Hopkins Defeats Tarver, Cements Greatness!

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -- Turning back the clock with a masterful performance, Bernard Hopkins won a unanimous decision over light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver on Saturday, capping an 18-year career with an upset for the ages.

The 41-year-old former middleweight champion, who jumped two weight classes in hopes of going out with a bang, did it in style, dismantling the 3-1 favorite with solid right leads, savvy defense and aggressive ringmanship.

"Half man, half amazing!" he yelled to the crowd, standing on the ring ropes when it was over.

Hopkins, who reigned for 11 years as middleweight champion before a pair of losses last year, tied Tarver (24-4) in knots from the opening bell -- literally and figuratively.

When he wasn't scoring with lunging right leads, he was keeping the taller Tarver at bay whenever Tarver tried to get close, flailing away with rapid-fire combinations or forcing him into a clinch.

Tarver, who'd agreed to pay $250,000 to a charity of Hopkins' choosing if he didn't knock him out in five rounds or less, found himself fighting for his life in the fifth.

After missing Hopkins with a right, Hopkins (48-4-1) countered with a right lead that caught Tarver flush in the face, knocking him backward. Referee Benjy Estevez ruled it a knockdown because Tarver's left glove touched the canvas as he struggled to stay on his feet.

The crowd of 10,200 in Boardwalk Hall was loaded with partisans from his hometown of Philadelphia, 55 miles away, and they rooted him on with shouts of "B-Hop! B-Hop! B-Hop."

Hopkins stayed in control in the later rounds, waiting for Tarver to swing and then unleashing five- and six-punch combinations as he chased him across the ring.

Tarver, who recently served as Sylvester Stallone's on-screen opponent for the upcoming "Rocky Balboa" movie, needed a Hollywood ending this time out. But he didn't get it.

Confounded by Hopkins' aggressive approach and furious combinations, he fought the later rounds the way he fought the early ones -- tentatively, rarely landing punches and seemingly disinterested in doing so.

"It wasn't my night," he said. "You have days like this. No excuses. I give all praises to Bernard Hopkins."

It was a retirement party from the start.

Hopkins' sisters, wife and two of his schoolteachers were brought into the ring before the bout, and a video tribute to his career played on the scoreboard above it.

The gritty middleweight, who never achieved stardom until he beat Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya, ended his career where he began it. In 1988, he debuted at 175 pounds, losing a decision to Clinton Mitchell in a fight held in Atlantic City.