Happy Birthday Bernard Hopkins!

Bernard Hopkins in Atlantic City.

It’s only been a couple of months since Philly Mag’s Dan McQuade proclaimed we’d probably seen Bernard Hopkins’ last fight after losing to Sergey Kovalev.

Maybe not. AP reports the Philly legend wants to keep boxing … into his 50s.

Hopkins (55-7-2 with 32 knockouts) knows the end of his career is near. For the majority of his career, Hopkins always knew what fighter he wanted next, where he wanted to fight and negotiated his purse share. He wants to fight in his 50s but quality opponents have thinned and he might have to drop a weight class. There’s nothing left to prove, though there hasn’t been for years and Hopkins has still wiped out careers of fighters decades younger than him.

“If I fight just to fight, to me, that’s silly,” he said. “But if I fight a fight that is meaningful to me, historically meaningful and a threat, just the same or higher than Kovalev, now you’ve got my juices flowing. I will not be a circus act.”

In fact, Hopkins’ 50th birthday is today. Happy birthday to him!