Bernard Hopkins Defends His Light Heavyweight Title

The judges saw the fight 117-111, 117-111 and 116-112 respectively in favor of the 42 year old Bernard " The Executioner" Hopkins (48-4-1, 32 KOs) who defeated Ronald "Winky" Wright (51-4-1, 25 KOs) to retain his light heavyweight title at Mandalay Bay in the "City of Lights", Las Vegas. This defeat ends Wright's 7-year unbeaten streak. He hadn't lost since his highly controversial bout with Fernando Vargas back in 1999. Many thought the fight was going to be boring considering that both fighters are primarily defensive fighters who rely on counter punching. It was however a very entertaining bout in which both fighters attacked with much more consistency than any of their previous fights. Hopkins, the long reigning middleweight champion, moved up to light heavyweight for his last bout when easily dominated Antonio Tarver to win the title. Before the Tarver fight took place Hopkins had stated that he would retire regardless of the decision, but he just couldn't stay away. Hopkins decided to come back to fight Wright, the former undisputed middleweight champ and top middleweight contender.

Even though it was apparent that Hopkins could no longer fight for a full 3 minute round, his combination punching was solid. According to the Compubox stats Hopkins landed 152 of 640 punches (24 percent) while Wright landed 167 of 618 blows (21 percent). There was however some controversy (isn't there always?) because Hopkins, who had been billed a dirty fighter by Winky in the days leading up to the bout, used his head a lot. He was never docked a point though by referee Robert Byrd but that didn't stop Winky from complaining about it after the fight. "I won the fight," said Wright, "It was a dirty fight. He was head butting all day. I went up to fight the best. I still want to fight the best. I thought I won the fight, but it was a close fight." When interviewed after the fight Hopkins said both fighters respected each other and added this, "I want Joe Calzaghe (current Super Middleweight Champion) next," Hopkins said. "Tell him to come on over here (the man is from Wales) and we'll fight. I'll beat him, too, and then he won't be undefeated." It looks like Bernard still can't pry himself away from the sport that has given him so much when he started with so little.