BERNARD HOPKINS UNIFIES ALPHABET TITLES AT 175LBS AT AGE 49!
Las Vegas, NV-Sometimes things defy what appears to be common sense or logic, and Saturday night at the D.C. Armory in Washington D.C. that is exactly what ocurred. While Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins (55-6-2, 32 KOs)
Bernard Hopkins
was a slight favorite over 30 year old Beibut Shumenov (14-2, 9 KOs) it’s hard to fathom how a fighter who was 19 years his senior was able to dissect, and then dominate his foe with ease. Surprisingly “the Alien” had remarkable reflexes and impeccable timing as he repeatedly scored with lead right hands. Shumenov, a native of Kazakhstan, who fell into the trap early by just following Bernard Hopkins around the ring, was unable to execute any real game plan. The Kazakh even defied boxing logic as he entered the ring with no trainer,with the only presence in his corner being cutman Jacob “Stitch” Duran.
SCORING SOMEWHAT CONTROVERSIAL
Hopkins who appeared to win the majority of the rounds, scored a knockdown in round 11. Veteran judges Jerry Roth and Dave Moretti were in agreement with an equal tally of 116-111 judging every round the same. Gustavo Padilla saw a somewhat different bout as he somehow found a way to give Shumenov 7 rounds in what appeared to be a one-sided rout, scoring it 114-113 for Shumenov.
Hopkins, who adds the WBA strap to his collection of world titles sets up a possible super-fight with WBC and lineal 175lb king Adonis Stevenson (23-1, 20 KOs) if Stevenson can get by Andrzej Fonfara (25-2, 15 KOs) on May 24th.
-Kevin Perry