal in his HOMETOWN. Lost to Dawson came back and beat and undefeated Cloud -even tho cloud lost his previous fight to many. he always showed the heart of a true champ to fight top opposition everytime.

[radioraheem]

skills, smarts, dedication, to celebrate he doesn't eat cake but he eats nice seafood instead.

I agree, but it's all those + a bit of performance enhance drugs too. Just my opinion though.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Dominating? He ducked Dawson for a good few years. Faked an injury to get out of the first fight and then lost the rematch. He isn't really dominating. He looks good against a certain type of opponent.

[MRBOOMER]

Hopkins is a testament to dedication, skill and will. Fighters who take care of their body, train year round and eat clean could possibly extend their career into their late 30s, early 40s. Hopkins success can also be attributed to intelligence. As his athleticism faded, he learned how to win using crafty veteran tactics and ring smarts. Hopkins is definitely a special fighter. His greatness cant be denied. Look how many great fighters have come and gone since he started out.

Question: How many times has Hopkins been down in his career? I can't think of any off the top of my head.

4 to in is his first title **** at mw
And twice in the first pascal fight

[techliam]

He's not dominating his division - just recently lost to Dawson don't forget. But everyone has to admire what he's done for his age

[Alx.]

No, it's about discipline and picking the opponents his style is most suited towards.

Only one that wasn't was Dawson but he couldn't duck him

[Juof]

he knows how to make a fighter fight his fight. he slows down the pace and whoops you plus his defence is pretty good its hard to catch him cleanly and get the ko im pretty sure hopkins has never been stopped in his career