Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins showed that he belongs among the All Time Greats in boxing by defying age and the betting odds by proving the many boxing writers and pundits wrong beating the Ghost Kelly Pavlik.
Hopkins in my opinion used clean living, determination and always having a hunger to strive to be great in this fight. Those attributes are key to what makes him a living legend in the sport.
He was an underdog coming into this fight with Pavlik and was told he should retire by his former trainer Freddie Roach who said he was showing some signs of deterioration during his recent loss to Joe Calzaghe.
Despite the warnings Hopkins proved his detractors wrong in a fight that was not even close.
Pavlik could not touch the fighter 17 years his senior. It was almost embarrassing to watch if you were a Ghost fan. He couldn’t get his offense going or land anything on the older slicker fighter.
Hopkins put on a boxing masterclass of movement, combination’s, slickness and a bit of dirty boxing.
They audience at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, was pretty much Pro Pavlik as they remained quiet for most of the fight, only really making noise when their fighter tried to throw a few punches at Hopkins.
The bright side for Pavlik is he still owns the middleweight titles and can drop back down in weight to defend them, it is also a good learning process for him to get better, Hopkins has several losses as well and learned from them, I am sure Pavlik will bounce back and show mental toughness to learn from this and motivate himself to win again.
Did I think this was an action packed fight that was worth Pay-Per-View money? My answer is NO, but hey that is B-Hop he is the old school throwback fighter and fights to win in a cagey crafty way, much like the Mongoose Archie Moore.
