Can Murat, father time, walk Hopkins down?

On Saturday night at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, ageless wonder Bernard Hopkins returns to the ring to defend his IBF light heavyweight title against mandatory challenger Karo Murat. The 48-year-old legend of the sport, who turns fourty-nine shortly after the new year, continues to defy expectations and rewrite the record books as he puts the finishing touches to his incredible career.

Twenty-five years after he lost his professional debut as a 23-year-old fresh out of jail with no amateur experience, the remarkable B-Hop enters his thirty-fourth world title fight with Murat off the back of March’s record-breaking win over Tavoris Cloud. Hopkins supplanted himself as the oldest world champion in boxing history, schooling the man seventeen years his junior en route to a comfortable unanimous decision verdict.

Aged thirty, Murat (25-1-1, 15 KO’s) possesses an extra year’s age ‘advantage’ over Hopkins and heading into his first world title fight as a relatively unknown name in the States, will be extra-motivated to pull off what would be a huge upset. Having never operated anywhere near this level however, the form guide on Murat doesn’t bode well for the German’s chances. In his last five outings, he’s 3-1-1 with a knockout defeat to Nathan Cleverly and a controversial draw with Gabriel Campillo, a fight in which many thought the Spaniard deserved the nod.

Hopkins (53-6-2, 32 KO’s) has operated at the elite level since Murat was a ten-year-old boy and has forgotten more about the sweet science than the former European champion has learned. With bigger fights on the horizon for 2014 against the likes of Sergey Kovalev and Adonis Stevenson, this is expected to be a routine title defence against an opponent who suits Bernard stylistically.

But one opponent that has the number of every fighter – even if he may be taking a ridiculously long time to walk Hopkins down – is father time, and conceivably in any fight now Hopkins could grow old overnight. If he does on Saturday, maybe a motivated Murat could what very few expect him to do, beat the Philadelphia legend and finally bring an end to his career.

Murat is your typical, solid European fighter, with a high guard, does a lot well but nothing spectacular. He likes to pressure his opponents but lacks speed or significant punching power, hence why he’s tailor made for the cagey counterpuncher in Hopkins. His hope in this fight is that he can walk Bernard’s aged legs down and pin him on the ropes, impose his aggression and strength on the champion and make him look his age.

The problem for Murat however, is Hopkins doesn’t look his age, certainly not when he’s in a boxing ring and unless he’s drastically deteriorated since his last fight, the feeling is that Murat has little chance here. It’s unlikely going to be a repeat of Alvarado-Provodnikov last weekend, but what many may class a ‘boring’ fight will only benefit Hopkins; he’ll make Murat miss, he’ll clinch, hold, move off the challenger and pot-shot and counter at will.

Hopkins last stoppage victory was his 2004 body-shot knockout of Oscar De La Hoya and as he’s advanced in years and moved up in weight, Bernard has adapted his style a little due to his receding punch power. It’s been so long since he’s looked like stopping anybody, but if there’s one fight left where he stands a chance of claiming that elusive thirty-third career knockout, perhaps it’s this one. If he’s still exactly the same fighter who beat Cloud, with the levels between him and Murat and the German challenger a perfect style-match for the old master’s counter fodder, it’s not out of the realms of possibility that Hopkins wins this by stoppage.

The safe bet however is that Hopkins takes this one by unanimous decision, with Murat game early on but bewildered late and losing by a wide margin. Hopkins to win on points, to add another chapter to his legend and set up more testing ties next year.

Adonis Stevenson vs Tavoris Cloud: Will Superman fly through Thunder?

With one single left cross that possessed the force of super-breath and dropped Chad Dawson like the gravity would on Krypton, Quebec witnessed the arrival of Superman on June 8th at the Bell Centre in Montreal. The protagonist was not wearing a red cape however, or a blue costume emblazoned with a red-and-yellow “S” shield, rather the equally distinguishable yellow shorts of Detriot’s Kronk Gym, the place where this Canadian Clark Kent had cultivated his power.

Adonis ‘Superman’ Stevenson wiped out Dawson in one round to claim the WBC light heavyweight crown in his adopted home and this Saturday he returns to the Bell Centre to defend his title against a new nemesis. Tavoris ‘Thunder’ Cloud is hoping to bring the Kryptonite and re-establish himself as a force at 175lbs, after losing his aura of invincibility – and an IBF world title – against Bernard Hopkins in March.

Cloud (24-1, 19 KO’s) lost his unbeaten record against the history-making 48-year-old master, though many would argue his imposing-looking resume had already been devalued by his split-decision win over Gabriel Campillo a year earlier. Cloud had Campillo down twice, but struggled with the Spaniard for the majority of the twelve rounds and escaped with what many believe to be a controversial and ultimately very lucky decision.

No dispute can surround Stevenson’s rise to the summit of the light heavyweight ranks, with eight consecutive stoppage victories following his solitary loss, which he avenged by sixth-round knockout of Darnell Boone in his penultimate bout. The 36-year-old has awesome punching power but there’s much more in his locker including pretty underrated boxing ability and rather than free-swinging with his power shots, he sets them up methodically with jabs and feints.

Cloud possesses power that could potentially rival that of Stevenson but is more of a stereotypical puncher in that he looks for the knockout, and a pressure fighter with a high punch output. Where he lacks however is in his defensive capabilities, or at least his disregard for defending against the punches that are coming back at him, though he’s never hit the canvas and likely trumps Stevenson in his ability to take a punch.

Stevenson (21-1, 18 KO’s) was stopped by Boone in his only career defeat and would not appear to occupy the granite chin that Cloud does. Should they go toe-to-toe therefore, you’d perhaps favour Cloud to get the better of those exchanges. The 31-year-old Florida native is certainly a bigger puncher than Boone.

Then again, Stevenson will also be the hardest hitter that Cloud has faced, so although he has proven whiskers, it remains to be seen whether he can take Adonis’s power. An ideal gameplan for the champion nonetheless would be to try and keep this fight on the outside with his jab, stopping Cloud from entering his comfort zone up close and providing plenty of room to set up that huge left hand. For the challenger, getting inside Stevenson’s punching range has got to be the target where he can wear Superman down with his activity and neutralise the champion’s speed.

Forces of nature change the landscape of the light heavyweight division

In nature, nothing can change a landscape any quicker than a devastating display of power. Destruction manifests itself through waves and eruptions, quakes and tropical storms, often leaving behind a very different setting to the one that was present before that power was unleashed.

The same thing can be said about boxing and a case in point would be the light heavyweight scene right now. A relatively serene stomping ground two weeks ago, the weight class has exploded with the emergence of Adonis Stevenson and Sergey Kovalev.

First Stevenson blew away the division’s kingpin Chad Dawson with a thunderous right hand on June 8th, sending tremors through the light heavyweight ranks in taking just over a minute to strip Dawson of his WBC and Ring Magazine titles. A week later came the aftershock, when Kovalev’s heavy rain from the East submerged Cornelius White in three rounds, to become number one contender for Bernard Hopkins’ IBF crown.

175lbs hasn’t seen a storm like this for years, not since Roy Jones Jr’s reign ended with blackouts to Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson, with Hopkins and Dawson emerging as the dominant forces in the division in recent times. As epitomised by their two meetings however, the light heavyweight scene has been lacking much-needed excitement for a while. But for Hopkins’ record-breaking accomplishments, little of note has taken place at 175 and as a result the division has been suffering from a perceived lack of depth.

Sergey Kovalev blasted his way to widespread recognition last Saturday.

The career of the WBA champion Beibut Shumenov has stagnated through inactivity and WBO titleholder Nathan Cleverley is constantly derided for facing poor opposition, neither of which have been helping the image of the division and neither have world title eliminators like Tony Bellew’s two insipid affairs with Isaac Chilemba. Other names in the division, like Jean Pascal for example, have made few headlines, other than news of his cancelled fights with Tavoris Cloud and Lucian Bute through injury.

Pascal’s fight with Bute has been rescheduled, though not until December and neither man has much of an aura at present; Pascal is one win removed from his schooling by Hopkins in 2011 and Bute could well be damaged goods following his thrashing by Carl Froch at super middleweight last year. He hardly set tongues wagging with his uninspiring light heavyweight debut last November either, outpointing former kickboxer Denis Grachev.

As for Cloud, the unbeaten IBF champion until his loss to Hopkins in March, well he’d hardly been the poster boy for a glamour division. Also inactive, he hadn’t been enforcing his reputation as a big puncher with one stoppage win in the last five years. All in all, it was what looked like a pretty barren landscape.

All of a sudden however there is a buzz about the light heavyweight division once more and it’s down to the early knockouts we’ve seen over the past two weekends. Stevenson was making his debut at the weight moving up from super-middle and Kovalev, though a highly regarded contender for some time, was something of an unknown quantity to anyone other than the sport’s most ardent followers.

Each man’s devastating performance has garnered interest, as just like in nature, nothing changes boxing as quickly as that raw, natural force that is power. Excitement over potential match-ups is now brewing. The new lineal champion Stevenson has his options, with the pick of them being a unification bout with Hopkins, Kovalev also wants Hopkins, fans would no doubt love to see Kovalev-Stevenson. There’s also the promise that in the not too distant future Andre Ward will move up to light heavyweight, something that could now happen sooner rather than later with an intriguing challenge presented by the heavy hitters that have burst onto the scene.

At the time of writing, Nathan Cleverley’s team are working on getting Kovalev to Cardiff in August, a title defence that, if it materialises, should rid the Welshman of his ardent naysayers. Pascal-Bute may have gathered a head of steam by the time they eventually meet and will be a huge attraction in Canada. Who knows what’s next for Dawson or Cloud, if not each other? The likes of Bellew and Karo Murat are knocking on the door for a world title shot of what suddenly looks like a stacked division.

While a force of power in nature only leaves behind damage and destruction, power in boxing is a vital organ. In the last two weeks, it’s breathed life into a landscape that now doesn’t seem so barren after all.

Cleverly vs Krasniqi: Looking Ahead

On a huge weekend of boxing that sees two televised cards from the Western side of the Atlantic, London hosts a big bill of it’s own on Saturday night with world title action from Wembley Arena.

WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (25-0, 12 KO) makes the fifth defence of his world crown against mandatory challenger Robin Krasniqi (39-2, 15 KO), after originally being scheduled to fight the German-based Serbian on Frank Warren’s ill-fated Rule Britannia show on March 16th.

In fact, the 25-year-old Welshman was first scheduled to meet Krasniqi at the Royal Albert Hall in April of last year, before illness sidelined the champion and sent him on a different path, to defeat American Shawn Hawk on the Mares-Moreno undercard in Los Angeles in November.

In the meantime, Krasniqi retained his mandatory position with two knockout wins on German soil and after seeing a second shot at Cleverly fall through when the March 16th bill was cancelled, finally got the fight he’d been waiting for with the re-arranged date.

It is however not the fight that Nathan Cleverly has been waiting for with an eye on unification bouts for well over a year now, but as the big names continue to elude him there’s little more he can do than fulfil his mandatory obligations and retain his title. Keep winning and sooner or later, your name becomes unavoidable. Cleverly may be targeting the likes of Bernard Hopkins, but can’t afford to overlook Krasniqi.

He may be a little known entity, but continuing to keep winning is something that Krasniqi has been doing for some time. The two defeats on his slate came in his first three fights and since his last reverse he has now won thirty-eight straight, stopping his last four opponents since winning the European title in late 2011. A 41-fight veteran despite only being a year old older than Cleverly, the 26-year-old is also the more experienced of the two inside a professional ring. When you delve into his record however, you get a true picture of how valuable his experience will be.

Krasniqi’s impressive looking record is padded to say the least, with the Serbian’s biggest win a fourth round knockout over then unbeaten Serdar Sahin. Despite receiving plenty of criticism for the opposition that he has faced, Cleverly’s resume does include the stoppage of Karo Murat and a tight decision over Tony Bellew, both of whom have progressed in their own careers since and will look to win world titles in 2013.

Should Cleverly retain his title on Saturday as expected, his next defence could well come against former titleholder Juergen Braehmer. If Clev can come through that test in style, it shouldn’t be long before he gets the chance to headline shows on the other side of the Atlantic.

Image: fightnews.com

Bernard Hopkins v Tavoris Cloud: A Thunder Cloud over history?

Bernard Hopkins stands on the brink of making history yet again this Saturday, when he challenges IBF light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Hopkins will bid to break his own record as boxing’s oldest ever world champion, after dethroning Jean Pascal in May 2011 at the tender age of 46 years, 4 months and 6 days.

When Hopkins (52-6-2, 32 KOs) enters the ring against Cloud he will be a sprightly 48, stepping through the ropes to face an unbeaten 31-year-old with a knockout percentage of 79%. Even as an ex-champion, at his age you’d be forgiven for watching world title fights from the sofa, allowing the middle-age paunch to take it’s course in your slippers and your dressing gown, thankful you no longer have to take the punishment.

But not old B-Hop, ‘The Executioner’, who with each year that passes defies father time with further accomplishments inside the squared circle. For over a decade, boxing’s Peter Pan has been converting non-believers to the point where fans and so-called experts of the sport have given up predicting his demise. You wouldn’t give any other 48-year-old a chance with Cloud, but you can’t write off Bernard Hopkins.

Cloud (24-0, 19 KOs) might well be 17 years Hopkins junior but there is no doubt that his fifth title defence will be by far the toughest test of his career. It’s over a year since the Tallahassee Florida native’s last fight ended with a split-decision victory over tough Spanish contender Gabriel Campillo. Prior to that outing in February 2012, Cloud’s biggest scalps had been points victories over Glen Johnson and Clinton Woods, the latter the bout in which he won his IBF crown in 2009.

As both his record and his alias of ‘Thunder’ might suggest, Cloud is a heavy hitter but only has one knockout victory in his last five, an eighth-round stoppage of recent Carl Froch victim Yusaf Mack. Cloud typically tries to outmuscle and outwork his opponents and rarely takes a backward step. That may well be his undoing against Hopkins.

The Philadelphia veteran has been at his impressive best against aggressive front-foot fighters in the past, bewildering them with the wily tricks and spoiling tactics that supplement his effective counter-punching. When you add into the equation how Cloud struggled with Campillo and was picked apart as the southpaw retreated, plus the precision that Hopkins is renowned for and the holes in Cloud’s defence even when he has his guard up, it all adds up for master B-Hop schooling another lively upstart.

A prime Bernard Hopkins outboxes Tavoris Cloud, no question. The problem is that at 48, regardless of his relative achievements since the big four-O, Hopkins is not in, nor is he anywhere near his prime. In his last fight, the rematch with Chad Dawson, Hopkins’ reflexes appeared to have waned considerably and he looked to have slowed since his history-making victory over Pascal, which was by no means vintage Hopkins. He can no longer fight at full pace for an entire round and his clinching and spoiling has become more prevalent. Age catches up with every man. Father time could well lend Cloud a helping hand.

But never write off Bernard Hopkins!

> The curious case of Bernard Hopkins. . .

Image: copyright Rich Kane – Hoganphotos/Golden Boy Promotions