Bernard Hopkins: Trinidad, De La Hoya and the oldest world champion in boxing | Ultimate Boxing Reunion

Why fans still care

BERNARD HOPKINS held the IBF middleweight title for ten years and defended it 20 times, a record for the division. He beat Félix Trinidad, Who’s Who number 6 and Oscar De La Hoya, Who’s Who number 10 when both were among the biggest names in boxing.

Then he kept going. He won world titles at light heavyweight in his late forties and fought on until he was nearly 52.

Early life

He was born on 15 January 1965 in Philadelphia. As a boy he boxed in Jazz Jarrett’s basement gym in West Mt Airy, where Rudy Battle, later a referee, first saw him.

At 17 he was sent to Graterford State Prison. He left in 1988, and according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Battle found him a kitchen job at the Penn Tower Hotel and introduced him to promoter Butch Lewis and trainer Bouie Fisher. Sports Illustrated wrote that the discipline that shaped his career came from those years.

The early fights

He lost his professional debut on 11 October 1988, a four round majority decision to Clinton Mitchell at Resorts Casino in Atlantic City. His second fight, against Greg Paige at the Blue Horizon in Philadelphia, was the start of his work with Fisher.

On 22 May 1993 at RFK Stadium in Washington he met the unbeaten Roy Jones Jr, Who’s Who number 4 for the vacant IBF middleweight title and lost a unanimous decision, 116 to 112 on all three cards. On 17 December 1994 in Quito, Ecuador, he fought Segundo Mercado for the same vacant title. He was knocked down twice and the fight was a split draw. In the 1995 rematch he stopped Mercado in round 7, with Battle as the referee, and the IBF title was his.

Career chapters

1. 1988Loses his professional debut to Clinton Mitchell
2. 1993Loses to Roy Jones Jr, Who’s Who number 4 for the vacant IBF title
3. 1995Wins the IBF middleweight title in a rematch with Segundo Mercado
4. 2001Beats Keith Holmes for the WBC title, then stops Félix Trinidad, Who’s Who number 6 to become undisputed
5. 2004Knocks out Oscar De La Hoya, Who’s Who number 10 and holds all four belts
6. 2005Loses his titles to Jermain Taylor, then loses the rematch
7. 2006Moves up two divisions and beats Antonio Tarver
8. 2008Loses to Joe Calzaghe, then beats Kelly Pavlik
9. 2010Beats Roy Jones Jr, Who’s Who number 4 in their rematch
10. 2011Beats Jean Pascal at 46 to become the oldest world champion
11. 2013Wins the IBF light heavyweight title at 48
12. 2014Beats Beibut Shumenov at 49, then loses to Sergey Kovalev
13. 2016Loses his last fight, to Joe Smith Jr
14. 2019Elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame

Félix Trinidad 29 September 2001

By April 2001 he had added the WBC title by beating Keith Holmes. His fight with the unbeaten Félix Trinidad, Who’s Who number 6, was set for 15 September at Madison Square Garden and was put back two weeks after 9/11. Trinidad had won all 40 of his fights, and Hopkins went in as roughly a 2 to 1 underdog. Sports Illustrated reported that he bet US$100,000 on himself.

He won rounds 7 to 11 on all three cards. In round 12 a right hand put Trinidad down, and his father and trainer stopped it at 1:18. Hopkins was the undisputed middleweight champion, the first since Marvin Hagler, Who’s Who number 5, and he was named 2001 Fighter of the Year.

Oscar De La Hoya 18 September 2004

On 18 September 2004 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas he defended his belts against Oscar De La Hoya, Who’s Who number 10, who held the WBO title. After eight rounds two judges had Hopkins ahead and one had De La Hoya. In round 9 a left hook to the liver dropped De La Hoya, and he was counted out at 1:38. It was the first time De La Hoya had been stopped, and it made Hopkins the first middleweight to hold the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO titles at the same time.

Jermain Taylor 2005

On 16 July 2005 at the MGM Grand he lost all four belts to Jermain Taylor on a split decision, two cards at 115 to 113 for Taylor and one at 116 to 112 for Hopkins. The Nevada commission rejected his appeal. Taylor won the rematch on 3 December 2005 on a unanimous decision.

Light heavyweight 2006 to 2008

On 10 June 2006 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City he moved up two divisions to fight Antonio Tarver. He went in as a 3 to 1 underdog and won every card, 118 to 109 three times.

On 19 April 2008 in Las Vegas he put Joe Calzaghe down in round 1 but lost a split decision. Six months later, at 43, he beat the unbeaten middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik on a unanimous decision at a 170 lb catchweight, outlanding him 172 punches to 108, by BoxingOnly’s count.

Records at 46 and 48 2010 to 2014

On 3 April 2010 in Las Vegas he beat Roy Jones Jr, Who’s Who number 4 on a unanimous decision, 17 years after their first fight.

His first fight with Jean Pascal, in Quebec City in December 2010, was a majority draw. On 21 May 2011 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, before 17,560, he beat Pascal on a unanimous decision for the WBC light heavyweight title. At 46 he was the oldest world champion in boxing history, passing the mark George Foreman, Who’s Who number 35 set at 45 in 1994.

A fight with Chad Dawson in October 2011 ended in round 2 when Hopkins hurt his shoulder, and the California commission later changed the result to a no contest. Dawson won the rematch on a majority decision in April 2012.

On 9 March 2013 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn he beat Tavoris Cloud for the IBF title, the oldest man to win a world title at 48. On 19 April 2014 he beat Beibut Shumenov on a split decision, and at 49 became the oldest boxer to unify titles.

The last fights 2014 and 2016

On 8 November 2014 Sergey Kovalev put him down in round 1 and won every round on two cards, 120 to 107 twice and 120 to 106.

His last fight was on 17 December 2016 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. In round 8 Joe Smith Jr sent him through the ropes, and he was counted out at 0:53. Hopkins said he had been pushed, but the referee, Jack Reiss, said it was a legal punch. It was the only stoppage loss of his career.

Style, technique and the corner

How he fought

He was a defensive fighter who did not waste punches. Freddie Roach, who trained him in 2007 and 2008, described his near perfect balance, with his feet always under him and his chin down. Against Jermain Taylor he landed 96 of 326 punches, and against Pavlik 172 of 530.

His best single punches were the left hook to the liver that finished De La Hoya and the lead and overhand right. An overhand right after a feint buckled Pascal in round 3 in 2011, and another floored Shumenov in round 11 in 2014. He also knew how to spoil, using the clinch against Taylor and losing a point for holding against Pavlik.

He was just as known for the contest before the fight. A 2003 profile described how he looked for fear in his opponents.

The corner

Bouie Fisher trained him from his second professional fight through his middleweight reign. When Fisher died in 2011, aged 83, Hopkins said, “He was more like my father than my trainer.” Fisher’s assistant, Naazim Richardson, was his lead trainer for the 2006 Tarver win. “It’s the intensity that he has in training,” Richardson said in 2003.

Stories people still tell

1. A losing start.

   The man who went on to a record 20 middleweight title defences lost his first professional fight, over four rounds in Atlantic City.

2. The underdog at the Garden.

   Against Trinidad he went in as roughly a 2 to 1 underdog, and Sports Illustrated reported that he put US$100,000 on himself.

3. “The Alien”.

   By 2013, still winning world title fights at 48, he had a new nickname. “Aliens don’t have years, months, days or minutes,” he said after beating Karo Murat.

Legacy

He finished with 55 wins, 32 by knockout, 8 losses, 2 draws and 2 no contests from 67 fights. He made a division record 20 middleweight title defences, was the first man to hold all four major middleweight belts at once, and set the record for the oldest world title winner twice. He was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame on the first ballot on 4 December 2019 and inducted in 2022. He is now a partner at Golden Boy Promotions, working with Oscar De La Hoya, Who’s Who number 10.