Bernard Hopkins is an ageless wonder when it comes to boxing and he proved that again on Saturday, defeating Tavoris Cloud in a unanimous decision to become the oldest fighter to ever win a boxing title.
According to ESPN.com, the 48-year-old boxer took down Cloud on Saturday night to take the light heavyweight world title for the third time in his career, becoming the oldest boxer in history to win a belt. He broke his own record, which was set in 2011 at age 46 after a fight with Jean Pascal.
Hopkins dominated the second half of the fight and kept Cloud back for most of it, landing 41 percent of his punches on the night in front of a crowd that was over 12,000. According to ESPN.com, the judges gave it for Hopkins, scoring it 117-111, 116-112 and 116-112.
Hopkins improved his record to 53-6-2 with 32 Kos and now is the oldest fighter to win a title not named Hopkins since George Forman did in 1994, winning the heavyweight title at age 45.
"I want to mention two guys who I grew up in the same [figurative] house with in the '90s, Roy Jones Jr. and James Toney," Hopkins said. "I was always the third child in that house and now I can finally put the lights on."
The 175-pound title added another line on Hopkins' resume and showed that he can still fight. The 31-year-old Cloud earned his first loss and dropped to 24-1 after not being able to overcome the punches from Hopkins.
"[Trainer] Naazim [Richardson] told me what to do, and 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."
