It should have ended where it began.
Legendary boxer Bernard Hopkins will supposedly cap his 29-year career ? don’t forget he retired once before a decade ago ? by taking on unheralded Joe Smith Jr. at The Forum in Inglewood, California on Saturday night.
Meanwhile, Boardwalk Hall’s main arena sat empty, though the Adrian Phillips Ballroom showed a double-feature of “The Polar Express” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
Where’s Cindy-Lou Who when you need her?
Sorry to sound like a broken record ? for those of you under 40, records were vinyl discs that were played on turntables set at 45 or 78 RPMs. And if the record skipped, you taped a quarter on top of the needle to give it more weight ? but there was no reason for that fight to be held on the West Coast other than the fact that his promoter, Golden Boy Promotions, is based there. Why can’t Atlantic City draw boxing matches?
Hopkins’ farewell fight should have been held in Atlantic City, thus providing a fitting end to a legendary career that began at Resorts Atlantic City on Oct. 11, 1988, when Hopkins dropped a four-round, majority decision to Clinton Mitchell.
Although he grew in Philadelphia and now lives in Delaware, Hopkins had more bouts on the Boardwalk (19) than any other place in his legendary career.
Boardwalk Hall hosted some of his biggest fights ? victories over Antonio Tarver in 2006 and Kelly Pavlik in 2008, a loss to Sergey Kovalev in 2014 ? and should have had his final fight.
Actually, it did host his first farewell.
On June 10, 2006, Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa sponsored its first and only fight at Boardwalk Hall. Hopkins had announced he was going to retire after fighting Tarver. Borgata and Golden Boy gave out commemorative watches ? I still have one laying around somewhere ? and various tributes were part of the pre- and post-fight activities.
“I’m home,” Hopkins said before that fight. “How ironic that I’m back in the same place I started, almost 20 years later, after all the ups and downs I’ve gone through. I believe it’s no accident. It’s no coincidence. … I get to go back to where it all began and re-live everything. I’m getting chills just thinking about it. It’s an omen.”
Allen Iverson, Michael Jordan, actor Jeremy Piven and Queen Latifah were among the 10,200 fans who showed up to watch Hopkins beat Tarver in his first fight at light-heavyweight after years of dominating the middleweight division.
Hopkins’ wife, Jeanette, and three of his four sisters joined him in the ring for his farewell speech.
