Bernard Hopkins eyes his record for oldest boxer to win major world title
48-year-old veteran keen to break own record of oldest fighter to take a world title
Bernard Hopkins will try to make history again as he aims to break his own record for being the oldest fighter to win a major world title when he faces unbeaten Tavoris Cloud for a light-heavyweight crown today.
The all-American showdown for Cloud's International Boxing Federation throne pits the 31-year-old champion, making his fifth title defence, against a boxer old enough to be his father.
"I'm not counting age. Everybody else is counting it," said 48-year-old Hopkins, who has won only one of his past four bouts.
"People know that I still can win a championship and beat most of these fighters out here, and they are trying to use my age as something that is a death sentence. I've been hearing 'old' since I was 35."
People know that I still can win a championship and beat most of these fighters out here, and they are trying to use my age as something that is a death sentence. I've been hearing 'old' since I was 35
Hopkins was 46 in 2011 when he beat Canada's Jean Pascal to win the World Boxing Council light-heavyweight crown, becoming the oldest fighter to win a major world title and surpassing heavyweight icon George Foreman's mark of 45.
Now 25 years after his first professional fight, Hopkins wants to make history again.