BoxRec

He can probably make good money fighting Germans (Braehmer @175, Stieglitz, Abraham, Sturm @168) in Germany. Of course Chavez fight would be a good option too.

Horse wrote:

crow wrote:Retire.

After this non performance, the paydays will reduce drastically.

And he's getting easier and easier to hit.

If he was easy to hit then Kovalev would have knocked him spark out early on. He wasn't easy to hit.

I agree. If there is one thing Hopkins is a master at it is avoiding taking flush punches particularly on the chin.

I don't really know what's next for BHop. He can probably still compete but he is nearly 50 and even he can't go on forever.

crow wrote:Retire.

After this non performance, the paydays will reduce drastically.

And he's getting easier and easier to hit.

Golden Boy will hoping Hopkins fights on so they could sell the "50 year old world champion" angle

MachoTime wrote:Retirement. Enjoy Life. While he's got some brain cells left.

This sums it up perfectly.Hopkins has nothing to prove.He is a legend.
Retire and enjoy the good life.

Ian1973 wrote:

Horse wrote:

crow wrote:Retire.

After this non performance, the paydays will reduce drastically.

And he's getting easier and easier to hit.

If he was easy to hit then Kovalev would have knocked him spark out early on. He wasn't easy to hit.

I agree. If there is one thing Hopkins is a master at it is avoiding taking flush punches particularly on the chin.

I don't really know what's next for BHop. He can probably still compete but he is nearly 50 and even he can't go on forever.

Just in case ya all musta forgot,
check Hopkins past 5 fights and how often he got hit compared to just 5 years ago.
Even Murat hit him flush a few times.

I would say there's a trend.

handsofstone wrote:

crow wrote:Retire.

After this non performance, the paydays will reduce drastically.

And he's getting easier and easier to hit.

Golden Boy will hoping Hopkins fights on so they could sell the "50 year old world champion" angle

I don't doubt that.
But all the mystique flew out of the window yesterday.
He didn't just lose; he never won a single round, never hurt Kovalev ( 12 rd was a trip) and was on the verge of getting stopped in that last rd.

Who's gonna pay to see an old man coming strictly to survive in the ring ?

crow wrote:I don't doubt that.
But all the mystique flew out of the window yesterday.
He didn't just lose; he never won a single round, never hurt Kovalev ( 12 rd was a trip) and was on the verge of getting stopped in that last rd.

Who's gonna pay to see an old man coming strictly to survive in the ring ?

He didn't come strictly to survive, Kovalev forced him to fight like that.

Just because Kovalev beat him easily it doesn't mean Stevenson and the rest can do the same. Kovalev might be a level or two above everyone else.

I hope he retires but we'll see.
It won't surprise me if he gets a gift title shot.

If he fights again I don't want to see him in the ring with any boxer that is relevant on the world scene at any weight.
A newbie on the way up or another aging veteran(yes, I know an "aging vet" can reasonably be someone 10-12 years younger than Hopkins).

Perseus wrote:I hope he retires but we'll see.
It won't surprise me if he gets a gift title shot.

A gift? He will fully deserve it.

He loses a fight against one of the best P4P level fighters out there, as well as one of the biggest P4P punchers, and all of a sudden he isn't world class anymore and doesn't deserve to ever fight for a world title again.

He was a unified champion only yesterday! What's wrong with people?

He won't deserve title shots because he's coming off lop-sided loss period.

The boxer coming off that kind of loss be he 29 or 49 NEVER deserves a title shot in his very next fight.

If he gets a title fight next it will be a gift from somebody hoping to cherry-pick a big name opponent.

Horse wrote:

crow wrote:I don't doubt that.
But all the mystique flew out of the window yesterday.
He didn't just lose; he never won a single round, never hurt Kovalev ( 12 rd was a trip) and was on the verge of getting stopped in that last rd.

Who's gonna pay to see an old man coming strictly to survive in the ring ?

He didn't come strictly to survive, Kovalev forced him to fight like that.

Of course.

So Pops decided he would just try to go the distance, as opposed of trying to win.
That's admitting defeat.
He stank the joint out.
Hence the crowd boos.

Perseus wrote:He won't deserve title shots because he's coming off lop-sided loss period.

The boxer coming off that kind of loss be he 29 or 49 NEVER deserves a title shot in his very next fight.

If he gets a title fight next it will be a gift from somebody hoping to cherry-pick a big name opponent.

Carl Froch & Mikkel Kessler were both dominated by Andre Ward and they both won world titles in their next fights.

crow wrote:Of course.

So Pops decided he would just try to go the distance, as opposed of trying to win.
That's admitting defeat.
He stank the joint out.
Hence the crowd boos.

He did try to win, but he couldn't do it. He tried being aggressive in the last round and it didn't work.

The crowd booed?

Horse wrote:

crow wrote:Of course.

So Pops decided he would just try to go the distance, as opposed of trying to win.
That's admitting defeat.
He stank the joint out.
Hence the crowd boos.

He did try to win, but he couldn't do it. He tried being aggressive in the last round and it didn't work.

The crowd booed?

How's that ?
Did anyone feel any urgency from Bernard when he was 9-0 rds down ?

By the way, it's quite ironic Bernard would claim in the prefight piece he had become much more fan friendly as far as engaging with your oponnent than in his younger days.

ikorolev wrote:He can probably make good money fighting Germans (Braehmer @175, Stieglitz, Abraham, Sturm @168) in Germany. Of course Chavez fight would be a good option too.

Personally I'd like to see Hopkins go out on a win in the US. Abraham is absolutely made for him imo.

How about Harry Simon in a 10 round fight?

Last night Hopkins was able to speak into the camera and his voice or speech showed no signs of slurring, yet.. That's why Hopkin's should retire..Do the right thing.

Honestly I think Hopkins has nothing to prove in this sport, he will be 50 in less than 2 months and there is no shame losing to a young, strong and skillful fighter who has been putting everyone to sleep and one who has hit Bernard with his best shots but was still unable to put him to sleep.

I didn't see any signs that says BHop should quit, yes the 12 round was a lot for him to handle but he wasn't knocked down despite taking a lot of shots and if the hardest puncher in the division couldn't take him out then a lesser fighter who doesn't possess the skillset of Kovalev should not be much of a problem for the likes of Hopkins.

I'd love to see him go out with a win after his 50th and then ride off into the sunset with a retirement victory but I don't think he should or needs to fight on any longer.

KBB wrote:Honestly I think Hopkins has nothing to prove in this sport, he will be 50 in less than 2 months and there is no shame losing to a young, strong and skillful fighter who has been putting everyone to sleep and one who has hit Bernard with his best shots but was still unable to put him to sleep.

I didn't see any signs that says BHop should quit, yes the 12 round was a lot for him to handle but he wasn't knocked down despite taking a lot of shots and if the hardest puncher in the division couldn't take him out then a lesser fighter who doesn't possess the skillset of Kovalev should not be much of a problem for the likes of Hopkins.

I'd love to see him go out with a win after his 50th and then ride off into the sunset with a retirement victory but I don't think he should or needs to fight on any longer.

He was knocked down in the first. Had the fight gone on another 30 seconds or so I'm pretty sure he'd have been knocked out, he was getting absolutely battered in the end.

KBB wrote:Honestly I think Hopkins has nothing to prove in this sport, he will be 50 in less than 2 months and there is no shame losing to a young, strong and skillful fighter who has been putting everyone to sleep and one who has hit Bernard with his best shots but was still unable to put him to sleep.

I didn't see any signs that says BHop should quit, yes the 12 round was a lot for him to handle but he wasn't knocked down despite taking a lot of shots and if the hardest puncher in the division couldn't take him out then a lesser fighter who doesn't possess the skillset of Kovalev should not be much of a problem for the likes of Hopkins.

I'd love to see him go out with a win after his 50th and then ride off into the sunset with a retirement victory but I don't think he should or needs to fight on any longer.

The Hopkin's barometer is Kovalev who is the best 175 pound fighter out there. So the loss to Kovalev might mean to some that Hopkins could fight a lessor opponent and still be successful. Im not so certain that's a given either after watching Hopkins getting thoroughly dominated. That loss last night was almost as bad as a knockout or stoppage loss.

It is true, Hopkins has become easier to hit, but he still has one of the best defenses in the game.

Kovalev didn't really hit Hopkins all that much throughout the majority of the fight. However, when he did land, it looked thunderous.

Retire. I did not like what I saw in the last minute of the 12th. Hopkins doesn't need to turn into Toney. That was a bad beating. Yeah, he still has a chance to beat Stevenson but he'd take some shots doing so, and the reward for taking any more punishment isn't enough - people would just say Stevenson was a bum. What's the point? Get out of this thankless sport with your brains still intact.

Retirement - he is 50 years old. Not even Sugar Ray Robinson carried on that long.

I saw Oscar mentioned a fight with Chavez Jr at 168-170. That is an interesting option.

He ate some really nasty punches in the last couple of rounds. It was anyone but Hopkins it might have been stopped in the 12th.

I'd really prefer to see him retire but if he must fight on, maybe another vet like Bute or Campillo would be good.