Hopkins wants Mayweather next’; No Stevenson or Kovalev for him

hopkins804 While boxing fans would like to see IBF light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins to step it up from the likes of Karo Murat and Tavoris Cloud to fight the best in the division in Adonis Stevenson and Sergey Kovalev, Hopkins said that he’s interested in moving down in weight to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. next.

Hopkins feels he can get down to 160 by next May to fight Mayweather in Cinco de Mayo if they can negotiate the fight. As for fighting Kovalev or Stevenson, Hopkins feels that the fights can’t get made due to him fighting on Showtime and Kovalev and Stevenson fighting on HBO.

Hopkins said “You give me until May of next year to make 160, that fight is on. I don’t think too many reporters would count me out.”

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Bernard Hopkins defeats Karo Murat

IBF Light Heavyweight Champion Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins (54-6-2, 32 KO’s) became the oldest fighter in history to defend a world title, breaking his own record by defeating European challenger Karo Murat (25-2-1, 15 KO’s). The 48-year-old “Executioner” turned “Alien” out-worked and out-brawled his 30-year-old challenger and won via clear unanimous decision in front of his hometown crowd at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. The fight, promoted by Golden Boy Promotions in association with Caesars Atlantic City, headlined an entertaining three-fight SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING event.

Hopkins appeared to start the night slow, but Hopkins’ combinations, speed and power grew each round. By the seventh, Hopkins and Murat exchanged wild power shots in spurts for the rest of the bout. Amidst these exchanges, Hopkins used his signature defense, angles and gamesmanship to mentally and physically deflate Murat. The judges scored the fight 117-110 and 119-108, twice for the champion.

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Peter Quillin Defeats Gabriel Rosado

Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin (30-0, 21 KO’s) remained undefeated and retained his WBO Middleweight title by defeating “King”Gabriel Rosado via technical knockout. The fight was stopped at 40 seconds of the tenth round by the referee on the advice of the doctor due to a deep cut on Rosado’s left eyelid.

Quillin came out of the gate as the more confident and powerful of the two, dropping Rosado in the second. But by the fourth, Rosado found rhythm and confidence of his own. Rosado pressed forward and took the momentum away for virtually the rest of the fight.

But Quillin was counter punching and keeping each round close. In the ninth, with less than a minute left, Quillin landed a snap jab that sliced open Rosado’s eyelid which began to pour blood.

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Alien B-Hop displays familiar weapons to conquer Karo Murat

Showtime’s festivities at the Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, NJ started with Deontay Wilder’s ugly destruction of Nicolai “Stone Man” Firtha. Neither man deserves much attention. How Deontay can be viewed as a legitimate heavyweight contender is a mystery to me. Showtime’s Al Bernstein tried hard to describe Firtha as a real threat to Deontay. Al struggled to try and make viewers believe because he fought pretty well against Tyson Fury and that he could do the same against Wilder. It’s doubtful viewers bought Al’s efforts. His announcing partners, Mauro Ranallo and Paulie Malignaggi were probably holding their hands over their mouths to suppress laughter.

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Abraham decisions De Carolis, but looks terrible

If there was any question whether Arthur Abraham (38-4, 28 KO’s) is shot and needs to retire it was answered tonight with his awful to watch 12 round unanimous decision win over Giovanni De Carolis (20-5, 10 KO’s) at the EWE-Arena, Oldenburg, Niedersachsen, Germany. Abraham was unable to cut off the ring and handle the little bit of movement from De Carolis during the action. I didn’t see any improvement in Abraham’s game whatsoever from his defeat to Robert Stieglitz.

Abraham looked like a fighter that could no longer pull the trigger on his punches. It was pretty sad to see. Abraham still had the same turtle defense that Robert Stieglitz tore into earlier this year, and it was unbelievable that he was using it against the light hitting De Carolis.

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Kell Brook stops Senchenko in the 4th round

Welterweight Kell Brook (31-0, 21 KO’s) defeated 36-year-old Vyacheslav Senchenko (34-2, 23 KO’s) by a 4th round TKO tonight on Saturday night in an IBF welterweight eliminator bout at the Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Brook knocked Senchenko down twice in the fight, once in the 3rd and a final time in the 4th. Senchenko was too hurt to continue after he staggered back to his feet in the 4th.

Brook survived a scare in the 4th when he was hurt by a long right hand to the head that sent him scurrying to the ropes. Brook quickly recovered and came back to drop Senchenko with a right hand.

Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn says he would like to match Brook against Amir Khan or Adrien Broner. If not, then he’ll be looking to match Brook against IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander next.

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Hopkins beats Murat; Deontay stops Firtha; Quillin stops Rosado

Making his first defense of his IBF light heavyweight title champion Bernard Hopkins (54-6-2, 32 KO’s) defeated Karo Murat (25-2-1m 15 KO’s) by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA. The final judges scores were 117-110, 119-108, 119-108. Hopkins took a lot of shots in the fight and it was a lot of back and forth action between them. This was easily the most exciting Hopkins fight in quite some time.

Speaking of Floyd Mayweather Jr., Hopkins said “I can make 160. If the negotiations are serious, I can make 160.”

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Anthony Joshua destroys Paul Butlin in 2nd round TKO

British heavyweight prospect Anthony Joshua (2-0, 2 KO’s) dispatched a badly over-matched Paul Butlin (14-20, 3 KO’s) in an impressive 2nd round stoppage on Saturday night on the undercard of the Kell Brook vs. Vyacheslav Senchenko fight card at the at the Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

Joshua jabbed and hammered the punching bag-like Butlin at will in the 1st round. At the start of the 2nd round, the 6’6″ Joshua connected with a combination to the head that sent the 37-year-old Butlin down on the canvas on his backside. He got back up to his feet but his left eye was cut badly and he staggered against the ropes. Surprisingly the referee let the fight continue. Joshua then waded in with a couple of shots before the white towel was tossed in by Butlin’s corner to have the fight stopped.

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Showtime to show Zab Judah vs. Paulie Malignaggi, Adrien Broner vs. Marcos Maidana

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (Oct. 26, 2013) – To celebrate one of the strongest years of programming in boxing history, SHOWTIME Sports® and Golden Boy Promotions will deliver back-to-back blockbuster events airing live on SHOWTIME on Saturday, Dec. 7 and Saturday, Dec. 14. Both events will be quadrupleheaders featuring six world championship fights including the most exciting and dynamic champions and challengers in the welterweight, super welterweight and super bantamweight divisions.

Throughout this past year, month after month, week after week, SHOWTIME and Golden Boy Promotions have featured the sport’s biggest stars in the most significant and meaningful fights in every relevant division in boxing. They joined forces to produce the most lucrative pay-per-view event in television history with perennial pound-for-pound superstar Floyd “Money” Mayweather,grew the average audience for live boxing on SHOWTIME by more than 30 percent from 2012, and attracted record crowds at sold-out arenas from coast to coast.

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Almost 40-years on: “The Rumble in The Jungle” remains Ali’s finest hour

In some ways, the epic interview/speech the great Muhammad Ali gave immediately after he had shocked the world in regaining his heavyweight crown with an incredible 8th-round KO over an “invincible” George Foreman in October of 1974 was as memorable as his ring performance. Ali, who had been stripped of his crown unfairly in 1967, was now back on top of the world and he would be damned if he didn’t let his emotions out in words moments after he’d regained what was rightfully his!

“All of you bow, all of you crawl, all you suckers who write Ring magazine, Boxing Illustrated, never again make me an underdog; until I’m about 50-years-old – then you might get me,” Ali bellowed into the microphone held by the late David Frost. And how he was entitled to say such words.

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