By Shawn Krest

This shouldn’t be happening. At an age where most athletes are ruining their legacies, Bernard Hopkins began building his.  At an age when he promised he’d retire, he did just the opposite, embarking on a series of fights whose strength of schedule has rarely been seen in the hundred-plus year history of the sport.

At the tail end of Hopkins’ record-setting reign as middleweight champion—a twenty-fight string that was mocked for being heavy on Robert Allens (three times) and Morrade Hakkars and light on Felix Trinidads—Hopkins began to look to the history books.  Sure, twenty defenses may have stamped his ticket to Canastota, but the eight-fight string beginning with defense number nineteen and leading into October could get him a higher level of respect when compared to other middleweight greats. 

Some time in 2004, Hopkins seems to have picked up a boxing magazine, flipped to the pound-for-pound rankings, and began scheduling bouts.  In order, he’s knocked out Oscar de la Hoya, dominated Howard Eastman, considered at the time the top middleweight contender, and stubbornly refused to pass the torch in two razor-thin losses Jermain Taylor, an undefeated Olympian thirteen years his junior. 

In what was supposed to be his farewell fight, he gained 15 pounds to dominate light heavyweight Antonio Tarver.  After that, he tried to conquer other names on the pound-for-pound, cruising past Winky Wright and knocking down Joe Calzaghe before dropping a split decision. 

In October, Hopkins will take on Kelly Pavlik, the undefeated middleweight champion who toppled Taylor.  Three months shy of age 44, Hopkins will fight someone born in the 1980s for the first time.  The only torch that’s been tougher to pass is the one headed to Beijing. 

“Right now, the motivation of Bernard Hopkins is history, not necessarily legacy,” Hopkins said before fighting Tarver.  “My legacy is already cemented. My legacy was in the middleweight division and that book, and that chapter has closed with the controversy.  That's good for me.  But the other one chapter has opened, and it's a chapter of history.”

Finding a stretch of fights so packed with Hall of Famers, champions, pound-for-pounders and undefeated prospects is nearly unprecedented at any age. 

Manny Pacquiao takes on all comers, but he throws in a Hector Velazquez or Fahsan 3K Battery every once in awhile to take a breather and cash a pay-per-view check.  Still, his current seven-fight run of Morales (twice), Larios, Solis, Barrera, Marquez, and David Diaz comes close.  Of course, Pac Man is approaching age 30, meaning he’s separated from Hopkins by the lifetime of a Jonas Brothers fan. 

Going back in time, the six-fights at the end of Marvin Hagler’s career come close.  In between Roberto Duran, Tommy Hearns, and Sugar Ray Leonard, Hagler knocked out top contenders Juan Domingo Roldan, Mustafa Hamsho, and undefeated John Mugabi. And when Hagler reached Hopkins’ current age, he had been retired for 12 years and a Hall of Famer for five. 

So why is Hopkins doing this?  Taking on an All Star team of boxers isn’t just daunting.  It’s dangerous at any age.  Fans talk about a gravity bound Air Jordan playing for Washington or Willie Mays falling down in center field as the dangers of staying in a sport too long.  If Hopkins stumbles and falls in October, it will likely be at the completion of a hellacious Kelly Pavlik right hand.  Years after retirement, Jordan may not be able to dunk, but he can still grin and sell Hanes t-shirts.  Mays might not be able to run down a fly ball in the gap, but at 77, he still sounds lucid when interviewed by Bob Costas.  A trip to the Boxing Hall of Fame inductions should clearly point out to Hopkins the dangers of one fight too many.

Listening to the change in Hopkins’ pre-fight interviews might give a clue as to his motivations.  Preparing for de la Hoya and Eastman, Hopkins spoke of the great middleweights, comparing his reign to Hagler and Sugar Ray Robinson.  As he prepared for more recent fights, his comments were peppered with different names:  Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, and Wilt Chamberlain. 

“People (are) really going to have to say to themselves we have to put Bernard Hopkins achievements and legacy in a special place,” he said before the Calzaghe fight.  “And I’m not just saying fighters I’m saying athletes period in any sport. Like a Michael Jordan. You know like the Muhammad Ali of the world.”

It’s why the observers who bemoan Hopkins style may be missing the point.  He’s not looking to thrill fight fans, he’s trying to find a spot on one of the coins in American sports currency.  What Floyd Mayweather did by foxtrotting on television, Hopkins has done by fighting the biggest names in the sport.  And while many boxing scribes might rather see Pavlik-Abraham or Pavlik-Sturm, neither of those fights will attract the attention of Jim Rome, nor have their weigh-ins broadcast on Sportscenter.  And while Hopkins-Pavlik might not generate millions of pay-per-view buys, the so-called exciting opponents would be better suited in the live fight that runs with a PPV rebroadcast.

"People know me and boxing people know me and they know I’m a threat against anyone.  I am willing to say that I am coming into this fight to win.  When we get into the ring – it will just be me and him – and that means it is 50/50," Hopkins said of Pavlik.

"This is a blue collar fight.  It’s like two guys working on a pier and get in a fight.  It’s two guys fighting with their hard hats on.  This is a blue collar sport – the kind of fight that could happen in any inner city – except now I’m from Philly and he’s from Youngstown. Kelly comes in and throws the hammer down and it’s my job to take that away from him."

Brett Favre, six years Hopkins’ junior, has dominated the summer headlines in his quest to return from retirement and challenge a young prospect looking for his job.  Hopkins has been doing that for years, as we forget the guys we thought would make better fights.  Three years after he was supposed to pass the torch to Jermain Taylor, whose stock would you rather have? 

“Bernard Hopkins, love him or hate him, like him or love him, you cannot erase history,” he said before a recent bout, “And you cannot erase legacy.”