IBF light heavyweight titleholder Bernard Hopkins will make the first defense of his belt against mandatory challenger Karo Murat of Germany on Oct. 19 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, according to Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer.

Hopkins (53-6-2, 32 knockouts) defeated Tarvoris Cloud to win the title March, extending the 48-year-old’s own record as the oldest man to win a significant crown.

A former undisputed middleweight champion and RING light heavyweight champion, Hopkins originally set the mark by outpointing Jean Pascal to win the WBC light heavyweight belt at 46 in May of last year.

A 29-year-old resident of Kitzingen, Germany, Murat (25-1-1, 15 KOs) is 3-0-1 with two knockouts since being stopped in the 10th round in September of 2010 by WBO light heavyweight beltholder Nathan Cleverly.

No network has been finalized.

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]