Bernard Hopkins ousts Jean Pascal to break George Foreman’s record – Boxing news
The 46-year-old American legend Bernard Hopkins outplayed the hometown favourite Jean Pascal Saturday, May 21, 2011 to lift the World Boxing Council heavyweight title.
He has also re-written the history books by becoming the oldest man ever to win a major world championship.
It was an accomplishing performance from the Executioner, Hopkins, as he outpointed his 18-year-old junior opponent Pascal by scores of 116-112, 115-113 and 115-114 in front of a building-record boxing crowd of 17,560 at the Bell Centre.
It was a well a cutthroat competition between both pugilists, which had a lot of clinching, holding and hitting behind the head. However, it was Hopkins who came on top to score knockdowns in both ninth and tenth rounds respectively.
Hopkins, who has won 52 fights with 34 knockouts, looked in a total control during the fight, as he seemed to hurt the Canadian Pascal several times. Moreover, he did not give much chance to the former champion to build any momentum.
“I felt like I'm not 46. I felt like I'm close to 36,” Hopkins said. He also vowed he is not going to retire until he is 50 years old.
“I know the fans pay to see fights. I've been accused of being boring. I was trying to buy years and time,” Hopkins said. “I'm gonna finish strong. I had a plan in my boxing career, to win fights and get to the last bit. Before I leave this game, you're
going to see the best fights of Bernard Hopkins' career. I know that's a big order providing what I've done already. I'm promising that every fight until I retire is going to be breathtaking and it's going to be heart beating.”
George Foreman was 45 when he pulled a shocking win with a knockout over the World Boxing Association’s heavyweight champion, Michael Moorer. However, Hopkins has now surpassed Foreman’s record by becoming the oldest man to win a major title belt.
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