Bernard Hopkins

Bernard Hopkins
Born	Bernard Hopkins (1965-01-15) January 15, 1965 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Nationality	American
Other names	The Executioner B-Hop
Statistics
Weight(s)	Light Heavyweight
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	54
Wins	48
Wins by KO	32
Losses	4
Draws	1
No contests	1

Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins (born January 15, 1965, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American boxer and the reigning Ring magazine light heavyweight champion.

Biography

Hopkins was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, growing up in the Raymond Rosen housing projects and later in Germantown, where he became involved in crime and gang activity at a young age. Today, he describes himself as a "thug" in his youth and regrets that it took a stint in prison for him to turn his life around.

Late in 1982, when Hopkins was in the 11th grade, he was convicted and sentenced to 18 years in the state penitentiary for "strong-arm robbery" (not armed robbery - beating people and taking their money). For fifty-six months, from 1984 through 1989, Hopkins was one of three thousand inmates in Graterford State Penitentiary in Pennsylvania. While incarcerated, he decided to turn his life around.[1] Hopkins studied for and earned his high school diploma, and also began to take part in boxing again, which he had done off and on as a youth.

During four years and eight months in prison, Hopkins won the national penitentiary middleweight championship three times. He converted to Islam [2] during his incarceration and was paroled in 1988, as soon as he was eligible. His dedicated approach to the faith helped him build his successful monastic boxing career by instilling discipline in the once troubled young adult [3].

Professional career

He immediately joined the professional boxing ranks as a light heavyweight, losing his debut on October 11, 1988, in Atlantic City, New Jersey to a fighter named Clinton Mitchell. But he showed enough in the loss that respected trainer Bouie Fisher took him on. After a 16-month layoff he resumed his career as a middleweight, winning a unanimous decision over Greg Paige on February 22, 1990.

Between February 1990 and September 1992, Hopkins worked his way through the ranks of middleweight journeymen, scoring 20 wins without a loss. He won 15 of those fights by knockout, 11 coming in the first round.

His first chance at a world title came on May 22, 1993 in Washington, DC, against Roy Jones Jr. for the vacant IBF middleweight belt. Hopkins lost by unanimous decision. Hopkins retained his world ranking and defended his USBA belt three more times while waiting for another world title shot.

Winning the IBF Middleweight Title

Jones abandoned the middleweight ranks in 1994, and the IBF came again knocking at Hopkins's door on December 17 of that year, matching him with Segundo Mercado in Mercado's hometown of Quito, Ecuador. Mercado knocked Hopkins down twice and built a big lead on the scorecards before Hopkins rallied late and earned a draw. The IBF called for a rematch, and on April 29, 1995, Hopkins became a world champion with his seventh-round technical knockout of Mercado in Landover, Maryland.

After winning the title, Hopkins followed the example of former world middleweight champion Marvelous Marvin Hagler and followed a strict training regimen to always keep his weight close to the division limit of 160 lbs (72 kg), when he wasn't fighting. Meanwhile, he fought many mandatory challengers and was soon considered by many as the best world middleweight titleholder. By the end of 2000, he had defended the IBF title 12 times without a loss, while beating such standouts as John David Jackson, Glencoffe Johnson, Simon Brown, and Antwun Echols. His second fight with Antwun Echols on December 1, 2000, was one of the strangest in boxing history, as Hopkins was the victim of a wrestling-like takedown in the 6th round which injured his right arm. The referee offered Hopkins the win as a result of disqualification, but Hopkins decided to fight on and eventually stopped Echols via TKO in the 10th round using mostly his left arm. This helped Hopkins gain the reputation of a true "old-school" fighter and was a testament to his toughness.

2001 Middleweight Unification Tournament

The arrival of multiple-division champion Félix Trinidad into the middleweight ranks set off a series of unification fights between major titleholders. On April 14, 2001, Hopkins won a unanimous decision over WBC champion Keith Holmes in New York City. Then, on September 29, WBA champion Trinidad challenged Hopkins for all three belts in Madison Square Garden. During the publicity tour in the weeks leading up to the fight, both camps grew more contemptuous of the other. Tensions finally boiled over when during a stop in San Juan, Hopkins threw a Puerto Rican flag on the ground in front of several hundred Trinidad supporters. Hopkins later apologized, but the anticipation for the fight had reached a fever pitch, with both Trinidad and Hopkins impatient to prove their dominance in the middleweight division.

For the first time in many years, Hopkins was an underdog in the betting which led the confident Hopkins to place a $100,000 bet on himself to win the bout. He was on his way to a lopsided decision victory when, in the 12th and final round, he floored Trinidad and referee Steve Smoger called a halt to the fight after Trinidad's father entered the ring to stop the fight. It was the first loss of Trinidad's career, and made Hopkins the first undisputed world middleweight champion since Marvin Hagler in 1987. The Ring magazine and the World Boxing Hall of Fame named Hopkins as the 2001 Fighter of the Year.

Undisputed Middleweight Champion

He defended the undisputed title six times. Hopkins bested Carl Daniels on February 2, 2002, by tenth-round technical knockout; Morrade Hakkar on March 29, 2003, by eighth-round TKO; William Joppy on December 13, 2003, by unanimous decision; and Robert Allen on June 5, 2004, also by unanimous decision.

In the highest paying fight of his career, Hopkins fought six-division titleholder Oscar de la Hoya for the undisputed middleweight championship on September 18, 2004, in Las Vegas. Hopkins won the bout with a knockout in the ninth round. He said he ended the de la Hoya fight with a perfect punch to the liver, later describing it as "Chopped liver with Hopkins sauce." Hopkins became the first boxer to ever unify the titles of all four major sanctioning bodies WBO, WBA, WBC and IBF by defeating De La Hoya.

Oscar de la Hoya soon thereafter invited Hopkins to join his boxing promotional firm, Golden Boy Promotions, as president of its new east coast chapter. Their alliance was announced publicly on November 20, 2004. Hopkins is expected to sign and guide the careers of young east coast fighters, including several from his hometown of Philadelphia.

Hopkins reached the middleweight record of 20 title defenses on February 19, 2005, against Howard Eastman, the European middleweight champion.

Hopkins vs. Taylor

In his next fight on July 16, 2005, Hopkins, now forty years old and unbeaten since 1993, lost his undisputed middleweight title to the undefeated 26-year-old Olympian Jermain Taylor. Hopkins started slowly against his younger opponent but dominated the last 3 rounds of the fight, hurting Taylor on several occasions. Taylor won a split decision. Press row occupants had scored the fight almost unanimously for Hopkins, but HBO Boxing analyst and "unofficial" ringside scorer Harold Lederman called the fight 115-113 in favor of Taylor. Compubox statistics showed that Hopkins out-landed Taylor 96-86 in total punches and 78-50 in power punches. These statistics however are misleading as rounds in boxing are scored in isolation. Round-by-round punch statistics had Taylor leading 6-5-1.

On December 3, 2005, Hopkins lost his rematch against Jermain Taylor by another close and disputed decision. All three judges scored the fight unanimously [115-113] for Taylor. Now 2 months shy of his 41st birthday Hopkins would leave the middleweight division for good.

Light Heavyweight

On June 10, 2006, Hopkins defeated The Ring Magazine light heavyweight champion and Roy Jones Jr. conqueror Antonio Tarver in a completely one-sided fight by a unanimous decision to win Tarver's light heavyweight Title. Hopkins knocked Tarver down in Round 5. Hopkins played to the crowd (made up mostly of Hopkins fans) throughout the fight including one moment, in round 10, where Hopkins turned his back to Tarver, raised his arms, and then turned back around and ran after Tarver, hitting him with a flurry of punches before the bell rang. Hopkins stated after the fight that he was "done."[4] All three judges had him winning the bout 118-109.

Return in 2007

Hopkins (42) agreed to return to the ring to face former undisputed light middleweight champion Ronald "Winky" Wright, in a light heavyweight bout on July 21, 2007, for The Ring Magazine's title which is held by Hopkins. The fight took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Hopkins won a unanimous decision, with the judges scoring the fight 116-112, 117-111, 117-111.

Hopkins' next opponent will be undefeated WBO/WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe of Wales who will step up to light-heavyweight for the fight which takes place on April 19th in Las Vegas.

Trivia

• Hopkins had a cameo role in the Beanie Sigel film State Property 2.
• Hopkins' nephew Demetrius Hopkins is a rising boxing prospect in the light welterweight division.
• Hopkins' bout with Félix Trinidad at New York City's Madison Square Garden was originally scheduled for September 15, 2001, but was postponed for two weeks because of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
• Hopkins is a reported vegetarian.[5][6]
• Hopkins currently resides in Newark, DE
• Hopkins is on the cover of Fight Night round 2 and is featured in the demo for Fight Night Round 3 along with Roy Jones Jr..
• Hopkins made a cameo appearance in rapper Xzibit's music video 'Hey Now (Mean Muggin')

References

• sugar, bert (June 13, 2006). "RECAP: TARVER VS. HOPKINS". hbo boxing website. hbo. Retrieved 2007-10-07. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

See also

• List of male boxers
• List of WBC world champions
• Ring Magazine pound for pound

External links

• Bernard Hopkins Fight-by-Fight Career Record
• Interview with Bernard Hopkins
• Boxing record for Bernard Hopkins from BoxRec (registration required)