B-Hop Chases & Beats Up On Fouling Marat, Wins Unanimous Decision

B-Hop Chases & Beats Up On Fouling Marat, Wins Unanimous Decision

By Robert Brizel, Head RCM Boxing Correspondent

Atlantic City, NJ (October 27th, 2013)– In the Showtime main event at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Saturday evening, October 26, 2013, it was at least an entertaining 12 round world title bout, if not an exciting one. Karo Murat of Germany was out of the ring for a year before deciding to Bernard B-Hopkins, not that it would have mattered. At 48 years of age, Hopkins, in peak physical condition as he always is, appeared to win at least ten of the 12 rounds against Murat to retain his International Boxing Federation World Light Heavyweight title.

Hopkins baited Murat in along the ropes. Murat did not necessarily fall for the trap. Instead, Murat preferred to try to brawl with Hopkins on the inside when he was lucky enough to get B-Hop cornered in a corner or trapped along the ropes for brief moments during the first six rounds. When that approach mostly failed in the second half of the fight, Murat grabbed Hopkins and held on, then hit off the break despite the warnings of referee Steve Smoger, losing a point for the hitting infraction in round seven. Murat swung at air a great deal, but he did manage to land a few low blows. Near the end of the boring bout, Murat, running away like a frightened rat, turned his back to Hopkins and instead took a beating along the ropes when referee Smoger took no pity on him.

Hopkins, looking older than Archie Moore in the ring and he was, does not seem to be sharp enough to fight the likes of WBO champion Sergey Kovalev or WBC champion Adonis Stevenson at 175 pounds. However, Hopkins would look very sharp going back down to 160 pounds at middleweight and fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. there. B-Hop deserves a decent royal payday. His legs are good, his punches conservative. However, B-Hop does not seem likely to beat a faster Floyd in the punch count statistic if Floyd does fight B-Hop over the limited Amir Khan in 2014. Hopkins might also fair better against WBA and IBA champion Beibut Shumenov, IBO champion Blake Caparello, former IBO champion Andrzej Fonfara, or the winner of Marcus Oliveira versus Jurgen Braehmer.

As Hopkins noted after fighting Murat, Murat did not bring out the best in B-Hop, but not the worst either. In the least, Murat tried to slug it out with Hopkins on a number of occasions and at least make the bout somewhat interesting. Hopkins had Murat breathing hard early on, and seeing victory assured, fought his usual technical bout with grace and style, putting all of the rounds in the bank like a kid at a carnival eating cotton candy. Hopkins, rises to 54-6-2, 32 knockouts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Murat, Bayern, Germany, falls to 25-2-1, 15 knockouts.

Result: Bernard Hopkins Win Unanimous Decision 12 Karo Murat, Light Heavyweights

Hopkins retains the International Boxing Federation Light Heavyweight title

Scoring: 119-108, 119-108, 117-110 for Hopkins

Referee: Steve Smoger. No knockdowns in the bout. Murat lost a point in round 7.

In two undercard bouts of interest, Peter ‘Kid Chocolate’ Quillin retained the WBO World Middleweight title with a tenth round stoppage over tough Gabriel Rosado. Quillin put Rosado down for a flash knockdown in the second round. Rosado began scoring in later rounds with left hand counters over the Quillin right. Rosado showboated a bit now and then but appeared to be ahead when a punch cut him on the left eyelid in round nine. Rosado’s corner could not stop the flow of blood into Rosado’s left eye which impeded his vision, forcing referee Allan Huggins to give the fight to Quillin by TKO 40 seconds into round ten. Rosado protested and was still game to continue, but Huggins call was correct. Quillin would be a great match for WBA World champion Gennady Golovkin or WBC World champion Sergio Gabriel Martinez in 2014. Let’s see how active Quillin is in 2014.

In a ridiculous heavyweight bout, 30-0 American heavyweight prospect Deontay Wilder knocked down short and plump Nicolai Firtha twice in the first round, again in the third round, and down and out in the fourth round. Wilder lacks a decent name on his resume. How about Wilder versus the winner of Bryant Jennings versus Tomasz Adamek, Chris Arreola, Robert Helenius, Kubrat Pulev, Alexander Povetkin, Tony Thompson or versus the winner of David Haye versus Tyson Fury.