Bernard Hopkins Through The Years

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
Apr 30, 2012

Bernard Hopkins Through The Years

Bernard Hopkins

The panoramic life of Bernard Hopkins -- the rough-and-tumble upbringing in North Philadelphia's Badlands, the 53-month stint in Graterford State Prison for armed robbery, the rise from fistic anonymity to the middleweight championship, the division-record 20 title defenses, the seven-figure purses and improbable Hall of Fame pedigree -- has featured more twists and turns than a Dickens novel. Here's a look at some of the most memorable shots from his 24-year career.

May 22, 1993

"The Executioner" lost his pro debut to Clinton Mitchell in 1988 -- joining the likes of Alexis Arguello, Henry Armstrong, Billy Conn and Juan Manuel Marquez as Hall of Fame-caliber fighters who lost their first pro fight -- but ran off a string of 22 straight victories to earn a shot at the vacant IBF middleweight title against Roy Jones Jr., on the undercard of the Riddick Bowe-Jesse Ferguson fight at RFK Stadium.

May 22, 1993

Hopkins lost a unanimous decision to Jones in a boring fight that saw the two nascent talents spend most of the night shadowboxing around one another.

March 16, 1996

Shortly after winning the IBF middleweight championship from Segundo Mercato (after Jones had abandoned the division and vacated the title), Hopkins defended it against Michigan's Joe Lipsey on the undercard of Mike Tyson-Frank Bruno II in Las Vegas.

January 31, 1998

Hopkins retained the IBF title yet again with a sixth-round TKO of Simon Brown at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City.

January 31, 1998

The Brown victory, Hopkins' seventh middleweight title defense, improved the Philadelphian's record to 34-2-1.

January 20, 1999

In 1999, Hopkins appeared during the first day of the national hearings on boxing reform, chaired by New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer.

November 30, 1999

Bouie Fisher (right), who passed away in June at 83, was the Philadelphia trainer credited with harnessing Hopkins' talent.

November 30, 1999

At the turn of the millennium, Hopkins -- still just the IBF titleholder -- began to consider unification of the middleweight championship.

December 1, 2000

Hopkins was extended to 10 rounds in his 12th middleweight title defense, a rematch with Antwun Echols in Las Vegas.

December 1, 2000

Hopkins scored an emphatic TKO victory over Echols, setting the stage for Don King's middleweight unification tournament.

April 14, 2001

In the semifinals of a four-man tournament to crown an undisputed middleweight champion, Hopkins bruised and battered Keith Holmes at Madison Square Garden.

April 14, 2001

The victory over Holmes set the stage for the biggest fight of Hopkins' career to that point: a showdown with Felix Trinidad for the undisputed middleweight title.

September 29, 2001

Entering the Trinidad fight, Hopkins was an underdog for the first time in years. Naturally, he placed a $100,000 bet on himself to win outright.

September 29, 2001

Hopkins dominated Trinidad in a breakthrough performance, applying pressure in the later rounds and trying for the knockout despite a lead on the scorecards.

September 29, 2001

Shortly after a dramatic 12th-round knockout, referee Steve Smoger put a stop to the fight, marking the first loss of Trinidad's career.

October 1, 2001

With the victory, Hopkins became the first undisputed middleweight champion since Marvin Hagler in 1987.

February 2, 2002

Hopkins made the 14th consecutive defense of his middleweight title with a 10th-round TKO of Carl Daniels at the Sovereign Center in Reading, Pa.

March 26, 2003

Hopkins returned to Philadelphia for his 16th title defense against France's Morrade Hakkar at the since-demolished Spectrum. David Tua (right) met Hasim Rahman in the co-feature bout.

March 29, 2003

Hopkins dominated Hakkar before a hometown crowd for yet another successful defense of the 160-pound title.

December 13, 2003

Title defense No. 17: Hopkins outpointed William Joppy in decisive fashion at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall

September 23, 2004

Hopkins took some time to do a little stumping for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry during the last days before the 2004 election.

June 29, 2004

Next for Hopkins was a highly publicized showdown with Oscar De La Hoya, who was moving up to middleweight. It marked the most lucrative fight of Hopkins' career.

September 18, 2004

Hopkins dominated the early rounds with shrewd counterpunching and defensive savvy, frustrating the overwhelmed De La Hoya.

September 18, 2004

Hopkins won the fight with a vicious body shot that sent De La Hoya crashing to the canvas in the ninth. "Chopped liver with Hopkins sauce," he called it.

October 9, 2004

Following the De La Hoya knockout, the city of Philadelphia threw Hopkins a victory parade in his honor.

October 9, 2004

A Philadelphia institution, Hopkins has been called the city's fifth sports franchise.

April 25, 2005

Hopkins attended the dedication of a 45-by-20-foot mural of himself made by the prisoners at Graterford, where he served time as a young adult and learned the discipline necessary to be a top-flight boxer.

March 21, 2005

One month before this 2005 portrait shoot with Walter Iooss Jr., Hopkins made his division-record 20th consecutive middleweight title defense against Howard Eastman.

July 16, 2005

Jermain Taylor (right) became the first opponent to defeat Hopkins in more than 10 years, winning a pair of razor-thin decisions in 2005.

June 10, 2006

Following the two disputed losses to Taylor, Hopkins jumped two weight divisions to face Ring light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver. A 3-to-1 underdog, Hopkins won a lopsided unanimous decision.

June 21, 2007

Hopkins paired up with legendary trainer Freddie Roach for a 2007 fight with pound-for-pounder Winky Wright.

July 21, 2007

Hopkins, 42, won an easy unanimous decision over Wright to retain the Ring 175-pound title at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino.

March 19, 2008

Hopkins teamed with Roach again for a light heavyweight unification bout with Joe Calzaghe. Hopkins knocked the unbeaten Welshman down in the opening round, but Calzaghe rallied to win a narrow decision.

March 19, 2008

Hopkins, shown here during a break in training in Los Angeles, was already 43 on the night of the Calzaghe fight.

October 18, 2008

Hopkins was a 4-to-1 underdog against middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik in a non-title fight at a catchweight of 170 pounds. But the crafty veteran boxed circles around the hard-hitting youngster to earn a one-sided unanimous decision.

January 30, 2009

An avid sports fan and caller into Philadelphia sports talk radio shows (ask Donovan McNabb), Hopkins makes semi-regular appearances at local events like 610 WIP's annual Wing Bowl.

November 7, 2009

Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Ray Emery paid tribute to Hopkins with his helmet during a 2009 game against the St. Louis Blues.

April 3, 2010

Hopkins finally avenged his 1993 loss to Roy Jones Jr., more than 17 years after their initial meeting. The 45-year-old Hopkins easily outpointed the 41-year-old Jones in a foul-filled mess of a fight.

December 18, 2010

The future Hall of Famer looked to write yet another piece of boxing history against WBC and Ring light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal, who was five years old when Hopkins turned pro. But his bid to become the oldest major world champion was denied in a controversial majority draw. One judge scored it 114-112 for Hopkins but the other two had it 113-113 and 114-114.

May 21, 2011

Hopkins avenged the controversial draw at Montreal's Bell Centre with a unanimous-decision victory over Pascal in their rematch to become the oldest major world champion in boxing history at 46.

June 1, 2011

Hopkins was honored by Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter for winning the WBC light heavyweight championship in a well-attended ceremony at the Rocky statue at the foot of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.