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Bernard Hopkins eyeing a return in 2016 in possible farewell bout

Fighters Network
22
Jul
Bernard Hopkins connects on Sergey Kovalev. Photo by: Naoki Fukuda

Bernard Hopkins connects on Sergey Kovalev in their 2014 fight. Photo by: Naoki Fukuda

Ring legend Bernard Hopkins recently met with Golden Boy Officials about fighting this year in a possible farewell bout, Golden Boy VP Eric Gomez told RingTV.com on Friday.

The talks were preliminary and nothing has been formally set up. But Gomez did say that Hopkins wants to fight toward the end of 2016, and he reached out to Golden Boy brass this past spring to start brainstorming ideas.

“He actually met with us a couple months back,” Gomez said in a phone interview. “He told me and Oscar (De La Hoya), ‘Look, I’m in training. I’m in the gym every day. If the right situation comes up, let me know. I’m interested.’ And that was it. And we’ve had a couple of phone calls after that.”

The 51-year-old Hopkins (55-7-2, 32 knockouts) has been coy about his future plans but has never ruled out fighting again in what could be a farewell bout, given his age. Hopkins las fought in November of 2014, losing a decision to unified light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev.



“We’ve been going over some ideas (with Hopkins),” Gomez went on. “He does want to fight again. He hasn’t retired. He keeps in shape. It would have to be something meaningful to get him back in the ring. He’s just not going to get back into the ring just for a fight. It’s not like he needs a tune-up fight or anything.”

Gomez made sure to highlight the elasticity of the talks. “He wants to fight this year, toward the end of the year,” Gomez said. “That’s what he wants. But it can go into next year if it’s not the right fight, so it’s up in the air.”

Hopkins is open to the location of the bout, meaning that if it is his retirement fight it wouldn’t necessarily have to be in his hometown of Philly. “It can be anywhere,” Gomez said. “Would he like to fight in Philly? Of course. He would love to fight in Philly but there are so many things that have to be correct. We’re talking about a legendary fighter. If it’s for a title than that would be the cherry on top.”

 

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