Bernard Hopkins Jr. (born January 15, 1965) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2016. He is one of the most successful boxers of the past three decades, having held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the undisputed championship at middleweight from 2001 to 2005, and the lineal championship at light heavyweight from 2011 to 2012.
Hopkins first became a world champion by winning the vacant International Boxing Federation (IBF) middleweight title in 1995. He compiled 20 defenses against 17 opponents, with 19 wins as a result of his no-contest bout against Robert Allen. In 2001, Hopkins successfully unified the middleweight division by defeating Félix Trinidad to win the World Boxing Association (WBA) (Super version), World Boxing Council (WBC), Ring magazine and lineal titles. A victory over Oscar De La Hoya for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) title in 2004 cemented Hopkins' status as undisputed champion, while also making him the first male boxer to simultaneously hold world titles by all four major boxing sanctioning bodies. In 2001, Hopkins was voted Fighter of the Year by The Ring and the Boxing Writers Association of America. In 2011, The Ring ranked Hopkins as third on their list of the "10 best middleweight title holders of the last 50 years." As of April 2021, he is ranked by BoxRec as the seventh greatest boxer of all time, pound for pound.
After losing the undisputed title to Jermain Taylor in 2005 and failing to regain it in a rematch the same year, Hopkins achieved further success in 2006 when he moved up to light heavyweight, winning the International Boxing Organization (IBO) and Ring titles from Antonio Tarver at 41 years of age. Two defenses of the Ring title were made before a loss to Joe Calzaghe in 2008. Three years later, Hopkins defeated Jean Pascal for the WBC and lineal light heavyweight titles, as well as regaining the Ring title. This made Hopkins the oldest boxer in history to win a world championship, at the age of 46, breaking George Foreman's record set in 1994. Hopkins later broke his own record by winning the IBF light heavyweight title from Tavoris Cloud in 2013, and again in 2014 when he won the WBA (Super) title from Beibut Shumenov, at ages 48 and 49, respectively.
Nicknamed "The Executioner", and later "The Alien", Hopkins was known for his ability to continue competing at an advanced age. He is considered to be one of the greatest defensive boxers of all time. Hopkins was also known for his Philly Shell, carrying speed and power along with counterpunching skills, and defense. He was able to take advantage of a wide variety of situations in the ring and implement tactics while fighting on the inside or in a clinch.
In the last years of his active career, Hopkins also became a minority partner with Golden Boy Promotions, with which he still remains post-career.
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Early life
Born to Bernard Hopkins Sr. and his wife Shirley, Bernard grew up with his family in the Raymond Rosen housing project in Philadelphia. Although he was a promising amateur boxer who won the Philadelphia Jr. Golden Gloves championship at age 9, eventually compiling an amateur record of 95–4, Hopkins turned to crime early in his life. By the age of thirteen he was mugging people and had been stabbed three times. At seventeen, Hopkins was sentenced to 18 years in Graterford Prison for nine felonies. While in prison he witnessed the murder of another inmate in an argument over a pack of cigarettes, but also rediscovered his passion for boxing. After serving almost five years, Hopkins was released from prison in 1988. He then decided to use boxing as an escape from his previous life, and converted to Islam. While Hopkins was leaving the prison for the final time, the warden told him he'd "see [Hopkins] again when you wind up back in here", to which Hopkins replied "I ain't ever coming back here." Later, Hopkins attributed his personal discipline to his experiences and time spent in Graterford Prison.
Professional career
Middleweight
Hopkins immediately joined the professional boxing ranks as a light heavyweight, losing his debut on October 11, 1988, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Clinton Mitchell. After a sixteen-month layoff, he resumed his career as a middleweight, winning a unanimous decision over Greg Paige at the Blue Horizon on February 22, 1990.
Between February 1990 and December 1992, Hopkins scored 21 wins without a loss. He won 16 of those fights by knockout, 12 coming in the first round.
Hopkins met Roy Jones on May 22, 1993, for the vacant IBF middleweight title. Hopkins was out-pointed throughout most of the fight, en route to losing a unanimous decision. All three judges scored the fight 116–112 for Jones.
Middleweight title
The IBF came again knocking at Hopkins's door on December 17 of that year, matching him with Segundo Mercado in Mercado's hometown of Quito, Ecuador. Mercado knocked Hopkins down twice before Hopkins rallied late and earned a split draw. It has been argued that Hopkins was also not properly acclimated to the altitude of nearly 10,000 feet.
The IBF called for an immediate rematch, and on April 29, 1995, Hopkins became a world champion with a seventh-round technical knockout victory in Landover, Maryland.
In his first title defense he defeated Steve Frank, whom he stopped in twenty-four seconds. By the end of 2000, he had defended the IBF title 12 times without a loss, while beating such standouts as John David Jackson, Glen Johnson (undefeated at the time), former champion Simon Brown, and knockout artist Antwun Echols.
2001 Middleweight Tournament
The arrival of former welterweight and light middleweight champion Félix Trinidad into the middleweight ranks set off a series of unification fights between major middleweight title-holders. The boxers involved in the tournament were reigning IBF champion Bernard Hopkins, WBC champion Keith Holmes, WBA champion William Joppy, and Félix Trinidad.
On April 14, 2001, Hopkins won a unanimous decision over WBC champion Keith Holmes in New York City. Trinidad, however, knocked out Middleweight mainstay William Joppy in an impressive five rounds. This led many to believe that Félix Trinidad was simply too much and too strong for Hopkins.
Undisputed middleweight champion
On September 29, 2001, WBA champion Trinidad challenged Hopkins for the undisputed middleweight championship in Madison Square Garden. The fight was originally scheduled for September 15, but the 9/11 attacks postponed it by two weeks.
For the first time in many years, Hopkins was an underdog in the betting, which led the confident Hopkins to place a $100,000 bet on himself to win the bout. (The $100K came from a sponsorship deal Hopkins had with online casino site Golden Palace; Hopkins even had the GoldenPalace.com website displayed on his back for the fight.) During promotion for the bout, Hopkins caused huge controversy by throwing the Puerto Rico flag on the floor in press conferences in both New York City and Puerto Rico, the latter conference leading to a riot in which Hopkins had to be run to safety from the angry mob.
During the fight, Hopkins was on his way to a lopsided decision victory when, in the 12th and final round, he floored Trinidad. Referee Steve Smoger called a halt to the fight after Trinidad's father (who was also his trainer) entered the ring to stop the fight. It was the first loss of Trinidad's career, and it made Hopkins the first undisputed world middleweight champion since Marvin Hagler in 1987. 'The Ring' magazine and the World Boxing Hall of Fame (not to be confused with the International Boxing Hall of Fame) named Hopkins as the 2001 Fighter of the Year.
He defended the undisputed title six times. Hopkins bested Carl Daniels on February 2 surpassing Carlos Monzón's division record of 14 defenses, 2002, by tenth-round technical knockout; Morrade Hakkar on March 29, 2003, by eighth-round TKO; William Joppy on December 13, 2003, by unanimous decision; and Robert Allen on June 5, 2004, also by unanimous decision.
Four belt champion
In the highest-paying fight of his career, Hopkins fought six-division titleholder Oscar De La Hoya for the undisputed middleweight championship on September 18, 2004, in Las Vegas. They fought at a catch weight of 158 lbs, two pounds below the middleweight limit of 160 lbs. Hopkins won the bout by knockout in the ninth round with a left hook to the body and thus became the first boxer ever to unify the titles of all four major sanctioning bodies. At the time of the stoppage, Hopkins was ahead on two of the scorecards, with De La Hoya ahead on the other. Hopkins earned a career high of $10 million and De La Hoya made $30 million.
In November 2004, De la Hoya invited Hopkins to join his boxing promotional firm, Golden Boy Promotions, as president of its new East Coast chapter.
At 40 years old, an age at which most boxers are retired, Hopkins reached the middleweight record at the time of 19 consecutive title defenses on February 19, 2005, against ranked #1 WBC contender Howard Eastman, the European middleweight champion. Hopkins dominated the fight from start to finish, winning 119–110, 117–111 and 116–112.
In his next fight on July 16, 2005, Hopkins lost his undisputed middleweight championship to Jermain Taylor via a split decision. Hopkins started slowly but came on strong over the final four rounds. Many press row writers scored the fight for Hopkins. Five months later, Hopkins and Taylor had a rematch, Taylor winning again, this time by unanimous decision.
Light heavyweight
Following his two losses to Jermain Taylor, Hopkins at 41 decided not to retire and made the decision to jump two weight divisions to face off against The Ring light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver on June 10, 2006. Going into the fight, Tarver was a 3-to-1 favorite and had been the first man ever to TKO Roy Jones Jr. Many now placed Tarver among the sports top competitors. He was constantly ranked in the P4P rankings. However, Bernard Hopkins picked up a lopsided unanimous decision, scoring 118–109 on all three judges scorecards.
Antonio Tarver also lost a $250,000 bet with Hopkins, after he failed to stop Hopkins in the first six rounds.
On July 21, 2007, at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Hopkins defended The Ring light heavyweight championship against former undisputed junior middleweight champion Winky Wright. During the weigh-in, Hopkins shoved Wright with an open-hand to the face, igniting a brawl between both fighters' entourages. Hopkins was fined $200,000 for instigating the brawl. Hopkins prevailed with a unanimous decision victory by scores of 117–111, 117–111 and 116–112.
On April 19, 2008, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Hopkins lost The Ring light heavyweight title to Joe Calzaghe via split decision (116–111 and 115–112 for Joe Calzaghe; 114–113 for Hopkins). Hopkins started the fight well, dropping Calzaghe in the first round and using his ring savvy to confuse the challenger. Calzaghe did however quickly adapt to the style of Hopkins and caught up in the middle to later rounds using his superior hand speed and output volume, leading to a split decision win for the Welshman.
On October 18, 2008, Hopkins met middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik in a non-title fight at a catch-weight of 170 lbs. Fans and pundits alike felt that Pavlik, known for his formidable punching power, would become the first man to knock Hopkins out. Pavlik was a 4–1 betting favorite heading into the contest. On the night of the fight, Hopkins turned back the clock to produce a performance he claimed to be the best of his career winning a unanimous decision (117–109, 119–106, 118–108) over the undefeated Pavlik.
Hopkins prepared for this fight in the late summer heat at his second home, Danny Hawk's "World Famous" Normandy Gym in Miami Beach, Florida.
Coaches
Hopkins was coached by Philadelphia-based English "Bouie" Fisher from 1989 until their split in 2002 which resulted in Fisher taking Hopkins to court, claiming he was underpaid by $255,000. They re-united in 2003, but split again in 2005, again with Fisher claiming to be underpaid, this time to the tune of $200,000. Naazim Richardson, Fisher's long-term assistant took over as Hopkins' head coach from 2005.
Fisher won the Eddie Futch-John F.X. Condon Award, awarded by the Boxing Writers Association of America, for Trainer of the Year in 2001. He died aged 83 in June 2011. Richardson died in July 2020.
Statements on race
On December 7, 2007, Hopkins and Calzaghe met face to face in the media room set up for the Floyd “No Money” Mayweather Jr. vs. Ricky Hatton fight. Hopkins and Calzaghe began shouting insults and taunting each other, with Hopkins shouting, "You're not even in my league! I would never let a white boy beat me. I would never lose to a white boy. I couldn't go back to the projects if I let a white boy beat me." Hopkins later explained his comments, saying that it was not meant to be taken as a racial slur or a reflection of his feelings on white fighters, but simply said to create some hype for his fight with Calzaghe. On January 23, 2008, the fight was officially announced to take place on April 19, 2008, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. Hopkins lost the fight.
In late 2010, Hopkins suggested that African American fighters who possessed what he described as a "slick" inner-city style of fighting would be successful against Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao. "Maybe I'm biased because I'm black, but I think that this is what is said at people's homes and around the dinner table among black boxing fans and fighters. Most of them won't say it [in public] because they're not being real and they don't have the balls to say it. But I do think that a fighter like the Ray Leonards or anyone like that would beat a guy [like Pacquiao] if they come with their game. Listen, this ain't a racial thing, but then again, maybe it is. But the style that is embedded in most of us black fighters, that style could be a problem to any other style of fighting."
On May 11, 2011, Hopkins questioned Minnesota Vikings quarterback Donovan McNabb's racial credentials in a Philadelphia Daily News online article. Marcus Hayes of The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that according to Hopkins, McNabb had a privileged childhood in suburban Chicago and, as a result, is not black enough or tough enough, at least compared with, say, himself, Michael Vick and Terrell Owens. Hopkins said, "He's got a suntan. That's all... McNabb is the guy in the house, while everybody else is on the field... He's the one who got the extra coat. The extra servings... He thought he was one of them."
In late 2013 he again suggested that African Americans possess a "slick" style of boxing which is superior to other styles (presumably practiced by non-African Americans). "The great Sugar Ray Leonard, right now, if he was boxing, the way that they want you to fight, the people that pull the strings of the puppet, he would be boring today. Ray Robinson – the great Robinson – would be boring today...Because the feeders of the people that buy entertainment. They're being fed that if they duck, don't buy it. If they're slick, and they beat [their opponent] nine out of the 12 rounds, and the guy just can't hit him because they were slick and smart enough to hit and not get hit, 'He's not crowd-pleasing, he don't sell tickets.' Because they done fed the followers and they done fed [that] to the customers. The customers will drink anything that you give them if it's promoted right...But when you take away the skill and you take away the slick, and you take away the boxing ability and say that's not entertaining, or that's not entertainment, then, to me, it's like trying to erase a culture that you know has dominated the sport way back then where you were slick. And I'm talking about black fighters. Yes, I said it," said Hopkins, statements released by lobbying firm Axeesys Ltd.
Titles in boxing
Major world titles
WBA (Unified, Undisputed, and Super) middleweight champion (160 lbs)
WBC middleweight champion (160 lbs)
IBF middleweight champion (160 lbs)
WBO middleweight champion (160 lbs)
WBA (Super) light heavyweight champion (175 lbs)
WBC light heavyweight champion (175 lbs)
IBF light heavyweight champion (175 lbs)
The Ring magazine titles
The Ring middleweight champion (160 lbs)
The Ring light heavyweight champion (175 lbs) (2×)
Minor world titles
IBO light heavyweight champion (175 lbs)
IBA light heavyweight champion (175 lbs)
Regional/International titles
USBA middleweight champion (160 lbs)
Undisputed titles
Undisputed middleweight champion
Honorary titles
WBC Emeritus Champion
WBC Diamond light heavyweight champion
WBO Super Champion