Former middleweight and light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (49-5-1, 32 KO’s) was able to nullify a 17 year age gap with the far younger current middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik (34-1, 30 KO’s) Saturday night in a catchweight 170 pound light heavyweight fight, winning a lopsided unanimous decision in front of 11,332 spectators at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. Official scores were 119-106, 118-108, and 117-109 for Hopkins. Boxingherald.com scored the fight in his favor 119-107.
Hopkins was in control from the opening bell to the last, exhibiting faster hand speed and landing numerous left hooks and straight right hands that landed flush on Pavlik’s head, sometimes causing it to snap back.
“He fought good and gave me a lesson”, said a dejected Pavlik afterwards, who despite the loss retains his middleweight title because the bout was contested over the middleweight limit.
Pavlik was a 5 to 1 favorite to win the bout. A fact that served as motivation for Hopkins as he claimed after the fight, “I need people against me”, citing “naysayers” as the reason he continues to compete despite being a multimillionaire who is a shoe-in for the International Boxing Hall of Fame on the first ballot he’ll be eligible.
By time the 9th round came, Pavlik was bleeding from a cut above his left eye as well as from his nose and mouth. A point was deducted from each combatant from holding in the 8th and 9th rounds respectively. However, the point deductions did not play a major role in the fight due to Hopkins’ dominance.
The Philadelphia native Hopkins, who has a history of fading in the later rounds of recent bouts, only got stronger down the stretch. The final round was one of his best of the fight as he landed crisp flurries that left his opponent holding on to survive.
Despite some jawing as the final bell sounded coming from Pavlik’s trainer Jack Lowe, both fighters displayed a lot of class and respect towards one another after the fight.
Hopkins could be overheard having a lengthy conversation with the reigning middleweight champ in the ring after the decision was announced, offering him advice and urging him to continue to dominate the middleweight division as he did for 11 years.
Hopkins mentioned Roy Jones Jr. and Joe Calzaghe as possible opponents for his next bout. Jones and Calzaghe are set to meet in a light heavyweight title fight November 8th in New York.
Hopkins lost the light heavyweight title to Calzaghe by a close split decision in April and dropped a unanimous decision to Roy Jones Jr. in 1993 for a vacant middleweight title.
Pavlik says he intends to drop back down to the middleweight division for his next fight to defend his world championship. Possible opponents include Germany’s Arthur Abraham and Mexico’s Marco Antonio Rubio, who earned a mandatory shot at Kelly Pavlik with a split decision win over Enrique Ornelas in a title eliminator on the undercard.
