Think about it, Hopkins began his boxing career back in 1988. 1988! He’s been fighting for titles since the early 90’s, losing to Roy Jones Jr. back in 1993 for the IBF Middleweight title. On May 21, 2011, the Philadelphia native became the oldest boxer to hold a major world championship after beating Jean Pascal in Montreal for the WBC, IBO and Ring title belts, breaking George Foreman’s hold of ‘oldest man to win the title’ crown.

Image: Source

After a highly enterteining bout between Hopkins and Pascal in Quebec which ended in a majority draw, the WBC chairman sanctioned an immediate rematch, again in Canada, to Hopkins’ reluctance. Still, Hopkins said before the fight ‘Anyone I fought twice, I destroyed.’ Well, he didn’t destroy Pascal, but won by unanimous decision.

Even at 46, Hopkins is a fine example of fitness, wilyness and yes, a little dirtyness. While Pascal was looking to end the fight early with power punches that didn’t fall right, Hopkins kept poking with jabs as he looked fresher throughout the fight. He even taunted Pascal before the seventh round, doing push ups while waiting for the former champions to return from his corner. He did it again after the fight.

Pascal, who was making his fifth title defense, didn’t sound like a man who just lost three titles – He’s a great champion. He has great defence and a lot of tricks. I was a young champion. These two fights will help take me to the next level. I learned a lot from Bernard and his style.”

Hopkins’ next fight will be against Chad Dawson, who beat Adrian Diaconu, another Montreal guy. Dawson’s (30-1) only career loss came against Jean Pascal after the fight was stopped in the 11th round due to a accidental headbutt. Pascal was leading by a wide margin on the scorecards, taking Dawson’s IBO title.