By Cam Gillon
POSSIBLE MOVE TO 168 LBS IN 2015?
Former light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (55-7-2, 32 KO) has shown a big interest in moving down to super middleweight for one more fight against IBF super middleweight champion Carl ‘The Cobra’ Froch or a fight with Gennady Golovkin before retiring. Froch recently stated he had picked up an elbow injury in training, preparing for a Vegas bout against Mexican Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and is now looking to fight in the summer. Froch is looking to fight someone who has a big enough name to build a big pay per view card in Vegas and Hopkins believes he is the man to land Froch his dream fight after Chavez recently fell through for the time being.
This isn’t the first time Hopkins and Froch have spoke about possibly fighting. In 2013 after Froch beat Mikkel Kessler to unify the super middleweight WBA and IBF titles, Hopkins spoke about moving down to super middleweight to challenge Froch for the titles, however the bout never took place.
HOPKINS VS FROCH OR GOLOVKIN BEFORE RETIREMENT?
Hopkins plans to have at least one more fight before retiring, he says he is no longer in his peak but isn’t on the decline run just yet. He also said the fight has to have some meaning to it and won’t just fight anyone for the sake of hanging about for a pay day. He has shown some interest in fighting Gennady Golovkin who is the unbeaten middleweight champion kingpin and would definitely bring in big numbers against Hopkins due to his exciting, aggressive style of fighting. Putting that style against Bernard Hopkins with his incredible boxing skill, brain and ring IQ, it would make a fantastic fight for the fans and a great test for Golovkin.
A fight against Carl Froch would be a similar bout to the Golovkin fight. Froch is a very aggressive and powerful puncher and after stepping into the ring against Kovalev in his last fight, it really shows what type of man and fighter Hopkins is to want to get straight back in with heavy hitters like Froch and Golovkin. A fight with Froch could be staged in Las Vegas, Nevada or even in Froch’s home town of Nottingham in England. Hopkins’ name is huge in the United Kingdom and would sell within minutes. If Hopkins had his last fight with Froch in the UK, the fight could be staged a huge arena and possibly even at Wembley.
A LIVING LEGEND
Hopkins is regarded as one of the best fighters in history of the sport and is rated number 3 by RING as one of the best middleweight fighters of all time. Hopkins held all four world titles from every sanctioning body after defeating Oscar De La Hoya in September 2004, retaining his WBC, WBA, IBF and Ring Magazine title as well as gaining De La Hoya’s WBO title to become the undisputed world middleweight champion. Hopkins moved up to light heavyweight after a successful run at middleweight and won every world title at that weight apart from the WBO. Hopkins in his last fight faced the power puncher Sergey Kovalev to unify the WBA, WBO and IBF title but lost a unanimous decision to the Russian and is now planning a move down in weight to either super middleweight or back to middleweight. Hopkins’ other notable wins came against Roy Jones Jr, Felix Trinidad, Antonio Tarver, Winky Wright, Kelly Pavlik and Jean Pascal.
It is remarkable that Hopkins who celebrated his 50th birthday last week is still fighting at the highest level in the sport. It was an incredible 27 years ago that Hopkins first made his professional debut against Clinton Mitchell in 1988. Here in 2015, Hopkins is still looking for the most dangerous, risky and exciting fights for himself, for the fans and the benefit of the sport of boxing. When Hopkins decides to retire from boxing it will be a very sad day, no doubt. Hopkins has a hall of fame resume and will always go down as a legend in the sport regardless of what anyone says.
The post Hopkins vs Froch or Golovkin in 2015 Potentially? appeared first on %%Boxing News and Views/%%.
