my man hopkins whooped middleweight champ kellypavlik video inside

[STILLDRE IS THE GODFATHER]

Hopkins, 43, Pounds Home a Point to Those Who Doubted Him

 

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By JOHN ELIGON
Published: October 19, 2008

ATLANTIC CITY — Shortly after Bernard Hopkins dominated Antonio Tarver at Boardwalk Hall here in June 2006, he stepped on a podium and offered some blunt words: “I’m done.”

About a week later, the executives at HBO gave him a retirement party at their headquarters in Midtown Manhattan. There was cake, speeches and singing. There was even a framed photograph of the fight given to Hopkins from HBO.

More than two years later, Hopkins put on another dominating performance in the same ring, but this time he stepped to the podium with a very different message: Who’s next?

In a performance reminiscent of the win over Tarver, the 43-year-old Hopkins pounded Kelly Pavlik, 17 years his junior, in winning a unanimous decision Saturday night.

At the postfight news conference, Hopkins said he was looking forward to facing the winner of next month’s fight between Roy Jones Jr. and Joe Calzaghe at Madison Square Garden.

“I would fight Roy in a heartbeat,” Hopkins said. “I would even go to England and fight Calzaghe if he wins.”

Either bout would provide Hopkins (49-5-1) an ideal chance at a final statement. In May 1993, Hopkins lost to Jones before going on to rule the middleweight division for nearly a decade and a half. The politics of boxing have been a factor in why Jones and Hopkins have not met since.

In April, Hopkins lost a split decision to Calzaghe, who is from Wales. Hopkins said he thought he had won the fight.

No one, it seems, will doubt Hopkins in the coming years. If anything, Hopkins was fueled by those who doubted him.

After the final bell Saturday night, Hopkins stood along the ropes and held back tears as he stared toward the reporters at ringside, many of whom picked him to lose the fight.

“They say Bernard is old,” Hopkins said at the news conference. “I am. They say Bernard is finished. They ain’t saying that now.”

Hopkins could go down as one of the greatest boxers in his 40s. George Foreman won a world heavyweight title at 45. Archie Moore was 44 when he won a world light-heavyweight championship.

Hopkins said his performance Saturday night was perhaps his best ever. And that is a remarkable thought when considering his list of accolades, which includes 20 consecutive middleweight title defenses and victories over stars like Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad.

What was perhaps most impressive about Hopkins’s victory Saturday was his constant pressure on Pavlik, who was supposed to be the bigger puncher and the more active fighter. Hopkins wobbled Pavlik (34-1) several times.

Hopkins acknowledged that in previous fights, he had been playing it safe because of his age.

“For anybody I fight next, I’m going for the knockout,” he said.

The defeat seemed a significant blow to the psyche of Pavlik, who has been on a quick ascent since winning the middleweight world title by knocking out Jermain Taylor last year. But Pavlik, who holds two world middleweight titles, entered the fight with questions about his technical skills after winning 30 of his first 34 fights by knockout. Hopkins seemed to have exposed many of Pavlik’s technical flaws.

“I just couldn’t get off tonight,” said Pavlik, who skipped the postfight news conference and went to the hospital for stitches. His promoter, Todd duBoef, said he believed Pavlik “bit off more than he could chew” by going up 10 pounds in weight, to 170 pounds, to fight Hopkins.

“He has all the ability to be, in his weight class, a terrific fighter,” duBoef said.

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[.:DaYg0sTyLz:.]

Thats wussup Hopkins. I was getting tired of hearing about Pavlik. I never really saw him as that good, but he was the next great white hope...so he had to be built up. Pavlik isnt bad, dont get me wrong, but im always always pulling for Hopkins.