Bernard Hopkins vs Karo Murat Fight Preview

Read my preview of this Saturdays IBF Light heavyweight title fight between Bernard Hopkins and Karo Murat on the V2 Journal

http://v2journal.com/16/post/2013/10/bernard-hopkins-vs-karo-murat-fight-preview.html


Bernard Hopkins vs Karo Murat Fight Preview

by Erman Housein

On October 26th at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall, history making Bernard Hopkins will defend his IBF Light Heavyweight Championship against top rated contender Karo Murat in a rescheduled bout from July this year. Hopkins became the oldest man in history to become a recognised World Champion (breaking his own record from 2011) when he out pointed Tavoris Cloud last September and the Philadelphia native will look to further enhance his legacy with victory number fifty four over top ranked contender Murat.  

Hopkins performances at the top level in recent years have been nothing short of remarkable for a man just shy of his fiftieth birthday. Since losing a tight decision to Joe Clazaghe in 2008, “The Executioner” has responded superbly producing victories over Enrique Ornelas, Kelly Pavlik, an albeit faded Roy Jones Jr, Jean Pascal (where he first set his record for becoming the oldest World Champion) and most recently Tavoris Cloud with only a defeat to Chad Dawson on his ledger in the past five years.

Murat has only been beaten once in his professional career when his 2010 fight with Nathan Cleverly was controversially stopped by the referee in the corner before the start of the tenth round. Responding to this defeat with back to back wins Murat would battle Gabriel Campillo to a draw at the tail end of 2011 with his only outing in 2012 a knock-out victory over unheralded Sandro Siproshvili. Inactivity over the past 18 months (including the postponement of this bout earlier in the year after being unable to obtain a US Visa) could prove a factor for the challenger who with victory in this bout would enter the mix to face the other title holders in the 175lb division.  

A huge outsider to cause an upset, Murat’s chances of success will be dependant upon in his ability to keep Hopkins at range whenever possible, avoiding close engagement, grappling or any situation where Hopkins can employ his effect inside fight tactics. Whether he can land cleanly enough on Hopkins to discourage him is a tough ask as many top tier fighters has failed to find the chin of “B-hop” regularly during a bout and it’s how the former middleweight king punishes his opponents when they fail to land their own shots which so often proves telling.

There is a case that being the busier man against Hopkins even if you’re not necessarily landing flush shots to his chin can reap its rewards. If we look at the Hopkins- Calzaghe fight for reference the judges were impressed with the work rate and aggression of Calzaghe and a lot of Hopkins best work, often undertaken on the inside and not always eye catching shots weren’t enough for him to secure the decision. Although, Cazlazghe wasn’t cleanly catching or hurting Hopkins the fact he was taking the fight to him impressed two of the three judges enough to award him the fight. Not to suggest that Murat could emulate the work rate of Joe Calzaghe but fighting at a high pace and throwing clusters of punches could make it an uncomfortable night for the Champion and perhaps sway the judges at ringside. More recently Chad Dawson was able to physically out muscle Hopkins and discourage him enough by keeping on the outside and backing him up with punches taking the inside game away from Hopkins on his way to a unanimous points victory.

We know what we will get from Hopkins in this fight, he is not suddenly going to change his style and surprise the boxing world on October 26th, he will look to frustrate and out manoeuvre his younger opponent working in close firing counter shots and working at his own pace. For Murat to have success he will need to try and make Hopkins work for long periods during each round. Despite always keeping himself in fantastic condition Hopkins knows his advanced years has limited his work rate, subsequently he has developed the knack of controlling the pace of his fights so he doesn’t have to work for three minutes per round, slowing his opponent down enabling him to fight in fits and spurts. One mistake that Tavoris Cloud made against Hopkins last year, was he simply didn’t work enough and allowed Hopkins time to catch his breath and take breaks when required. Although, to the credit of Hopkins in this bout whenever the two did engage it was Hopkins who was landing the cleaner shots which probably discouraged Cloud from wanting to engage as the fight went on.

Hopkins has made clear his desire to continue fighting past the Murat contest and he is never shy with regards to issuing challenges to the sports top box office draws, which suggests that the veteran is seeking a final mega pay day bout before he hangs up the gloves on a professional career which is currently in to it’s twenty fifth year. Hopkins has most recently had the tenacity to challenge ‘pound for pound’ king Floyd Mayweather following the latter’s recent punch perfect display against Canelo Alvaraz. Stating that he is willing to meet Mayweather at 160lbs should be taken with a pinch of salt considering that Hopkins himself hasn't fought at the middleweight limit since 2005 and Mayweather has never stated a desire to fight over 154lbs. The truth behind the challenge is likely more to do with Hopkins keeping his name linked to the sports top money makers as he continues to seek the big bouts.

More realistic fights for Hopkins could be made abroad, not a particularly huge draw in the US, bouts against either Britain's Carl Froch (whom he is has expressed an interest in facing) or Nathan Cleverly who will be looking to rebuild his career following his recent loss to Sergey Kovalev, would both sell strongly in the UK and likely offer Hopkins his greatest financial reward. We could potentially add a third Brit in to the mix if Tony Bellew can provide an upset against hard hitting Adonis Stevenson in their upcoming WBC title fight.

Obviously before any talk of Froch, Cleverly or a unification fight with the winner of Stevenson- Bellew, Hopkins will need to come through this challenge and he will be desperate to avoid any slip up here against Murat the IBF’s number one contender. When the fighters do meet in the ring like many before him Murat will have the benefit of youth on his side, but unless you have the physical attributes and the work rate to fend off Hopkins, heading in to the ring as the younger man in itself isn’t going to be enough for success.  Hopkins is likely to be too smart and too tough for Murat to cause an upset however “The Executioner” could be caused a few problems along the way by a tricky and capable challenger.

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Bit of a nonsense fight really, but I suppose if anyone deserves a "giveme" (not that there is such a thing at that level) it must be the old man.

I can't see him fighting a Brit after this. Froch would open himself up to "you are just trying to emulate Calzaghe" taunts, Cleverly wouldn't get enough kudos for Hopkins and Bellew is in for hiding in his next fight. He should look elsewhere in Europe or finish his career (and any chances of PPV again) against Ward

Good points bhb but what a stinker Ward vs Hopkins would be.

Surely that's the worst fight to make in boxing history?

that along with any fight Molina is involved in.

One man's stinker is another man's technical masterclass

or

YSKSAB

or something.........

Awful fight

I do agree it would be an awful fight; hence the comment about it killing off PPV. It's got to be an option though.

Struggle to see Murat troubling Hoppo but I also struggle to see where Bhop goes after this

Obviously all the mentioned fighters are viable, but is there really a demand for it. Will anybody really want to see Bhop-Bellew or Froch Bhop, because I wouldn't

The problem he is soo past it but is still soo smart that he can win by spoiling and can spoil against pretty much any opponent. Ward-Bhop, hope not, that's a guaranteed stinkfest

This fight is awful. Ward v Hopkins prob wouldnt even do ppv. Ward would beat him easy in any event. Hopkins will prob look at Stevenson or Bute because they can sell fights in Canada.

Bellew-Hopkins is actually my dream fight just for the sake of the press conferences.

Hopkins already has his eyes on fighting either Kovalev or Stevenson after this one. Don't think Hoppo is enjoying the build up to the Murat fight though. He much prefers to be the underdog these days, and golden boy have had to give a good undercard to help the sales for this one. I will be there, should be a great night. Always a great atmosphere for Hopkins fights these days.

Watched this fight this morning. Had already read the reports, espn were gushing about he Bhop performance. His performance was impressive considering his age. But don't believe the hype it was a boring fight dispersed with sporadic moments of excitement. Murat persistently head locked Bhop. The fight had lots of hugging and concluded with smoger hugging Bhop after the decision (he wasn't very impartial).
Anyway the alien rolls on. He got hit square a couple of times so Stevenson or kotelnik would be interest, although sporadically boring I'd guess.

I loved it.

Weird weird fight. Hopkins got it done though

To fight at that pace for 12 rounds is remarkable for a man of Hopkins' age. I was expecting a typically negative performance with plenty of spoiling and rule-bending and acting about from Hopkins, he delivered almost the opposite. If anything it was Murat who was spoiling.

The straight right hand lead from Hopkins was fantastic. He caught Murat no end of times with it. I also liked the jab feint that turned into a hook and caught Murat coming in too a few times. We even saw Hopkins go all out on the offensive a couple of times.

I thought it was one of his most entertaining fights for a long time. That might not equate to very high praise when you consider some of his performances recently, but for an old man I think he's exceptional and truly inspirational.

yeh it was a great fight