RingTV.com caught up to RING light heavyweight titleholder Bernard Hopkins in advance of his 47th birthday, which will happen on January 15.
Hopkins (52-5-2, 32 knockouts) expressed his thoughts on a potential rematch with Chad Dawson, whose promoter, Gary Shaw, successfully argued for the return bout with Hopkins at last month’s WBC’s convention in Las Vegas.
If a lucrative bout can’t be made with Dawson, Hopkins has listed other possible candidates, including RING No. 1-rated super middleweight Lucian Bute (30-0, 24 KOs), or light heavyweights Nathan Cleverly of the United Kingdom, and Beibut Shumenov of Las Vegas.
The 24-year-old Cleverly (23-0, 11 KOs) is the holder of the WBO belt, while the 28-year-old Shumenov (12-1, 8 KOs), a native of Kazakhstan who lives in Las Vegas, has the WBA title.
Hopkins told RingTV.com that he expects to return to full-time training this month and would like to be back in the ring in March following the final stages of recovery from a left shoulder separation.
The injury occurred during October’s controversial clash with Dawson, which was initially ruled to be a second-round TKO victory for Dawson after Hopkins was shoved to the canvas and deemed unfit to continue by referee Pat Russell.
