Bernard Hopkins AFP FILE PHOTO
LOS ANGELES—Bernard Hopkins, boxing’s oldest-ever world champion at age 46, will try to stretch his historic reign next week and says that while he does not plan to fight at 50, retirement is not on his mind.
“I can’t think about winning and retiring at the same time,” Hopkins said Wednesday. “I’m in a good place right now. I would rather be defending a title than trying to win one. I’m enjoying the moment.”
Hopkins, 52-5 with two drawn and 32 knockouts, will defend his World Boxing Council light-heavyweight title against 29-year-old US southpaw Chad Dawson, 30-1 with 17 knockouts, on October 15 at Los Angeles.
“Whatever Chad Dawson brings to the table, I will beat him,” Hopkins said. “Youth normally wins. The old goes out and new comes in. That’s the battle. He brings 17 years younger. Bigger. Stronger.
“The youth wants to take the lion that is in the jungle and retire him. I’m just not ready to go. He’s going to come all guns blazing. So am I.”
A victory would ensure Hopkins carries his reign past his 47th birthday on January 15, extending the age mark he took from George Foreman last May with a unanimous decision over Canada’s Jean Pascal.
“I want to stay in the game, still do something special in the game,” said Hopkins. “That means I have to be the guy who makes the excitement. That’s a risk for me. I understand that. But I’m saving the best for last.
“When I leave, I’m going to leave with fireworks, the grand finale. The last fight you see will be exciting.”
Don’t expect that to be next week, although Hopkins warns that he was only joking when he said he would be fighting at age 50 like Archie Moore.
“I just wanted to torture anyone who wanted me to go away. I was just having some fun,” Hopkins said. “I will not be fighting when I’m 50 years old. It will not be a good health risk. I will enjoy it while I can.
“Everybody should enjoy me while I’m here because nothing lasts forever. When it’s time to go it’s time to go.”
Hopkins ruled the middleweight division for a decade from 1995 to 2005, the last four of those years as an undisputed champion. What drives Hopkins to stay in the ring is the challenge of a new generation of rivals.
“They come with their A-plus game. That keeps me on my game,” Hopkins said.
“The fight is never really over until you die. There’s always going to be challengers, naysayers. But I’d rather be in this position, to inspire somebody I might not even know who gets knocked down to get back up.”
Dawson, trying to reclaim the crown he lost to Pascal last year in his only pro defeat, has hired former world champion Winky Wright, who lost to Hopkins in 2007, to help him prepare for what he calls Hopkins’ “dirty” tactics.
“He’s already complaining about something and we haven’t even thrown a punch yet,” Hopkins said. “He’s trying to put it out there for people that I’m a dirty fighter so people will look to see something dirty.
“And he hires Stinky Winky, a guy I sent into retirement. It’s like giving me a guy to teach me driving and he hasn’t even passed the test.”
The undercard features Venezuelan Jorge Linares, 31-1 with 20 knockouts, against Mexican southpaw Antonio DeMarco, 25-2 with one drawn and 18 knockouts, for the vacant WBC lightweight crown.