By David Martinez / dmboxing.com
Bernard Hopkins (55-7-2 / 32 by KO) will officially close out his brilliant career in boxing next week on December 17, 2016.
At the age of 51, Hopkins’ farewell fight will be against light heavyweight Joe Smith Jr. (22-1 / 18 by KO). The bout is scheduled for 12 rounds at The Forum in Inglewood, California and will be televised on HBO.
Hopkins has held multiple world championships at middleweight and light heavyweight. In 2011, he defeated Jean Pascal for the light heavyweight title; a fight that made him, at the age of 46, the oldest boxer to ever win a world championship, breaking George Foreman’s recorded.
Hopkins broke his own record in 2013 by winning the light heavyweight title against Tavoris Cloud, and a year later in 2014 winning against Beibut Shumenov at the age of 49.
In his career he has fought all the big names, including, just to name a few: Roy Jones Jr., Lupe Aquino, John David Jackson, Glen Johnson, Simon Brown, Antwun Echols, Keith Holmes, Felix Trinidad, William Joppy, Oscar De La Hoya, Jermain Taylor, Antonio Tarver, Winky Wright, Joe Calzaghe, Kelly Pavilk, Chad Dawson, and Sergey Kovalev.
An ageless wonder in boxing, Bernard Hopkins is considered by many to be one of the greatest boxers in the last 25 years. He has never been knocked out in a career that has existed for 28 years; and in a recent fight going the distance in a losing effort with one of the hardest punchers in boxing, Sergey Kovalev.
Win, lose or draw on December 17th against the 27 year-old Smith, Hopkins plans to stay active in the sport he dearly loves as a partner with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Productions and continue his role as a ringside analyst with HBO World Championship Boxing.
Yes, David Bernard Hopkins has had a long and brilliant career Thanks for recognizing his accomplishments May God bless his post boxing career