Some people just love to work.
That’s the only explanation for how the ageless Bernard Hopkinscontinues to defy nature and logic.
And as long as the history-making light heavyweight champion keeps turning in master-class performances like Saturday night's lopsided points victory over Beibut Shumenov, why wouldn't he?
The 49-year-old Philadelphia native reduced Shumenov to a plodding, predictable foil at the DC Armory, scoring an 11th-round knockdown and becoming the oldest fighter in history to unify world championships.
Hopkins (55-6-2, 32 KOs) –who's never been beaten up, never been cut in a fight, stays in fighting shape 365 days a year and keeps a 31-inch waist – looked as fresh in the final round as he did in the first. Ringside arbiters Dave Moretti and Jerry Roth scored it 116-111 to Hopkins. Gustavo Padilla – who should turn in his license at the door and never judge a fight again – mystifyingly had it 114-113 to Shumenov. (The Guardian scored it 119-108 to Hopkins.)
"Where's the 15 rounds at?" Hopkins yelled from the ring to press row after the final bell. "I'm a 15-round fighter."
Hopkins, eight months from AARP eligibility, was an athlete in total command. He used deft footwork, superior timing and an educated jab to measure distance, pivot, set traps and make Shumenov pay with a steady diet of counterpunches. He was the lion in the savannah, controlling the action with stealth, speed and surprise.
Not bad for a graybeard against a champion 19 years his junior.
Shumenov (14-2, 9 KOs), a former Olympian from Kazakhstan who lives in Las Vegas, entered with the WBA's version of the 175lb title, which he’d quietly held since 2011. He left it just another ex-champion humbled by a master craftsman old enough to be his father.
"Boxing is a science," said Hopkins, who added Shumenov's title to his IBF strap. "If you don't have to get hit, don't. You don't want someone else counting your money."
After a cagey, tactical opening, Hopkins found range consistently with stinging right-hand leads. Even as Shumenov diligently cut the ring off, Hopkins fought adroitly off his back foot. A thudding right hook in the third landed flush and prompted cheers of “B-Hop! B-Hop!” from the partisan crowd of 6,823.The fighter now known as “The Alien” – a nod to his otherworldly longevity – grew emboldened as the rounds progressed, showing off his hand speed and hurting his opponent with unpredictable left-right combinations. In the 11th, Hopkins fired an overhand that detonated on Shumenov’s jaw and sent him crashing to the canvas.
"I wanted to be patient and not overshoot the runway and get overexcited but I knew he was hurt," Hopkins said. "[Trainer Naazim Richardson] was begging me to throw that six-inch right hand over the jab. I didn't get it off earlier. It was there the whole fight. But he has an awkward style. I've been around 26 years, seen everything, and I made the adjustments.”
Hopkins landed 186 of 383 punches (49%) – including more than half of his power shots – compared to 124 of 608 for Shumenov (20%).
Even before Saturday night – Hopkins’ seventh consecutive fight against an opponent born in the 1980s – the legacy of the North Philadelphia product was already bulletproof. From 1995 to 2005, he made a division-record 20 defenses of the middleweight championship – more than Marvin Hagler, Carlos Monzon or Sugar Ray Robinson.
Since then, he’s moved up to light heavyweight and had three separate title reigns. You can divide his career in two and either half on its own is Hall of Fame-worthy.
The ascetic lifestyle Hopkins follows – forget drugs or alcohol, it's been 20 years since he ate a donut or a slice of pizza – continues to yield dividends beyond imagination.
“Without work and just prayer you’re a fool,” Hopkins had said this week. “Once works the other. You can ask and you can be on your knees, you can hope and you can do all these things. But if you don’t go out an put the work in, it’s all talk.Hopkins insists he’s not done making history. He spoke repeatedly during Saturday's post-fight press conference about his desire to unify the belts and become the undisputed light heavyweight champion. Now in possession of the IBF and WBA titles, Hopkins is looking to add Adonis Stevenson’s WBC strap before the end of the year.
"I want to be the undisputed light heavyweight world champion this year, period," he said.
But why stop there?
He wants to fight past his 50th birthday in January. Hopkins even talked seriously of boiling down to 160lb – the weight class he ruled for so long – for a superfight with Floyd Mayweather Jr, boxing’s pound-for-pound champion.
Frankly, it sounds insane.
But no crazier than a 49-year-old making slight work of opponents nearly half his age.
“I’m just telling you,” he said. “I’m not done yet.”
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