It wasn’t history being made as much as it was history repeating itself last night at Barclays Center. Bernard Hopkins made another undefeated fighter look like an amateur.
Using all the craftiness and skill gained during his long career, the 48-year-old Hopkins captured the IBF light heavyweight title with a unanimous decision over Tavoris Cloud.
Hopkins extended his record of being the oldest fighter to capture a world title. He had set the record at age 46 by beating Jean Pascal for a light heavyweight title.
And if you think Hopkins is ready to call it quits, think again.
As soon as the bell ended, the Philadelphia native began jawing with super middleweight champion Andre Ward, who was serving as a ringside announcer for HBO. A Hopkins-Ward fight would be worthy of pay-per-view. It promises to be better than Hopkins-Cloud was last night.
“I stuck to the game plan,” Hopkins said. “It was trying to throw combination punches and trying to throw them often. In my other fights, I was doing just one punch. If I did combination punches, we knew he wouldn’t be able to adjust to that style of fighting.
“I found my rhythm in the fourth or fifth round and things became easy. I have a history of destroying young champions. I don’t know if you’ll see Tavoris Cloud again.”
Like Pascal, Cloud (24-1, 19 KOs) gave Hopkins (53-6-2, 32 KOs) much respect and too much room to implement his game plan. It took until the third round before the champion began to press the action, landing a sharp right to the side of Hopkins’ head.
It got chippy at the end of the third when the two exchanged punches after the bell, drawing the ire of referee Earl Brown, who warned both fighters about the antics.
Hopkins often has been accused of being a less than clean fighter. In the sixth round, Cloud complained about an elbow. Seconds later, blood began dripping from his left eye. Brown stopped the action to have doctors inspect the injury. When the fight resumed, Cloud tried to turn aggressive.
But Cloud, 31, didn’t do enough damage to put Hopkins in trouble. The old sage fought off the ropes, picking his spots to land quick hooks. He also played to the crowd that cheered his every gimmick.
Cloud didn’t make Hopkins work as hard as he planned and gave him far too much room. Hopkins would circle to his right, then to his left, wait for Cloud to attack then either stop him with a jab or counter him with a right hand over Cloud’s left. Hopkins also managed to connect on a couple of combinations that were reminiscent of his days as a middleweight. It was easy work.
By the later rounds, Hopkins was in total control. Cloud couldn’t figure him out while Hopkins used quick flurries to score points.
Two judges scored it 116-112 for Hopkins, the other had it 117-111.
“I was only average tonight,” Cloud said. “He hit me with an elbow, but I’m not complaining. It is what it is. The good thing about boxing is we do it inside the ring without guns and everybody lives to fight another day.”