48-year-old Bernard Hopkins wins IBF light heavyweight title, breaks own record

Setting a record once was not enough for Bernard Hopkins. At 48 years of age, Hopkins broke his own record to become the oldest man to ever win a world title in boxing anew, by defeating Tavoris Cloud at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Saturday (Sunday, PHL time), claiming the IBF light heavyweight title in the process. Hopkins won via unanimous decision with the judges rendering scores of 116-112, 117-111, 116-112. Two years ago, Hopkins defeated Jean Pascal to win the WBC light heavyweight title, which made him the oldest to win a world title at 46 years of age. He lost that title to Chad Dawson last April but the legendary fighter knew he still had it in him to win one more. Before Hopkins, it was George Foreman who held this record. At age 45, Foreman knocked out Michael Moorer to win the heavyweight title back in 1994, but at that stage of his career, Foreman looked all of his 45-year-old self, relying only on his power to get the win. The same can’t be said for Hopkins. The Philadelphia native has perfected the art of fighting in spurts to conserve his gas. He uses a lot of tactics to take his opponents out of their comfort zone and prevent them from getting any kind of rhythm. Against Cloud, Hopkins again used his unique style of fighting and holding. He conserves his energy by attacking in spurts and tying up his opponent the rest of the time. Cloud knew that this was going to be his opponent’s strategy but he could do nothing to turn the tide to his favor. With the win, Hopkins improved his record to 53 wins with only six losses and two draws. On the other hand, Cloud suffered the first defeat of his career in 25 fights. - AMD, GMA News