Bernard Hopkins

Bernard Hopkins
Data
Birth Name	Bernard Humphrey Hopkins Junior
Fight name	The Executioner, The Alien
Weight class	Middleweight , light heavyweight
nationality	US-american
birthday	January 15, 1965
place of birth	Philadelphia
style	Left delivery
size	1.85 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	67
Victories	55
Knockout victories	32
Defeats	8th
draw	2
No value	2

Bernard Humphrey Hopkins junior (born January 15, 1965 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania ) is a retired American professional boxer and former IBF , WBC , WBA , and WBO world middleweight champion. He was the first boxer who was able to combine all four recognized world titles in a weight class and is also considered the middleweight world champion with the longest title reign and the most title defenses of all time.

On May 21, 2011 he was also world champion of the WBC light heavyweight. At 46 years and 126 days, he became the oldest boxing world champion in history. On March 9, 2013, he was able to beat his own record by winning the IBF World Championship and, at 48 years and 53 days, became the oldest boxing world champion in history.

Early life

Bernard Hopkins grew up with his family in a small apartment in the Raymond Rosen Housing Project , a social housing development in north Philadelphia. In his childhood and youth he had around 30 convictions, including drug possession, assault and robbery, for which he was sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment at the age of 17 and was sent to Graterford Prison (State Correctional Institution at Graterford) , the largest State maximum security prison was transferred.

In later interviews he talked about his time in prison several times and reported on his experiences there. According to his own statement, he witnessed gang fights, rape and the murder of a fellow prisoner. During his time in custody, his younger brother Michael was shot dead in the street and the perpetrator was also housed in Graterford. After five years in prison, Hopkins was released early in 1988 and the remainder of the sentence was suspended. He also converted to Islam .

Boxing career

Hopkins made his amateur boxer debut at the age of 10. While in prison he was able to continue practicing the sport under the guidance of fellow prisoners who knew about boxing and was considered a great talent. His amateur record is said to have been 95 wins with only 4 defeats. In the year of his release from prison he switched to the professional camp and denied on October 11, 1988 in Atlantic City his first professional light heavyweight fight against Clinton Mitchell, who also played his first professional fight. Hopkins lost the fight after four rounds, however, as two judges had scored for Mitchell and the third judge saw the fight a tie.

After about one and a half years of preparation, he tried to start again in the middleweight division, two weight classes. There he was able to win each of his 20 fights from February 1990 to September 1992, 15 of which by knockout , of which 11 came about in the first round. In addition to a number of build-up opponents , he also beat boxers with positive match statistics, such as the world championship challenger Dennis Milton (16-3), James Stokes (13-4) or the undefeated Percy Harris (8-0).

On December 4, 1992, he boxed in his 22nd professional fight in Atlantic City for the US championship title against two-time North American champion Wayne Powell (30-3), whom he defeated after just 21 seconds of the first round by knockout . After successfully defending his title by unanimously winning points against number 6 in the IBF world rankings Gilbert Baptist, he got the chance to win the vacant IBF world title against the undefeated Roy Jones junior (21-0, 20 knockout). Hopkins lost it, however, in Washington, DC over 12 rounds on points. All three judges scored the bout 116: 112 for Roy Jones.

In his next fight on August 3, 1993 in Las Vegas , he was again American champion with a knockout win against the undefeated Roy Ritchie (14-0) and defended the title by knocking out Wendall Hall (15-1 ). Hall attempted to attack Hopkins after the fight but was held back by his supervisors. After a victory in a non-title fight against Melvin Wynn, he defended the US title in May 1994 unanimously on points against former world champion Lupe Aquino (46-6).

On December 17, 1994, he boxed again in Ecuador for the vacant IBF title against Segundo Mercado (18-2). Hopkins had to go down for the first time in his career in rounds 5 and 7, the fight ended in a draw after 12 rounds. However , Hopkins won the rematch on April 29, 1995 in Maryland by knockout in the seventh round and was finally world champion.

On January 27, 1996 he defended the title after just 24 seconds of the first round by knocking out Steve Frank (15-2) and achieved the fastest victory in an IBF title fight of all time. In March 1996 he beat the undefeated Joe Lipsey (25-0, 20 K. o.), Who was listed as number 1 on the IBF list of challengers, in the fourth round with a hard knockout. In July 1996 he won through Knocked out in the eleventh round against William Bo James.

In April 1997 he defeated former world champion John David Jackson (35-2) in the seventh round knockout and in July of the same year he faced the undefeated Glen Johnson (32-0, 22 knockout), whom he won Knocked out in the eleventh round. In November 1997, he defeated World Cup challenger Andrew Council (27-5) in his hometown by unanimous decision.

In January 1998 he beat former world champion Simon Brown (47-6) with a right uppercut in the sixth round knockout and in August of the same year denied another title defense against Robert Allen (22-2). The fight ended in the fourth round with no valuation, as Hopkins fell unhappy from the ring while trying to separate while clinging and complained of pain. Despite this only brief appearance, he received a fee of 560,000 US dollars.

Hopkins won the rematch against Allen in February 1999 by knockout in the seventh round and had his opponent already on the ground in rounds 2 and 6. In December 1999 he defeated Antwun Echols (22-2) unanimously on points and was even able to defeat him in the rematch with a knockout. He also won a unanimous point win against Syd Vanderpool (28-1).

On April 14, 2001 he also won the WBC title in Madison Square Garden by unanimous victory over Keith Holmes (36-2). Hopkins was clearly superior and won despite the deduction of points because of a low blow, not least because of his far superior hit ratio of 261: 86. On September 29, 2001, he won prematurely against the undefeated Félix Trinidad (40-0, 33 knockout) , who was classified as favorites, and thus also won the super world title of the WBA association. After a heavy downpour in Trinidad in the twelfth round, the corner of the ring threw in the towel. Hopkins has now also been recognized as the undisputed number 1 middleweight division by Ring Magazine .

In February 2002 he won against former world champion Carl Daniels (47-3, 30 knockout) by giving up at the end of the tenth round. In March 2003 he boxed against the number 1 challenger of the WBC, the French European champion Morrade Hakkar (31-3). Hopkins already had his opponent down in the sixth round and won again by giving up his opponent after the eighth round.

On December 13, 2003 he boxed in Atlantic City against William Joppy and defeated this unanimously on points. Hopkins landed 419 counted hits, including 375 impact hits, setting a new record for boxing matches since computer records began. In June 2004 he faced Robert Allen again, had him on the ground in the seventh round and finally won unanimously on points.

On September 18, 2004 he presented himself in Las Vegas Óscar de la Hoya (37-3) and won after an even duel in the ninth round due to a body hit by knockout and thus also secured the WBO title. He was the first boxer to unite the titles of the four most influential and important boxing associations.

In February 2005 he was able to defend all four titles unanimously on points against Howard Eastman (40-1, 35 K. o.). With 20 defenses of the IBF title now, he set Larry Holmes' record .

On July 16, 2005 he boxed in Las Vegas against the undefeated Jermain Taylor (23-0, 17 knockout). The fight was unspectacularly balanced and after 12 rounds led to a point judgment, in which Taylor was declared the winner by split decision (split decision) and Hopkins lost all of his titles. Out of 21 unofficial judges on site, 17 had seen Bernard Hopkins as the winner, including judges from Ring Magazine , Associated Press and Home Box Office . One of the three regular judges also had Hopkins ahead with 116: 112. Due to this controversial judgment, a rematch was agreed, which was held again on December 3, 2005 in Las Vegas. But also in this fight Hopkins lost on points, this time even unanimously. Then Hopkins rose to light heavyweight.

On June 10, 2006 he boxed against the number 1 in this weight class, the 3-1 favorite Antonio Tarver and won unanimously on points. Tarver was counted on round 5 of that fight. Tarver also lost $ 250,000 to Hopkins because he had made a bet with Hopkins before the fight to knock him out within six rounds. Hopkins also received the IBO World Championship title with the win and was named the new number 1 by Ring Magazine.

On July 21, 2007 he ended the winning streak of Ronald Wright (51-3), who had been unbeaten for seven years, with a clear win on points. However, Hopkins was punished with a heavy fine for assaulting Wright during the official pre-fight weigh-in.

On April 19, 2008 he had to admit defeat to the undefeated Joe Calzaghe (44-0) by split decision on points in Las Vegas , but had him on the ground in the first round. In October 2008, Hopkins defeated the undefeated Kelly Pavlik (34-0) unanimously on points and repeated this result against an overwhelmed Enrique Ornelas (29-5) in December 2009.

On April 3, 2010, almost 17 years after they first met, there was a rematch between Hopkins and Roy Jones junior, who was no longer in top form and had already accumulated six defeats. Hopkins won the fight unanimously on points. The duel was overshadowed by mutual unsportsmanlike conduct that ended the fight almost prematurely. Jones suffered a cut injury to the eye in the second round from a headbutt by Hopkins, but Jones knocked Hopkins down in rounds 6 and 8 with illegal blows to the back of the head and was punished with a point deduction. In lap 10 Hopkins went down from a low blow, Jones was injured again in lap 11 from an apparently unintentional headbutt.

On May 21, 2011, he defeated the Canadian Jean Pascal, who was 18 years his junior, unanimously on points, thus winning his WBC light heavyweight world champion belt. He replaced George Foreman as the oldest boxing world champion in history.

However, he lost the WBC belt in his first title defense on October 15, 2011 controversially to Chad Dawson . The referee stopped the fight after 2:48 minutes of the second round after he had judged Hopkins, who had fallen after a clinch and was injured in the shoulder, as no longer fit for the fight. The Hopkins team successfully appealed this decision. The WBC federation decided five days after the controversial rating of Los Angeles that the fight should be classified as a technical draw and gave Hopkins the world championship belt back. However, he lost this in the rematch on April 28, 2012 on points to Chad Dawson.

On March 9, 2013, Hopkins broke his record as the oldest world title winner himself when he unanimously defeated Tavoris Cloud (24-0) in Brooklyn on points to become the new IBF light heavyweight champion. On October 26, 2013, he won by unanimous decision against Karo Murat (25-1).

On April 19, 2014, he defeated the Kazakhs Beibut Shumenov (14-1) in Washington on points and had him on the ground in the eleventh round. As a result, he also won the super world championship title of the WBA, which Shumenov held since January 2010.

On November 8, 2014, he boxed in the Boardwalk Hall of Atlantic City against the undefeated Russian WBO world champion Sergei Kovalev (25-0). He suffered a knockdown in the first round and lost after twelve rounds unanimously on points. For one last fight he returned to the ring on December 17, 2016 and boxed in Inglewood , California against Joe Smith junior (22-1), who had surprisingly defeated Andrzej Fonfara in his last fight . In the fight against Smith, Hopkins was already behind on points when he fell through the ropes in the eighth round with a series of blows and was counted outside the ring. Smith was declared the winner by TKo.

Success as a professional

World title

• April 29, 1995: IBF Middleweight World Champion (20 title defenses)
• April 14, 2001: WBC Middleweight World Champion (7 title defenses)
• September 29, 2001: WBA - ("Super") - Middleweight World Champion (6 title defenses)
• September 18, 2004: WBO World Middleweight Champion (1 title defense)
• June 10, 2006: IBO light heavyweight champion
• May 21, 2011: IBO and WBC light heavyweight world champions
• March 9, 2013: IBF light heavyweight world champion (2 title defenses)
• April 14, 2014: WBA super light heavyweight champion

Other titles and special features

• 1992 to 1994: American middleweight champion
• 2001: Elected Boxer of the Year by BWAA , Ring Magazine and the World Boxing Hall of Fame
• 2002 to 2005: The Ring world champion belt recognized as the best middleweight boxer
• 2006 to 2008, 2011 to 2012: The Ring world champion belt recognized as the best light heavyweight boxer
• May 21, 2011: WBC Diamond Light Heavyweight Champion
• April 19, 2014: International Boxing Association light heavyweight title

• Longest reigning middleweight world champion of all time (April 29, 1995 to July 16, 2005)
• Most title defenses as middleweight world champion of all time (20 in a row, 34 in total)
• Oldest middleweight world champion of all time (40 years, 6 months)
• Oldest world boxing champion of all time (46 years, 126 days)

Major opponents

Hopkins defeated the 16 world champions Lupe Aquino (May 17, 1994), John David Jackson (April 19, 1997), Glen Johnson (July 20, 1997), Simon Brown (January 31, 1998), Keith Holmes (14. April 2001), Félix Trinidad (September 29, 2001), Carl Daniels (February 2, 2002), William Joppy (December 13, 2003), Óscar de la Hoya (September 18, 2004), Antonio Tarver (June 10, 2006) , Ronald Wright (July 21, 2007), Kelly Pavlik (October 18, 2008), Roy Jones junior (April 3, 2010), Jean Pascal (May 21, 2011), Tavoris Cloud (March 9, 2013) and Beibut Schumenow ( April 19, 2014).

In addition, he achieved other victories over top boxers, such as interim world champion Robert Allen , junior world champion Enrique Ornelas or the two European champions Morrade Hakkar and Howard Eastman .

List of professional fights

55 wins (32 knockout wins), 8 defeats , 2 draws
year	Day	place	opponent	Result for Hopkins
1988	October 11th	Resorts International, Atlantic City (New Jersey), USA	Clinton Mitchell	Point loss (majority decision) / 4 rounds
1990	February 22	Blue Horizon, Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), USA	Greg Paige	Points victory (unanimously) / 4 rounds
	26th of April	Blue Horizon, Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), USA	Keith Gray	Victory / TKO 1st round
	May 18	Sands Casino Hotel, Atlantic City (New Jersey), USA	Eddie Tyler	Victory / TKO 1st round
	31. May	War Memorial Auditorium, Rochester (New York), USA	Jouvin Mercado	Victory / TKO 2nd round
	June 30th	Trump Castle, Atlantic City (New Jersey), USA	Khalif Shabazz	Victory / KO 1st round
	5th of August	Convention Hall, Atlantic City (New Jersey), USA	Percy Harris	Points victory (unanimous) / 6 rounds
	the 20th of October	Trump Plaza Hotel, Atlantic City (New Jersey), USA	Darrin Oliver	Victory / TKO 1st round
	November 17th	Lee County Civic Center, Fort Myers, USA	Mike Sapp	Victory / TKO 1st round
1991	February 26th	National Guard Armory, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA	Richard Quiles	Victory / KO 1st round
	March 18th	Mirage Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, USA	Steve Langley	Victory / TKO 3rd round
	20th June	Parsippany-Troy Hills Township, Parsippany, New Jersey, USA	Steve Marquez	Victory / TKO 1st round
	July 9	Blue Horizon, Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), USA	Danny Mitchell	Victory / TKO 1st round
	September 23rd	Blue Horizon, Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), USA	Ralph Moncrief	Victory / TKO 1st round
	November 26th	Blue Horizon, Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), USA	David McCluskey	Victory / TKO 7th round
	13th December	Convention Hall, Atlantic City (New Jersey), USA	Willie Kemp	Points victory (unanimously) / 10 rounds
1992	31 January	Blue Horizon, Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), USA	Dennis Milton	Victory / abandonment 4th round
	3rd of April	Trump Plaza Hotel, Atlantic City (New Jersey), USA	Randy Smith	Points victory (unanimously) / 10 rounds
	May 21	Paris , Paris, France	Anibal Miranda	Points win / 10 rounds
	August 28th	Trump Plaza Hotel, Atlantic City (New Jersey), USA	James Stokes	Victory / KO 1st round
	September 14th	Outdoor Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA	Eric Rhinehart	Victory / KO 1st round
	December 4th	Merv Griffin 's Resorts, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Wayne Powell USBA Middleweight Championship	Victory / TKO 1st round
1993	February 16	McNichols Sports Arena, Denver (Colorado), USA	Gilbert Baptist USBA Middleweight Title Defense	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
	May 22	RFK Stadium , Washington, USA	Roy Jones junior vacant IBF World Middleweight Championship	Loss of points (unanimously) / 12 rounds
	3rd August	Riviera Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, USA	Roy Ritchie USBA Middleweight Title Defense	Victory / TKO 7th round
	November 23	Blue Horizon, Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), USA	Wendell Hall USBA Middleweight Title Defense	Victory / TKO 3rd round
1994	February 26th	Sands Casino Hotel, Atlantic City (New Jersey), USA	Melvin Wynn	Victory / TKO 3rd round
	17th of May	Merv Griffin 's Resorts, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Lupe Aquino USBA middleweight title defense	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
	December 17th	Ruminahui Coliseum, Quito, Ecuador	Segundo Mercado vacant IBF World Middleweight Championship	Tie (split decision) / 12 rounds
1995	April 29	US Air Arena, Landover (Maryland), USA	Segundo Mercado vacant IBF World Middleweight Championship	Victory / TKO 7th round
1996	January 27th	, Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum , Phoenix, Arizona, USA	Steve Frank IBF Middleweight Title Defense	Victory / TKO 1st round
	March 16	MGM Grand Hotel , Las Vegas, USA	Joe Lipsey IBF Middleweight Title Defense	Victory / KO 4th round
	16th of July	Resorts Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City (New Jersey), USA	William Bo James IBF Middleweight Title Defense	Victory / TKO 11th round
1997	April 19th	Memorial Auditorium, Shreveport, USA	John David Jackson IBF Middleweight Title Defense	Victory / TKO 7th round
	20th of July	Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio (California), USA	Glen Johnson IBF Middleweight Title Defense	Victory / TKO 11th round
	November 18	Show Place Arena, Maryland, USA	Andrew Council IBF Middleweight Title Defense	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
1998	31 January	Trump Taj Mahal, Atlantic City (New Jersey), USA	Simon Brown IBF Middleweight Title Defense	Victory / TKO 6th round
	August 28th	Las Vegas Hilton , Las Vegas, USA	Robert Allen IBF Middleweight Title Defense	Invalid / canceled in round 4
1999	February 6th	Convention Center, Washington, USA	Robert Allen IBF Middleweight Title Defense	Victory / TKO 7th round
	12th of December	Miccosukee Indian Gaming Resort, Miami, USA	Antwon Echols IBF middleweight title defense	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
2000	May 13th	Consecco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, USA	Syd Vanderpool IBF middleweight title defense	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
	December 1	Venetian Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, USA	Antwun Eichol's IBF middleweight title defense	Victory / TKO 10th round
2001	April 14th	Madison Square Garden , New York City, USA	Keith Holmes IBF / WBC Middleweight Title Association	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
	September 29th	Madison Square Garden , New York City, USA	Félix Trinidad IBF / WBA / WBC Middleweight Title Association	Victory / TKO 12th round
2002	February 2nd	Sovereign Center , Reading, USA	Carl Daniels IBF / WBA / WBC Middleweight Title Defense	Victory / abandon 10th round
2003	March 29	Spectrum , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA	Morrade Hakkar IBF / WBA / WBC Middleweight Title Defense	Victory / abandonment 8th round
	13th December	Boardwalk Hall , Atlantic City (New Jersey), USA	William Joppy IBF / WBA / WBC Middleweight Title Defense	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
2004	June 5th	MGM Grand Hotel , Las Vegas, USA	Robert Allen IBF / WBA / WBC Middleweight Title Defense	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
	September 18	MGM Grand Hotel , Las Vegas, USA	Óscar de la Hoya IBF / WBA / WBC / WBO Middleweight Title Association	Victory / KO 9th round
2005	19th of February	Staples Center , Los Angeles, USA	Howard Eastman IBF / WBA / WBC / WBO middleweight title defense	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
	16th of July	MGM Grand Hotel , Las Vegas, USA	Jermain Taylor IBF / WBA / WBC / WBO Middleweight Title Defense	Point loss (split decision) / 12 rounds
	3rd of December	Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino , Las Vegas, USA	Jermain Taylor WBA / WBC / WBO World Middleweight Championship	Loss of points (unanimously) / 12 rounds
2006	June 10th	Boardwalk Hall , Atlantic City (New Jersey), USA	Antonio Tarver IBO World Light Heavyweight Championship	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
2007	21 July	Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino , Las Vegas, USA	Ronald Wright	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
2008	April 19th	Thomas & Mack Center , Las Vegas, USA	Joe Calzaghe	Point loss (split decision) / 12 rounds
	October 18	Boardwalk Hall , Atlantic City (New Jersey), USA	Kelly Pavlik	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
2009	2. December	Liacouras Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA	Enrique Ornelas	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
2010	3rd of April	Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino , Las Vegas, USA	Roy Jones Junior	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
	December 18th	Pepsi Coliseum, Quebec, Canada	Jean Pascal IBO / WBC World Light Heavyweight Championship	Draw (majority decision) / 12 rounds
2011	May 21	Bell Center , Montreal, Canada	Jean Pascal WBC World Light Heavyweight Championship	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
	15th October	Staples Center , Los Angeles, USA	Chad Dawson WBC light heavyweight title defense	Invalid / canceled in round 5
2012	April 28	Boardwalk Hall , Atlantic City (New Jersey), USA	Chad Dawson WBC light heavyweight title defense	Point loss (majority decision) / 12 rounds
2013	9th March	Barclays Center , Brooklyn, USA	Tavoris Cloud IBF World Light Heavyweight Championship	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
	October 26th	Boardwalk Hall , Atlantic City (New Jersey), USA	Karo Murat IBF light heavyweight title defense	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
2014	April 19th	DC Armory, Washington, USA	Beibut Schumenow IBA / IBF / WBA light heavyweight title association	Points win (split decision) / 12 rounds
	November 8th	Boardwalk Hall , Atlantic City (New Jersey), USA	Sergei Kovalev IBF / WBA / WBO light heavyweight title defense	Point loss (majority decision) / 12 rounds
2016	December 17th	The Forum , Inglewood, USA	Joe Smith Junior WBC International Light Heavyweight Championship	Loss / KO 8th round
Source: Bernard Hopkins in the BoxRec database

Web links

• Bernard Hopkins in the BoxRec database
• Biography (English) (archive link)

predecessor	Office	successor
Roy Jones Junior	Middleweight Boxing Champion ( IBF ) April 29, 1995 - July 16, 2005	Jermain Taylor
Keith Holmes	World Middleweight Boxing Champion ( WBC ) April 14, 2001 - July 16, 2005	Jermain Taylor
Félix Trinidad	Super Middleweight Boxing Champion ( WBA ) September 29, 2001 - July 16, 2005	Jermain Taylor
Óscar de la Hoya	World Middleweight Boxing Champion ( WBO ) September 18, 2004 - July 16, 2005	Jermain Taylor
Jean Pascal	Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( WBC ) May 21, 2011 - April 28, 2012	Chad Dawson
Tavoris Cloud	Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( IBF ) March 9, 2013 - November 8, 2014	Sergei Kovalev
Beibut Shumenov	Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( WBA ) April 19, 2014 - November 8, 2014	Sergei Kovalev

predecessor	Office	successor
George Foreman	Oldest boxer who could ever win a world title (at the age of 48) May 21, 2011 - currently	-

predecessor	Office	successor
George Foreman	Oldest boxing world champion of all time (at the age of 49 he was still world champion) July 4th 2011 - current	-