Hopkins Remains Middleweight Champ with 20th Defense
by
Monty McMahon - Ringside at Staples Center
2/19 - Never pretty, rarely exciting, but you can’t argue with the results. Middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins (46-2-1, 32 KOs) made it a milestone 20 consecutive successful title defenses Saturday night, winning a unanimous decision over Howard Eastman (40-2 35 KOs) before a crowd of 12,828 at the Staples Center.
The 40-year-old champ didn’t show his age at any point in his fight with the Englishman and WBC No. 2, but he also rarely dominated. In fact, some stretches of the fight were downright boring, as ‘The Executioner’ was content to counterpunch the constantly forward-moving Eastman.
“My goal was simply to get 20 defenses, clean and by any means necessary,” Hopkins said afterwards. “That may sound like double talk. Getting 20 defenses, I didn’t want to bore anybody, but I have to fight the fight that’s best for myself.
“I wanted to fight my fight and not Eastman’s.”
And that he did, but through the first four rounds it seemed like one of the fighter’s names was Boo, judging by the Staples crowd.
Hopkins’ 20th came as many of his defenses have come before, with movement and effective counterpunching.
The first solid shots of the fight came in the third round, when the champ caught the 34-year-old Briton with a hard overhand right and later a left hook. It would be much of the same the rest of the way – ‘The Battersea Bomber’ moving forward and looking to get inside and the champ catching him with solid counters, rarely in combination.
“I know I’m a decent counterpuncher and I know he’s not as fast as Bernard Hopkins, so what I wanted to do was offset his pace and catch him with some combinations,” Hopkins said. “I was successful a couple of times and had some of my best moments where he was pressing and I would counter him.”
In the fifth round, the complexion of the fight almost seemed to shift with Eastman opening with several effective flurries to start the round. The two fighters exchanged big shots with 35 seconds to go in the round, but then Hopkins finished strong by catching Eastman with two solid left hooks in the final 30 seconds, thumping his chest after each.
Finishing the fifth strong seemed to put Hopkins back into his counterpunching groove and frustrate Eastman at the same time.
In the eighth, the only real fireworks of the fight erupted. Eastman caught Hopkins several times with strong punches at the 1 minute mark, but the champ was not deterred shaking his head to show he wasn’t phased after each shot connected. The round finished in a flurry, with Eastman taking the worst of an exchange that started with Hopkins landing a right hook to the younger fighter’s head, and continued well after the bell.
The 11th was the only time the future hall-of-famer looked to be in any sort of trouble. At the 2:10 mark Eastman caught Hopkins with a solid right hook to the head and followed with a flurry that backed the champion against the ropes. However, as he’s done time and again, Hopkins was able to use his counterpunching and agility to maneuver out of the attack and finish the round strong.
Throughout the fight, Hopkins landed the better punches, despite being outthrown by a large margin. CompuBox gave Eastman a 609 to 346 advantage in punches thrown, but the Philadelphia fighter connected on 148 of his shots, compared to only 82 for Eastman, or 43 percent. Power punches were much of the same with Eastman outthrowing 349 to 255, but Hopkins outlanding 112 to 66, for a 44 percent connection rate.
The unanimous decision came down by scores of 119-110, 117-111 and 116-112.
For excitement, the best part of the evening may have been middleweight sensation Jermain Taylor’s (23-0, 17 KOs) third round TKO of formerly undefeated Daniel Edouard (16-1-2, 9 KOs) in an undercard matchup.
Taylor came out looking a lot different than the fighter who has leaned heavily on his left jab and quickness throughout his young career. His game plan seemed to be to show off his power and quickness, as he continually looked for big shots, connecting early with several solid right hooks.
Edouard’s night was ended prematurely when Taylor caught him with a stunningly-quick three-punch combo in the third. After a flurry from Taylor, Edouard found himself in the corner where he ate a thunderous left hook and then a right hook that effectively ended the fight. Referee Ray Corona stepped in at 2:26.
After the fight, a jubilant Taylor proclaimed his intentions to lay claim to the thrown of Hopkins.
“I can’t wait to get me some,” he said.
Although he was mentioned by the Hopkins camp, along with Felix Trinidad and light heavyweight king Glen Johnson as possible matchups, the 40-year-old is looking for the biggest payday and that may well mean moving up to Johnson.
“The belts now are not bigger than Bernard Hopkins,” he said. “Somebody can correct me and say I’m wrong and then I’m willing to debate. It’s about history, along with m-o-n-e-y.”
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