“You can’t make history all the time. You can have a winning record, a winning season, but to actually make history — a baseball player hitting 500 home runs or something like that — these things don’t happen all the time.” — Bernard Hopkins
Before his second meeting with Jean Pascal back in May, Bernard Hopkins made it clear that occupying more space in boxing’s history book was a major motivation for him. At 46 years of age, a win for Hopkins against Pascal would make him the oldest professional boxer to ever win a championship belt.
After twelve rounds and thirty-six minutes between the ropes, the Executioner grabbed both that championship belt and also that place in boxing history that meant so much to him. The archivists who keep that giant book of boxing history were forced to dust it off, erase George Foreman’s name next to “Oldest Fighter To Win A Title,” and replace it with Bernard Hopkins.
Now, having accomplished that goal, being the boxing historian and student of the game that he is — Hopkins has flipped through the history book and has set his sights on a new record. He wants to be the oldest champion to defend his championship hardware.
While it’s biologically impossible for that occur on October 15, the date in which Hopkins and “Bad” Chad Dawson will duke it out, the Executioner will need to come away victorious if he wants to keep that dream alive. If it were to happen down the road, he would replace another legend in in the record books, this time Hopkins’ name would be inserted at the expense of The Old Mongoose, Archie Moore, and it would come two-plus years down the road.
Depending who your source is, Moore was either born in 1910 or 1913 — Moore and his mother couldn’t even agree on that. What is indisputable, however, is Moore’s jaw-dropping record of 185-23-10, 131 KO and 1 no contest. Even more astonishing is that Moore held the title for over nine years straight, defending it until the ripe old age of 48.
So in order for Hopkins to keep that record in his sights, he’ll have to defeat 29 year-old former light heavyweight champion, Chad Dawson. Dawson’s only loss – you’ll remember – came at the fists of the aforementioned Pascal last August.
Last week, Hopkins’ trainer Naazim Richardson called Dawson “the most technically sound light heavyweight” but added that “Pascal was the most dangerous…as Chad found out.”
If you subscribe to that, then Hopkins beat the most dangerous man in the division and if he beats Dawson, he will have beaten the most technically sound fighter in the weight class. After Dawson, the clouds begin to part a bit, and Hopkins could stare Archie Moore’s record in the face.
Perhaps a showdown with Tavoris Cloud would be in the works, or a scrap with titleholder Beibut Shumenov. Regardless, beating Dawson is a tall order. But if it happens, then Hopkins holding onto his title for another two years is as realistic as ever. Realistically speaking the light heavyweight is not 140. It’s pretty thin.
Hopkins knows it can happen. He sees it is in his sights.
“I look forward to making history and breaking the great Mongoose, Archie Moore’s, title defense record at the Light Heavyweight record,” Hopkins said last week. “I believe when he was 47 or 48 years old he defended that title. That to me is impressive. I want that title. I want that record. I want that history.”
Archie Moore’s record really is Hopkins’ carrot on a stick. Even with a win, he can’t get it just yet. But it will be his motivation, his goal. And as long as Hopkins stays in this game, you can bet that he’ll be in peak physical condition and give himself a chance to win every fight he’s in. He’ll never embarrass himself. He cares too much about his legacy and his place in boxing history.
Kyle Kinder can be reached at Twitter.com/KyleKinder or KyleKinder1@gmail.com
Photo by Claudia Bocanegra
