DON?T believe the rumors that Bernard Hopkins (55-6, 32KOs) is allegedly an alien from outer space. The past few years he has been donning that hilarious alien getup in his ring entrances, but we assumed it was all for the entertainment value it brought.
We could not have been more wrong. With that title-unifying performance last Sunday against Beibut Shumenuv, he practically rested all doubts.
It?s not a rumor anymore. He?s confirmed it.
After all, at 49 years of age, how in this world can you become a unified champion for the light heavyweight division? After annexing the WBA and IBA titles to add to his IBF trinket, Hopkins made us believers of his preternatural capacities.
THE FIGHT. Shumenov (14-2, (KOs) of Kazhakstan, came out wanting to establish his jab, but was unable to gain any semblance of control as Hopkins was cautious early.
Hopkins made his move in the third round and landed a couple of stinging right hands.
In the middle rounds, Hopkins found his stride as he landed that right hand seemingly at will over and above Shumenov?s low lying left hand. He complemented that with some nifty footwork while Shumenov- who is Hopkins? junior by 19 years, plodded around the ring.
Shumenov came alive in the seventh as he started mixing up his combinations, but was unable to inflict any damage. Hopkins continued with his more accurate strikes and clinched when he had to in order to frustrate Shumenov?s offensive rhythm.
Hopkins began to run away on the scorecards in rounds 8-10. He controlled the exchanges and demonstrated he was the quicker, slicker fighter.
Another huge Hopkins right hand scored the first knockdown of the fight in the 11th, and while Shumenov attempted to fight back aggressively, it was not enough to win the round.
In the final stanza, Hopkins showboated and coasted his way to a win, flicking his tongue out on several ocassions, pretty much what you would expect an extra terrestrial life form would do.
AGELESS. That ageless performance brought to mind what I wrote in my previous column about athletes and their diminishing prowess as they age in relation to Manny Pacquiao?s victory over Timothy Bradley.
It?s all about reinventing yourself and continuing to find ways to be effective.
Early in his career, Hopkins had the reputation of being a knockout artist. He ruled the middleweight division with an iron right hand, defending his crown a record 20 times.
Then he moved up to the light heavyweight division and continued his dominance. As he aged, he became a little less right hand crazy and started to rely more on movement and timing.
He doesn?t fight with the anger and the reckless abandon of youth anymore and substituted it with a calculating, cerebral style centered on formulating a perfect game plan and executing it on fight night.
He?s also a master of the basics and he has proven time and again that those skills serve you much better when you grow older, especially on defense.
Comparing him again to his rival Roy Jones Jr., Hopkins wasn?t as fast when they were younger, but he had the right stance, knew how to tuck his chin in, and kept his hands up on defense.
In contrast, Roy kept his hands low and did practically everything wrong. As he got older and his reflexes waned, those mistakes became costly and tranlsated into knockout losses.
As for Hopkins, he nurtured those basic skills and developed a hybrid style that doesn?t rely too much on power and speed.
Hopkins doesn?t fight with so much energy anymore, preferring to picks his spots and attack in spurts. But he?s a master at finding his opponent?s weakness. And in the fight game, that?s really all you need to do to win.
Of course, it could be just the Bengay kicking in.
LAST ROUND. It?s on my mother Elena Mayol Quijano who celebrates her birthday this week. Love and Cheers mom!
