Saturday night Bernard Hopkins enters the ring for the final time, pledging to hang up the gloves once and for all no matter the outcome. With The Forum in Inglewood, California providing the stage, the man known most of his professional career as ‘The Executioner’ looks to add one final win to his record when faces upcoming young gun Joe Smith Jr.
How Hopkins and Smith arrived at this moment is simply a matter of chance. While Hopkins spent over 20 years fighting the greats of a multiple weights division, which include Felix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya, Roy Jones Jr. and his own trainer for this fight John David Jackson, Smith’s noise reached a crescendo in the last year when he upset light heavyweight Andrzej Fonfara to become the WBC international light heavyweight champion. When the final bell sounds, a win for Hopkins puts the exclamation mark on an already storied career of historical wins while Smith looks to build his legacy by defeating one of the most decorated fighters of all time.
The Breakdown:
At 51-years-old Bernard Hopkins began his world championship reign in December 1994 by defeating Segundo Mercado for the vacant IBF middleweight title when his competitor was a mere 5 years old. Reigning as ‘the man’ in the middleweight division for years before getting stopped by Jermain Taylor in July 2005, Hopkins would re-establish his supremacy as the WBO light heavyweight champion by defeating Jean Pascal in 2011. Despite losing the title Chad Dawson the following year, Hopkins continued to defy the odds of a young man’s sport by defeating and regaining against Beibut Shuemnov in 2014. Willing to face the best, Hopkins’ most recent challenge came in November 2014 when he faced and was ultimately defeated by Sergey Kovalev.
At 27-year-old Joe Smith Jr. looks to capitalize on the momentum generated by the biggest win of his career thus far against Andrzej Fonfara in Chicago. The ‘Knockout of the Year’ candidate finish not only boosted his record, but also his reputation in the boxing community as a tough slugger than can throw and land with bad intentions.
In the fight Hopkins, as always, will looks to slow the pace and outwit his opponent. Crafty and durable Smith should expect The Executioner to frustrate him with excessive clinching early before he starts to outwork as the fight goes into the later rounds.
In the fight Smith is the underdog but fully capable of pulling off an upset if he can connect with the same huge blow he landed against Fonfara. Young and hungry, he will have to be on his A-game to pull off a decision win against the veteran.
When the Final Bell Sounds, Hopkins should get the nod if the fight goes the distance. At 51 Hopkins still performs at a higher level than a number of fighters today. To get the clear win, Smith will need a knockout.
BSO Prediction: After a grueling 12 rounds, Hopkins by UD.
To see Bernard Hopkins berate and call Joe Smith Jr. “common” at the final press conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday, flip the page.
