Bernard Hopkins. Photo courtesy of allboxing.ru
48-y.o. American boxer Bernard Hopkins is ready to fight Kazakhstan’s boxer, WBA and IBO world champion Gennady Golovkin, also known as GGG,Vesti.kz reports. Hopkins got the IBF champion’s title by winning over Tavoris Cloud in 12-round fight on March 9. Tom Leffler, Golovkin’s promoter said that Kazakhstan boxer was ready to move up in weight by two weight divisions to face Hopkins and contest his title. “It was right around the Cloud fight. He said 'we don't have to do it at 170, we can do it at 175. All I'm saying is 'here I am baby.' You don't hear me calling out a little guy. They are looking to make history. They think 'if Bernard did it then I can do it' when I went up to fight Tarver. Triple G is calling out Bernard Hopkins, the TV networks like his style. I commend a guy who is 15 pounds lighter, that is trying to do what I did already, and that's leaving 160 to go to 175. I thought maybe it's emotional because the guy who trains [Tavoris] Cloud - [Abel Sanchez] - is the same guy who trains him. But if he keeps talking, some of these guys in the industry will tell him 'be quiet, don't [do it]'," Hopkins told Boxingscene.com. Hopkins will have to defend his title against mandatory challenger Germany’s Karo Murat in July or August. This match will be held either in Barclays Center in New York (USA) or in Boardwalk Hall (Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA). Meanwhile Golovkin, who has experienced no defeats during his professional career, will defend his belts against British Matthew Macklin, two-time middleweight champion challenger, on June 29. Bernard Humphrey Hopkins, Jr., known as The Executioner is an American boxer. Hopkins is most widely known for his career in the middleweight class, where he held at least a piece of the championship in that class from 1994 until 2005. Having held the International Boxing Federation's middleweight title first, he unified the titles of all three of boxing's major sanctioning bodies in 2001 by winning the World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council titles. In 2004 Hopkins, having added The Ring middleweight championship to his resume as well, became the first middleweight to have held all four of what are considered the major belts when he won the World Boxing Organization's championship from Oscar De La Hoya. Having defended a world middleweight title a record 20 times before losing the title in 2005, he is considered one of the greatest middleweight champions of all time. The Ring ranked him #3 on their list of the "10 best middleweight title holders of the last 50 years." He had 63 fights in total, won 53 (32 KOs), lost 6, drew 2 and the remaining 2 were no contests. Gennady Golovkin is an undefeated boxer from Kazakhstan who competed in the Middleweight (75 kg) division at the 2004 Summer Olympics and won the silver medal. He is the current WBA and IBO Middleweight Champion. With an 88% knockout percentage rate, Golovkin holds the greatest KO ratio in middleweight championship history and is 1st amongst all active current and former champions, and 3rd in overall championship history. He has never been knocked down or knocked out in 375 fights, both as a professional and amateur. He had to total of 26 fights winning all of them (23 with KOs).
48-y.o. American boxer Bernard Hopkins is ready to fight Kazakhstan’s boxer, WBA and IBO world champion Gennady Golovkin, also known as GGG,Vesti.kz reports.
Hopkins got the IBF champion’s title by winning over Tavoris Cloud in 12-round fight on March 9. Tom Leffler, Golovkin’s promoter said that Kazakhstan boxer was ready to move up in weight by two weight divisions to face Hopkins and contest his title.
“It was right around the Cloud fight. He said 'we don't have to do it at 170, we can do it at 175. All I'm saying is 'here I am baby.' You don't hear me calling out a little guy. They are looking to make history. They think 'if Bernard did it then I can do it' when I went up to fight Tarver. Triple G is calling out Bernard Hopkins, the TV networks like his style. I commend a guy who is 15 pounds lighter, that is trying to do what I did already, and that's leaving 160 to go to 175. I thought maybe it's emotional because the guy who trains [Tavoris] Cloud - [Abel Sanchez] - is the same guy who trains him. But if he keeps talking, some of these guys in the industry will tell him 'be quiet, don't [do it]'," Hopkins told Boxingscene.com.
Hopkins will have to defend his title against mandatory challenger Germany’s Karo Murat in July or August. This match will be held either in Barclays Center in New York (USA) or in Boardwalk Hall (Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA).
Meanwhile Golovkin, who has experienced no defeats during his professional career, will defend his belts against British Matthew Macklin, two-time middleweight champion challenger, on June 29.
Bernard Humphrey Hopkins, Jr., known as The Executioner is an American boxer. Hopkins is most widely known for his career in the middleweight class, where he held at least a piece of the championship in that class from 1994 until 2005. Having held the International Boxing Federation's middleweight title first, he unified the titles of all three of boxing's major sanctioning bodies in 2001 by winning the World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council titles. In 2004 Hopkins, having added The Ring middleweight championship to his resume as well, became the first middleweight to have held all four of what are considered the major belts when he won the World Boxing Organization's championship from Oscar De La Hoya.
Having defended a world middleweight title a record 20 times before losing the title in 2005, he is considered one of the greatest middleweight champions of all time. The Ring ranked him #3 on their list of the "10 best middleweight title holders of the last 50 years."
He had 63 fights in total, won 53 (32 KOs), lost 6, drew 2 and the remaining 2 were no contests.
Gennady Golovkin is an undefeated boxer from Kazakhstan who competed in the Middleweight (75 kg) division at the 2004 Summer Olympics and won the silver medal. He is the current WBA and IBO Middleweight Champion. With an 88% knockout percentage rate, Golovkin holds the greatest KO ratio in middleweight championship history and is 1st amongst all active current and former champions, and 3rd in overall championship history. He has never been knocked down or knocked out in 375 fights, both as a professional and amateur.
He had to total of 26 fights winning all of them (23 with KOs).