Bernard Hopkins: Ageless stats

19
May
Bernard Hopkins, who turned 46 in January, will attempt to become the oldest champion in boxing history when he challenges RING light heavyweight champ Jean Pascal on Saturday in Montreal. The fight, which will be televised by HBO in the U.S. (and distributed live on pay-per-view in Canada), is a rematch. Hopkins held the 28-year-old champ to a majority draw last December.
Here are some statistics that illustrate the former undisputed middleweight champ and former RING light heavyweight champ's amazing longevity.
Hopkins was born in 1965. In that same year:
-
Lyndon B. Johnson was President of the United States;
-
The first U.S. combat troops were deployed to Vietnam;
-
Malcom X was assassinated;
-
The Beatles performed the first stadium concert in the history of rock and roll at Shea Stadium in New York.
Also:
-
The world's population has doubled since Hopkins' birth year (the population went from 3,334,874,000 in 1965 to 6,775,235,700 in 2011).
-
Hopkins entered Graterford State Penitentiary the year Pascal was born (1982).
-
Pascal was barely six years old when Hopkins fought his first professional fight (1988).
-
When Hopkins won his first world title against Segundo Mercado on April 29, 1995, Pascal was only 12 years old.
-
At the time of Pascal's first professional fight (Feb. 3, 2005 against Justin Hahn), Hopkins had already fought 49 professional fights and was preparing to fight Howard Eastman on Feb. 19, 2005 in his 20th defense of his middleweight crown.
-
Hopkins' career has spanned nearly 23 years, seven U.S. presidential terms and 11 Olympic Games.
-
Thirty-one of Hopkins' 58 professional fights were against opponents younger than him.
-
Hopkins has won two fights (against Kelly Pavlik and Enrique Ornelas) where there was at least a 15 year or more age differential between him and his opponent (Pavlik was 17 years younger and Ornelas was 15 years younger).
-
There is an 18 year age difference between Pascal and Hopkins, the largest in Hopkins' career.