Bernard Hopkins does not stop fighters, nor does he have an exciting style, nor a Spanish last name. However, in Mayweather-like fashion,n he keeps us watching for other reasons. He breaks records for age and defenses, wins multiple weight class championships, etc. He is also a great interview, and usually has some kind of personality quirk that emerges in the buildup to any fight. This time, he switched things up by actually exchanging with a safe mandatory, much the same way he surprised us with action against Howard Eastman nearly 9 years ago.
He was given as good as he got in dirty fighting, and as usual found a way to make sure his opponent was the only one penalized. He did everything to discombobulate Murat, including kissing and showboating. As long as he has the stamina and chin, and at least some of his old moves, he will be around. B-Hop is not running out of age, so much as he is running out of beatable opponents. Shumenov and Cleverly may lose in an action fight, but Kovalav and Stevenson would likely be favored. Ditto Ward or Mayweather if he moves down. Hopkins even hinted at moving up, but who he would face that would be worthwhile is beyond me.
The only controversy on this night, however, was in the co-main event. There are many things about Quillin's TKO over Rosado that bother me. The first is the issue of the scoring. Judges were clearly auditioning for more work from Golden Boy and Al Haymon... scoring a very even fight as a whitewash for champion Quillin. If the bout was not stopped, we were headed for an atrocious decision. Much like Chavez-Vera, we can whine all we want. Those judges will be back again, until we totally revamp boxing scoring. The second is the style that Quillin used. It was fairly effective on this night, but did Kid Chocolate make his case as a solid opponent for GGG? Not really.
The third is the obvious.... the cut eye stoppage. For me, it becomes a labor issue at a certain point.. and while we don't seem to question a state athletic commission's right to stop fights for any reason, maybe we should. Gabriel Rosado was performing quite well, when he suffered a bad cut, in a bad place. He was not even slowed down, much less impaired by the blood. If a fighter is close to losing an eyelid, or hopelessly behind against an opponent he cannot hurt, that is one thing, but Rosado was very much in this fight, and not deterred or impaired at all. Normally a protest would be in order, but Rosado didn't deserve a title shot in the first place, so good luck with that.
Chris Strait
www.convictedartist.com
