Bernard
Humphrey Hopkins, Jr. (born January 15, 1965) is an American professional
boxer who currently fights at light heavyweight and previously at
middleweight.
Hopkins reigned as world middleweight titlist
from 1994 until 2005, unifying and successfully defended his title
a record 20 times. He won the International Boxing Federation title
in 1994, then added the World Boxing Council, World Boxing Association,
and The Ring titles in 2001 and became the first man to hold all four
major sanctioning bodies' titles when he won the World Boxing Organization
title in 2004. The Ring ranked him #3 on their list of the "10 best
middleweight title holders of the last 50 years.
After losing
his title to Jermain Taylor in 2005 and failing to regain it in a
rematch, Hopins moved up to light heavyweight and won the Ring and
International Boxing Organization titles from Antonio Tarver at 42
years of age, making two defenses of the Ring title before losing
it to Joe Calzaghe. Three years later, Hopkins defeated Jean Pascal
for the WBC title and broke George Foreman's record for the oldest
fighter to ever win a world championship at the age of 46. Hopkins
later broke his own record by winning the IBF title from Tavoris Cloud
in 2013 and again in 2014 when he won the WBA title from Beibut Shumenov,
aged 48 and 49 respectively.
Nicknamed "The Executioner", and
later "The Alien", Hopkins is a highly strategic and defensive boxer,
known for carrying good speed and power, and for his ability to fight
both on the inside and outside in a fight. Hopkins credits mastering
the boxing fundamentals and a great defence as the reasons why he
has been able to fight on for so long.
In addition to being
an active boxer, Hopkins is also a minority partner with Golden Boy
Promotions.
Background
Born to Bernard Hopkins Sr. and his wife
Shirley, Bernard grew up with his family in the Raymond Rosen housing
project in Philadelphia. Hopkins turned to crime early in his life.
By the age of thirteen he was mugging people and had been stabbed
three times. At seventeen, Hopkins was sentenced to 18 years in Graterford
Prison for nine felonies. While in prison he witnessed the murder
of another inmate in an argument over a pack of cigarettes, but also
discovered his passion for boxing. After serving almost five years,
Hopkins was released from prison in 1988. He then decided to use boxing
as an escape from his previous life, and converted to Islam. While
Hopkins was leaving the prison for the final time, the warden told
him he'd "see you again when you wind up back in here," to which Hopkins
replied "I ain't ever coming back here."
Professional career
Hopkins
immediately joined the professional boxing ranks as a light heavyweight,
losing his debut on October 11, 1988, in Atlantic City, New Jersey
to Clinton Mitchell. After a sixteen-month layoff, he resumed his
career as a middleweight, wining a unanimous decision over greg Paige
at the Blue Horizon on February 22, 1990.
Between February 1990
and December 1992, Hopkins scored 21 wins without a loss. He won 16
of those fights by knockout, 12 coming in the first round.
Hopkins
vs Jones I
Hopkins met Roy Jones on May 22, 1993 for the vacant IBF
Middleweight title. Hopkins was out-pointed throughout most of the
fight, en route to losing a unanimous decision. All three judges scored
the fight 116-112 for Jones.
Middleweight Title
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 before Hopkins rallied late and
earned a draw. It has been argued that Hopkins was also not properly
acclimated to the altitude of nearly 10,000 feet.