At the age of 46 years old, Bernard Hopkins defeated Jean Pascal in their rematch, Hopkins' previous attempt to dethrone the WBC light heavyweight world champion, was ruled a draw. The bout taking place in Pascal’s hometown of Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, saw a vintage Hopkins performance. Hopkins entered the bout as a slight underdog.

Though Hopkins might not have had the athleticism of his prime years, his mental warfare was as strong as ever. As the muscle-bound, Pascal appeared tired in the corner, Hopkins went to the middle of the ring to do push-ups to send a message to Pascal, in between rounds. 

Hopkins won the fight with scores of 115-113, 115-114, and 116-112 all in his favor. 

With the win, Hopkins beat out George Foreman, as the oldest world champion as Foreman knocked out Michael Moorer when he was 45 years old.

After the bout, Hopkins commented he looked forward to fighting until he is 50-years-old. 

The Legend That Is B-Hop

Bernard Hopkins is one of the greatest boxers of the modern era, Hopkins defied father time as he fought all the way up until he was 51 years old, one year past his own given timeline of when he would stop. 

Hopkins riffled off twenty middleweight world title defenses and six at light heavyweight. 

Even more impressive was the fighters, who Hopkins lost to such as Jermain Taylor, Chad Dawson, and Sergey Kovalev recent times, all had downward trajectories to their careers after defeating Hopkins. In many ways beating Hopkins proved to be a curse to a fighter’s career, as despite winning the battle, Hopkins seemingly always won the war, as none of the fighters who beat him ever appeared the same after facing him. 

Becoming the oldest world champion, and going on a sustained run in the light heavyweight division in his mid-to-late 40s just furthered that legend that is Bernard Hopkins, as he rightfully goes down as one of the greatest boxers ever. 

Pascal

Though Pascal was able to give Hopkins all he could handle in the first fight, it was a bit too much too soon for Pascal in the rematch. That said, Pascal had a legendary career that has gone a bit unnoticed. Pascal defeated one of the best of his era, Chad Dawson, to win the title, then Pascal refused to go away. 

Pascal defeated Lucian Bute and became a world champion again when he defeated Marcus Browne for the WBA title well after his prime. 

Though we always think of Hopkins as a fighter who was able to reinvent himself, Pascal might be the rare Hopkins opponent, who got better over time, and seemingly grew from facing Hopkins. Pascal, who fought in March of this year, losing to Michael Eifert, is now 40-years-old, and more than likely not returning to the sport. Yet, Pascal was an overachiever in the sport of boxing, and though Hopkins was able to beat him in his prime off veteran tactics, Pascal in his later years seemingly used those same tricks on younger fighters as well. 

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