If he beats Jean Pascal on May 21st, the record and the title is his. What next? Archie Moore apparently. Well, not literally.
Bernard Hopkins is looking for three more fights after his rematch on May 21st with Light Heavyweight Champion Jean Pascal. On a conference call to promote the upcoming fight against Pascal, Hopkins stated that he has at least three more fights left on his contract with HBO and he wants them to be big fights against top quality opposition. It's rare these days when a fighter is willing to call out his next opponent, let alone his next three but that is more or less what The Executioner did in announcing that he wants to fight Chad Dawson (assuming Dawson gets by Adrian Diaconu), Lucian Bute, and then the winner of the Super 6 tournament.
Talk about having your work cut out for you. Hopkins not only plans to regain the Light Heavyweight Championship of the World from Champion Jean Pascal, he has ambitious plans for defending that title.
"I can give you the names of the fighters I am preparing to execute. If Chad Dawson beats Adrian Diaconu, then that fight would be in that fall. Then I would love to go back to Canada and fight Lucian Bute, and then maybe the winner of the Super 6 tournament."
Many people expect Andre Ward to emerge as the Super 6 winner. Hopkins vs Ward as B-Hop's swan song?
"To me, that would really be representing Archie Moore in a big way."
Yes indeed it would.
Archie Moore of course, reigned as Light Heavyweight Champion well into middle age, in fact he was at least 45 years old when he made his last successful defense of the light heavyweight title. Moore's true age is a matter of debate, but needless to say he was an early pioneer when it came to defending a world boxing title successfully into his 40's. George Foreman picked up where Archie Moore left off winning the heavyweight title at 45 and successfully defending it for the last time at 47.
Today, Bernard Hopkins seems to have his sights set on being not only the oldest to win a world title, but also the oldest to successfully defend it.
