by Fago Franklin
On October, 26, 2013 Bernard Hopkins (48) had become the oldest man to ever fight in the ring. He had fought Karo Murat who was much younger than him. As of late, Hopkins had a series of nick names that he has given himself. Just a few days ago he had called himself an alien.
Hopkins insists he has retired “The Executioner” persona that has defined him for most of the last two decades. “I am an alien,” Hopkins said, “because I am of this world, but I’m not from this world.”
Hopkins proved his commitment toward The Alien alias at a recent workout in his Philadelphia gym, taking jabs at the bag dressed in black shorts, red shirt, and a gray mask with egg-shaped purple eyes, a sneak preview of what he’ll wear on his walk to the ring at Boardwalk Hall.
“You stick around this long,” trainer Naazim Richardson said, “you can come out in a diaper, if you want to.”
Karo Murat is the opponent that Hopkins will face and he talks about the way Hopkins reacts in the ring. “You see the mileage on him,” “So to me he looks like a 48 year old. He doesn’t have the speed anymore he may have had at 30 years old. He tries to clinch a lot and to win the fight through his experience, and that’s it.”
Hopkins is currently boxing’s IBF light heavyweight titlist, breaking his own mark as the oldest major champion in the sport’s history, long since surpassing George Foreman winning the heavyweight title in 1994 at age 45.
Hopkins had indicated that after he hangs up the gloves maybe he would write a book or entertain the thought of making a movie. “I see a book and a movie right around the corner, I just don’t know when and what time but I got faith and understanding that timing is everything. I really believe that,” Hopkins told USA TODAY Sports in a recent phone interview. “It’s been unusual just in my personal life, let alone adding on for good measure, my athletic life, my historic life in sports.
“This is my time of doing this as the only fighter and arguably as the only athlete, respectively, at this level. That’s a big thing, man. To me, that’s a big thing.”