Underdog Boxing: Bernard Hopkins and the importance of taking care of your body

We have all heard about fighters who balloon in weight when they are not training for a fight, the best example of which is Ricky Hatton. Of course there are fighters whose ballooned weight is their fighting weight, i.e., Eric “Butterbean" Esch, but this is definitely the exception, not the rule. Bernard Hopkins is 46 years old but you would not have noticed that if you watched his fight against Jean Pascal. Hopkins won the WBC, IBO, and Ring Magazine light heavyweight titles with a unanimous decision victory over his much younger foe. At 28 years old, Pascal is at the prime of his career but Hopkins, whose best years are already behind him, took the fight out of his opponent’s hands. Hopkins used a unique style of fighting and holding. Because he’s not a young man anymore, Hopkins conserves his energy by attacking in spurts and tying up his opponent the rest of the time. It’s very difficult for a fighter to look good against someone like Hopkins because he takes away your rhythm and he forces you to fight his on his tempo. With that win, Hopkins now has the distinction of being the oldest man to even win a world title, taking it away from Gerorge Foreman who won the heavyweight title over Michael Moorer at age 45 back in 1994. I have all the respect in the world for Big George but Hopkins’ win is more impressive. The reason is that for older fighters, the last attribute to go is the power. The speed might not be there anymore, along with the stamina, but the power remains. And if you remember, Foreman knocked out Moorer in the tenth round after losing many of the first nine rounds. Hopkins on the other hand dominated Pascal and although the scores were close, there was no doubt that even Pascal knew Hopkins was the winner. His success must be a wake-up call to many active fighters. It is extremely important to take care of your body because you can be successful for a far longer time if you stay in shape rather than if you balloon up in weight after every fight. Hopkins is boxing’s answer to MMA’s Randy Couture. Both are wily veterans who fought on until their forties and both were beating guys who were at their primes. Hopkins is not the most likeable guy in boxing. He is brash, cocky, loud, and he plays the race card far too often. People may not with many of the things he says but he commands respect every time he fights because he is living testament that age is just a number. Hopkins displayed that heart and skill trumps age any day. It takes a lot of skill, careful match-making, and a certain stroke of luck to win a world title in boxing but to be able to do what Hopkins accomplished is truly remarkable. Hopkins, love him or hate him, is going into the boxing’s Hall Of Fame someday. -- OMG, GMA News