Fifteen months shy of his 50th year, boxer Bernard Hopkins knows that what he is accomplishing each time he steps in the ring is a big deal.
So big, in fact, it’s possible that it’s unequaled in the history of modern sport: A 48-year-old competing at a championship level in one of the world’s toughest individual sports. A feat 98% of the sport’s competitors could not achieve in their prime, let alone at an age when many men are grandfathers.
Perhaps the closest known comparisons, not including team sports, are: U.S. swimmer Dara Torres winning two Olympic silver medals at age 41 in Beijing; and Randy Couture defending his UFC heavyweight title at 44. In a less physical class: Jack Nicklaus winning the Masters at 46.
Hopkins is currently boxing’s IBF light heavyweight titlist, breaking his own mark as the oldest major champion in the sport’s history, long since surpassing George Foreman winning the heavyweight title in 1994 at age 45.
The latest record and title came against an undefeated fighter 17 years younger in March. Hopkins (53-6-2, 38 KOs) made 24-0 Tavoris Cloud look amateurish in a unanimous decision.
He will try to repeat the feat Saturday when he returns to his favorite venue, Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City ? just up the road from his hometown of Philadelphia ? where he fought in his first professional bout in 1988 and lost. He will put his title on the line against little-known German Karo Murat (25-1-1, 15 KOs) on Showtime (9 p.m. ET).
How big of a deal is this for Hopkins, who’s been fighting professionally for a quarter century?
“I see a book and a movie right around the corner, I just don’t know when and what time but I got faith and understanding that timing is everything. I really believe that,” Hopkins told USA TODAY Sports in a recent phone interview. “It’s been unusual just in my personal life, let alone adding on for good measure, my athletic life, my historic life in sports.
“This is my time of doing this as the only fighter and arguably as the only athlete, respectively, at this level. That’s a big thing, man. To me, that’s a big thing.”
Indeed, his life story is a big thing made for the big screen. A product of the housing projects of Philadelphia, Hopkins’ teen years were crime-filled, and at 17 he was sentenced to 18 years in the Graterford Penitentiary for armed robbery.
