Bernard Hopkins May Fight for Final Time in London

Philadelphia's Bernard Hopkins, the oldest man to ever win a world championship boxing title, may fight one last time in London this year.

Bernard Hopkins

Photo | Michael M. Koehler

Last November, Sergey Kovalev pounded Bernard Hopkins in fight in Atlantic City. He won via unanimous decision, and people speculated: Was this the end for B-Hop?

After all, Hopkins said post-fight he’d probably retire unless something intriguing came along. He also turned 50 in January. But it appears he’s found something interesting. Today he tells longtime Daily News boxing scribe Bernard Fernandez he’s looking for one last fight — in London.

The plan is for Hopkins to fight against IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale, who took the belt from Andre Dirrell last month. The fight would be televised on HBO.

“I’m interested in beating a guy up,” Hopkins told Fernandez, “the same guy that beat up Dirrell.”

Bernard Hopkins is 55-7-2 with 32 knockouts. His first professional fight, which he lost, came in 1988 at Resorts in Atlantic City. He’s fought plenty in his native in Philadelphia, from the Blue Horizon to the Northeast Philly Armory to the Spectrum to the Liacouras Center. His final fight would be his first in Europe since a 1992 fight in Paris, according to Boxrec.

His potential opponent, London native Direll, is 21-1 with 14 KOs.

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