Gennady Golovkin has been a force at middleweight for several years but hasn’t been able to secure a bout with a high-profile opponent. One name that does interest Golovkin’s promoter is 51-year-old Bernard Hopkins.
Reigning WBA and IBF middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) is set to fight Dominic Wade in an HBO Boxing main event on April 23rd, which will run completely secondary to UFC 197: Cormier vs. Jones 2 as far as combat sports is concerned. Golovkin is angling to unify all of the 160 lbs belts (WBA/IBF/WBC/WBO), which includes a potential matchup with Mexican star Canelo Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) in the fall.
One of the biggest problems for “GGG” over the years has been getting opponents with considerable name-value. That’s easier said than done in a division like middleweight, but a problem nonetheless. With that in mind, one former middleweight champion in consideration for a potential showdown at super middleweight (168 lbs) … and he’s 51 years old.
K2 Promotions managing director Tom Loeffler told BoxingScene.com that Bernard Hopkins (55-7-2, 31 KOs), who hasn’t fought in nearly 2 years, is looking for one last fight in his illustrious career. Loeffler claims that Hopkins is interested in a fight with GGG, which Loeffler considers an “interesting fight.” He also stated that Hopkins is also the biggest name Kovalev has fought to date, and that he’d be a “great opponent for Gennady.”
Hopkins was once the world’s #1 middleweight, with his most emphatic 12th round knockout win coming against Felix Trinidad in 2001. He held his status as #1 until a pair of losses to Jermain Taylor in 2005. Hopkins eventually moved up to light heavyweight, where he won the WBC title before losing a rematch to Chad Dawson in 2012. He made history in 2013, at the age of 48, with his decision win over Tavoris Cloud, becoming the oldest fighter to win a major boxing title. After a pair of successful title defenses, Hopkins was dropped once and soundly dominated by Sergey Kovalev in November 2014. Kovalev came closer than anyone to becoming the first man to knock Hopkins out, but Bernard survived the 12 rounds.
I’m not sure there’s any upside to Golovkin fighting 2016 Bernard Hopkins at any weight class, so I have a feeling that Loeffler’s interest won’t lead to any serious push to make this fight happen (presumably) in the fall. If this doesn’t pan out, we can always have Ken Shamrock vs. Bernard Hopkins in Bellator (I kid I kid. I think.)