IBR on The Cruelest Sport

“There is a natural inclination to frame any fight involving Bernard Hopkins strictly within his narrative. Since he stopped Felix Trinidad thirteen years ago, Hopkins has used his skills for fighting and filibustering to control the lenses through which the audience interprets a fight. But that changed last night. Last night, at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, Sergey Kovalev became the story. Kovalev dominated Hopkins over twelve shockingly uncompetitive rounds, and in winning a unanimous decision handed Hopkins the worst defeat of his incredible career.”

Read Passive Resistance: Sergey Kovalev W12 Bernard Hopkins on The Cruelest Sport.

IBR on The Cruelest Sport

“For years, Hopkins was boxing’s most self-righteous anti-establishmentarian, a mad rebel fit for the pages of Dostoevsky. He wore that distinction with the same defiant pride with which he sported his prison stint, jumbled teeth, and bedlamite ring attire. But Hopkins, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, embraced his role as indignant pariah for only as long as such dissentience served him. Once welcomed by the establishment, Hopkins stuffed his megaphone in his soapbox and buried both in his multi-car garage. This is what survivors do, and Hopkins, at 49 years-old, is boxing’s survivor par excellence.”

Read Old Age is a Massacre: Bernard Hopkins-Sergey Kovalev Preview on The Cruelest Sport. .

IBR on The Cruelest Sport

“In recalling a rather disastrous anecdote regarding Randall “Tex” Cobb, and commenting on sports-writing in general, John Schulian wrote that, “the sentiment still outweighs the results.” It is an idea that easily applies to the endless twilight of Bernard Hopkins. Hopkins, who won a split decision over Beibut Shumenov at the DC Armory in Washington, D.C., last night, has been dealing more in sentiment than result for as long as his age has been the focus of his fights. A 49-year-old man thriving in a bloodsport is story enough: it is a remarkable feat, and will not be reproduced. But in writing about Hopkins, the sentiments, that spectrum of color mixed from a limited palette, provide the real interest. The longer he keeps winning, the stronger those sentiments—both laudatory and critical—will become. And Hopkins, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, just keeps winning.”

Read That Sentimental Feeling: Bernard Hopkins W12 Beibut Shumenov on The Cruelest Sport.