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Bernard Hopkins (born January 15, 1965)
—nicknamed The Executioner— is a
professional boxing|boxer from Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania|Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (United
States|USA), and is regarded by experts to be
among the ten best weight for weight fighters in
the world. Hopkins successfully defended the
middleweight title a record twenty times and was
undefeated for 12 years between 1993 and 2005.
From his victory over Oscar De La Hoya in
September 2004 until his loss to Jermain Taylor in
July 2005, Hopkins was the undisputed holder of
the championship belts from all 4 major
sanctioning bodies (WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO). In
addition, he was awarded the coveted linear 'Ring
Belt' after defeating Felix Trinidad in September
2001. His career record stands at 46 wins, three
losses, one draw, and one no contest with 32
knockouts.

==Biography==
Hopkins was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and
grew up in a rough section of town, where he got
involved in crime and gang activity at a young
age. Today, he describes himself as a "thug" in
his youth and regrets that it took a stint in
prison for him to turn his life around.

Late in 1982, when Hopkins was in the 11th grade,
he was convicted and sentenced to 18 years in the
state penitentiary for armed robbery. While
incarcerated, he decided to turn his life around.
Hopkins studied for and earned his high school
diploma, and also began to take part in boxing
again, which he had done off and on as a youth.
During four years and eight months in prison,
Hopkins won the national penitentiary middleweight
championship three times.

He was a model prisoner by all accounts, and was
paroled in 1988, as soon as he was eligible. He
immediately joined the professional boxing ranks
as a light heavyweight, losing his debut on
October 11, 1988 in Atlantic City, New Jersey to a
fighter named Clinton Mitchell. But he showed
enough in the loss that respected trainer Bouie
Fisher took him on. After a 16-month layoff,
resumed his career as a middleweight, winning a
unanimous decision over Greg Paige on February 22,
1990.

Between February 1990 and September 1992, Hopkins
worked his way through the ranks of middleweight
journeymen, scoring 20 wins without a loss. He won
15 of those fights by knockout, 11 coming in the
first round.

That earned him an opportunity for his first
title, the USBA regional middleweight belt. True
to form, he knocked out fringe contender Wayne
Powell in the first round on December 4, 1992 and
moved into the list of top 10 contenders for a
world title shot.

His first chance at a world title came on May 22,
1993 in Washington, DC, when he faced Roy Jones
Jr. for the vacant International Boxing
Federation|IBF middleweight belt. Hopkins, who was
still inexperienced against top fighters,
nevertheless went the distance with Jones before
losing a unanimous decision. Hopkins retained his
world ranking and defended his USBA belt three
further times while waiting for another world
title shot.

Jones abandoned the middleweight ranks in 1994,
and the IBF came again knocking at Hopkins's door
on December 17 of that year, matching him with
Segundo Mercado in Mercado's hometown of Quito,
Ecuador. Mercado knocked Hopkins down twice and
built a big lead on the scorecards before Hopkins
rallied late and earned a draw. The IBF called for
a rematch, and on April 29, 1995, Hopkins became a
world champion with his seventh-round technical
knockout of Mercado in Landover, Maryland.

After winning the title, Hopkins followed the
example of former world middleweight champion
Marvin Hagler|Marvelous Marvin Hagler and followed
a strict training regimen to keep his weight at or
below the division limit of 160 pounds (73 kg).
Meanwhile, he fought the toughest available
competition and was soon considered by many as the
best world middleweight titleholder. By the end of
2000, he had defended the IBF title 12 times
without a loss, while beating such standouts as
John David Jackson, Glencoffe Johnson, Simon
Brown, and Antwun Echols.

The arrival of multiple-division champion Félix
Trinidad into the middleweight ranks set off a
series of unification fights between major
titleholders. On April 14, 2001, Hopkins won a
unanimous decision over World Boxing Council|WBC
champion Keith Holmes in New York City. Then, on
September 29, World Boxing Association|WBA
champion Trinidad challenged Hopkins for all three
belts in Madison Square Garden.

For the first time in many years, Hopkins was an
underdog in the betting. He was on his way to a
lopsided decision victory when, in the 12th and
final round, he floored Trinidad and referee Steve
Smoger called a halt to the fight. It was the
first loss of Trinidad's career, and made Hopkins
the first undisputed world middleweight champion
since Marvin Hagler in 1987.

He has defended the undisputed title five times
since. Hopkins bested Carl Daniels on February 2,
2002 by tenth-round technical knockout; Morrade
Hakkar on March 29, 2003 by eighth-round TKO;
William Joppy on December 13, 2003 by unanimous
decision; and Robert Allen (boxer)|Robert Allen on
June 5, 2004, also by unanimous decision.

In the biggest fight of his career, Hopkins fought
six-division titleholder Oscar De La Hoya for the
undisputed middleweight championship on September
18, 2004 in Las Vegas. Hopkins won the bout with a
knockout in the ninth round. He said he ended the
De La Hoya fight with a perfect punch to the
liver.  "Chopped liver with Hopkins sauce," he
said.

De la Hoya soon thereafter invited Hopkins to join
his boxing promotional firm, Golden Boy
Promotions, as president of its new east coast
chapter. Their alliance was announced publicly on
November 20, 2004. Hopkins is expected to sign and
guide the careers of young east coast fighters,
including several from his hometown of
Philadelphia. 

Hopkins reached his stated goal of 20 title
defenses on February 19, 2005 against Howard
Eastman, the European middleweight champion.
However, in his next fight on July 16, 2005,
Hopkins, who had not been defeated since 1993,
lost his undisputed middleweight title to the
undefeated Jermain Taylor. Hopkins started slowly
against his younger opponent, dropping the first
four rounds.  Finally Hopkins heated up, becoming
more active in the middle rounds, then battering
Taylor throughout the tenth and eleventh rounds,
staggering him with a series of punches.  Despite
his late fury, it was not enough to overcome his
inactivity in the first half of the fight.  Taylor
won by a split decision. It should be noted
however, that press row had the fight almost
unanimously for Hopkins with 116-112 being the
most common score.  A rematch has been
provisionally scheduled for later in 2005.

Previous plans to step up to 175 pounds to face
the consensus light-heavyweight champion, Antonio
Tarver and rival Roy Jones Jr seem unlikely if a
rematch with Taylor goes ahead.  Should he regain
the Undisputed Middleweight title, a rubber match
with Taylor will likely be the last fight of his
career, as he has maintained that he had promised
his late mother that he would retire before his
41st birthday.

== External links ==
*http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=
001414 Record