In October of last year Bernard Hopkins produced one of the finest performances of his career with a twelve round domination of Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik. In the fight Hopkins reminded everyone of his greatness by controlling the contest with his elusive moment, counterpunching skills, and overall craftiness. It was an incredible win but what followed for Hopkins was much speculation about what his future held.
Rumors emerged that Hopkins was set for a heavily desired showdown with Roy Jones Jr. in 2010 if both men were able to deliver victories against their respected opposition early this month. Jones was the first man to hand Hopkins a defeat on a championship stage and it was a loss that The Philadelphia native had always been dying to reverse.
The only problem is that those plans were drastically changed when Jones was stopped earlier today in the first round Australia by rugged Australian Danny Green. Jones was caught and floored with a right hand and the contest was stopped moments later after Green unleashed a volley of unanswered punches against him along the ropes. In a short time frame Jones was dealt a crushing defeat and Hopkins’ future was up in the air.
Always a professional, Hopkins still went to work in the same calculated manner than has typified his career tonight against Enrique Ornelas at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After a slow start Hopkins would eventually pick up the pace near the midway point of the fight and go on to score a unanimous decision by scores of 120-109, 119-109, and 118-110.
The bout wasn’t overly exciting and Ornelas deserves credit for showing himself to be a competitive spirit throughout the entire twelve rounds. The early rounds seemed to be nip and tuck but Hopkins showed his usual class in adapted and slowly breaking his younger foe down. In the final three rounds Hopkins was increasingly dominant as he began bullying Ornelas around the ring and timing him with piercing right hands. When the final bell sounded Hopkins raised his arms in the air and seemed pleased with his performance.
With the win the always vocal Hopkins raises his record to 50-5-1 with 32 knockouts and has some serious decisions to make in regards to his future. When asked if he was affected by the Jones loss and the chance it represented to redeem himself, Hopkins simply shrugged it off.
“I blocked it out of my mind.”
The calculating legend went on to elaborate on how he actually feels a Jones rematch could still become a reality. Hopkins points out that the stoppage Jones suffered possibly wasn’t conclusive enough and left himself open to the idea of another encounter with his nemesis.
“Roy Jones went out on his feet, not on his back,” Hopkins stated. “For a legendary champion like Roy Jones Jr. you should at least give him the benefit of the doubt and let him continue. I saw [Green] through a lot of punches but not many of them landed. I do feel the fight can still be made.”
Whether he ends up fighting Roy Jones or not Hopkins is definitely eyeing the big picture and recently stated his is getting ready to go on another run towards greatness. He summed up his performance against Ornales and also reinitiated his desires to face newly crowned WBA Heavyweight champion David Haye in the future.
“He took some great shots. I took some great shots. For a 44 year old fighter I felt that many energy level was fantastic. I’m going to be the Heavyweight champion of the world in 2010.”
Garcia crushes Colin in two
I remember talking to young Danny Garcia in February of this year, just days before his fight on the Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz undercard in Houston, Texas. A lot stood out about Garcia, most notably his ambitious nature.
Coming from Philadelphia, Garcia is just twenty one years old and still very new to many facets of the game. Tonight he looked to take another step forward against well traveled Enrique Colin and he delivered with a crushing second round knockout.
Near the end of a slow first round Garcia cranked up with a right hand and jarred Colin, dropping him to the canvas. The Sinaloa, Mexico native rose just before the bell sounded but more trouble awaited him in round two. In the second stanza Garcia stalked his prey and again caught him with a wicked right hand that all but ended things. Colin was left nearly unconscious and lying on the floor and the bout was immediately called off.
It was an impressive win for Garcia and its good to see that he has been keeping his progress since his last fight. After the fight Garcia spoke of his newfound maturity in the ring and commented that his right hand is the punch that ‘always catches’ his opponents.
With the win the Golden Boy promoted prospect moves to 15-0 with 10 knockouts and we can expect more progression from him in 2010.
