How do you explain Bernard Hopkins still fighting and being competitive at age 48? Alien Blood!
While most observers laughed at Bernard Hopkins’ Alien attire during his ring entrance, “The Alien” continues to defy logic and push the limits of his body, this time dominating the much younger and rugged Karo Murat on his way to winning a very wide unanimous decision. The wide scores of 117-110, 119-108 and 119-108 all in favour of Hopkins reflected what had transpired during the fight and what most fans expected to see.
Going into this fight Hopkins was the heavy favourite and he didn’t disappoint, but Murat gave an honest effort and managed to make it entertaining by applying pressure and forcing the future hall-of-famer to engage in toe-to-toe brawls at spots during the bout.
While this fight will not make any lists of most exciting fights of the year, most fans present enjoyed Bernard’s antics and ring showmanship, and applauded the old timer when he decided to trade punches with the much younger fighter. The fight followed the typical blueprint with Hopkins using his great defence and counterpunching skills to outfox the inexperienced Murat. But Murat often managed to trap Hopkins in the ropes connecting him with thundering shots. The fight turned a little bit dirty at times but Referee Smoger kept things in order, even taking a point from away from Murat for hitting after the break in Round 7. Hopkins looked vulnerable at times and going into the later rounds one pondered if Bernard could maintain the rhythm and make the final bell.
In the end, Hopkins’ superior preparation and stamina helped him finish the fight. With this win, Hopkins makes another successful title defence and earns his 54th victory. But most importantly, Hopkins keeps his name in the mix of a very competitive Light-heavyweight division. After his win many fans and boxing enthusiasts began the task of finding an opponent for Hopkins. Two names often mentioned were Adonis Stevenson and Sergey Kovalev. They both possess concussive power, are younger, and coming off brutal knockout wins. Although a match between an aging legend and young upcoming champion sounds like a hot sell, it is unlikely that either fight will come to fruition.
On the undercard, Peter Quillin (29-0, 21KOs) took on Gabriel Rosado (21-6, 13KOs) for Quillin’s middleweight strap. On paper this promised to be the fight of the night and for almost 10 rounds fans were not disappointed. But just as the fans in attendance were getting ready for the championship rounds, Rosado suffered a bad cut on his right eye and the doctor felt he could not continue, forcing the referee to stop the fight with 40 seconds left in round 10. Adding to the discontent of the crowd the judges’ scorecards at the time of the stoppage (Kason Cheeks 90-81/Waleska Roldan 89-81/Ronald Mcnair 87-83) had Quillin as the clear winner in a fight most in attendance thought was very close and competitive.
Also on this card, American Heavyweight hopeful Deontay Wilder (29-0, 29KOs) scored his 30th KO this time against Nicolai Firtha (21-10-1 (8KOs) in a fight that produced 2 knockdowns in favour of Wilder and a scary moment for the American when Firtha managed to rock Wilder in the opening round. Wilder recovered quickly and went on to stop Firtha at 1:26 of the 4th round
Other Results:
Super Middleweights -8 rounds
Dominic “Lights Out” Wade (11-0, 9KOs) remains undefeated with a 1st round TKO of Roberto Ventura (12-7, 12KOs) at 2:08
Featherweights-8 rounds
“The Unstoppable” Braulio Santos (10-1, 9KOs) stops David “Thunder” Clark (6-2, 4KOs) with a solid left hook in the first round. The ref stops the bout at 1:49
Light Welterweights – 4 rounds
Zachary Ochoa (4-0, 3KOs) wins a unanimous decision over Michael J. Doyle (2-5, 1KO) with scores 40-36, 39-37 x 2. Ochoa improves his record to 5-0, 3KOs.
Junior Welterweights – 4 rounds
Wellington Romero (Pro Debut) wins his first professional fight with a unanimous decision over Victor Gallindo (1-2). Judges scores of 40-36 x 3
