Bernard Hopkins: Should He Stay Retired?
By Tarig Simil: Former middleweight and light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (47-4-1, 32 KO’s), has recently stated to the press that he is coming out of retirement, in hopes for a possible match with Oleg Maskaev (33-5, 26 KO’s), the WBC heavyweight champion. However, as things stand now, Hopkins’ chances for a bout with Maskaev would seem remote, at best, mostly due to Maskaev’s already booked fight calendar. Maskaev is already scheduled to make his first WBC heavyweight title defense against Peter Okhello (18-4, 16 KO’s) on December 10th, 2006, in Moscow, Russia. Following that, Maskaev will either be fighting the winner of James Toney vs. Samuel Peter, both of which fighting an elimination bout for the right to face Maskaev.
I don’t, however, think he’ll win, mind you, but he’d have a chance, at least. Calzaghe, 34, is much faster than Hopkins, who will shortly be turning 42-years old, and it would be a big problem for Hopkins to try and overcome. In addition to that, Calzaghe’s style is the type that Hopkins has had trouble with, that is, dealing with a fast puncher, who can box inside or on the outside, keeping the slow-footed Hopkins always guessing. As we saw in his bouts with Jermain Taylor, Hopkins looked befuddled, in trying to cope with the speed and the high work rate by Taylor. Against Calzaghe, it can only get worse, for he’s just as quick as Taylor, and much busier.
Ideally, I think Hopkins should stay retired, unless he absolutely needs the money, which I seriously doubt. There’s too much risk for him, at this point, for him to continue on and fight the type of fighters that he has expressed interest in fighting. If this were 10 years ago, I’d say, sure, give it a shot. However, he’s not the same fighter he was then, so he’d be best served if he stayed out of boxing and let the young fighters take over.
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Posted November 27th, 2006 l 94 Views
