BERN’S NIGHT
‘Alien’ ready to enjoy last hurrah...at 51
BERNARD HOPKINS took on the nickname ‘The Alien’ in the latter years of his career – and what he has done in boxing has been simply out of this world.
Hopkins, a month shy of his 52nd birthday, will step through the ropes for the 67th and final time in the early hours of tomorrow to take on Joe Smith.
It is as close as you will get to a testimonial in boxing.
Not because Smith is a pushover – in fact, the New Yorker has lost just once in 23 fights and has the ability to spoil the party in California.
Farewell
But it has all been meticulously set up as a huge farewell to one of boxing’s best who has amassed a record of 55 wins, seven defeats and two draws, plus two no contests.
Hopkins did not want to go out on the downer of his last performance, which was a defeat by Russia’s Sergey Kovalev.
Boxing has given him so much, but he has repaid his debt to the sport with plenty of interest.
Hopkins, born in Philadelphia in 1965, only picked up a pair of gloves when he was released from prison in 1988 after serving five years of an 18-long stretch for nine offences.
He turned his back on a life of crime – but defeat followed in his first fight against fellow debutant Clinton Mitchell.
Almost 30 years on, he has had the honour of reigning as middleweight champion for more than a decade and held multiple titles at light-heavyweight.
Not bad for a guy who looked set for life behind bars.
There have been some great wins – most notably over Oscar De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad, Antonio Tarver, ‘Winky’ Wright and Kelly Pavlik – as well as the avenging of his defeat by Roy Jones Jnr and the moment he became the oldest champion by beating Jean Pascal.
There were lows too – back-to-back defeats by Jermain Taylor and a loss against Joe Calzaghe.
But Hopkins has not shown any signs of being punch drunk, so there was no call for him to be stopped from entering the ring.
The American goes out on his own terms now, having somehow slipped the grasp of Father Time as cutely as he avoided so many shots.
But there has to be an end. When the bout against Smith is over, most in boxing will hope he utters the same words he did to the guards when he left Graterford prison in Pennsylvania 28 years ago: “I ain’t ever coming back here.” Hopkins v Smith is exclusively live on BoxNation tonight. Buy now at boxnation.com