Bernard Hopkins should be remembered as the best pure middleweight since Marvin Hagler. Although The Executioner might not have beaten the “Marvelous” bald one, they would have had a hell of a fight, and there is a case to put Hopkins alongside him in the all‑time top 10 of the division. However, his legacy will be tarnished by the very quality that made him so formidable for so long: pride.
At the Forum in Inglewood, California, on Saturday night, in the eighth round of the 65th and last fight of his 28-year career, Hopkins, who will be 52 next month, was knocked through the ropes and out of his sport. He was left lying flat on his back on the floor, surrounded by concerned officials and TV operatives, as he stared up at a conqueror 24 years younger than him, one Joe Smith Jr. It was not the farewell he had anticipated.
Related: Bernard Hopkins knocked out of ring in final fight of 28-year career
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