51-year-old boxing legend Bernard Hopkins participated in the final fight of his career on Saturday night at The Forum (Inglewood, CA), and the way the fight ended would tell you that he’s probably making the right choice to retire.
For the first time in his 67-fight career, Hopkins — the middleweight champ from 1994-2005 — lost by knockout.
And not just did Hopkins lose by knockout to 27-year-old boxer Joe Smith Jr., but he was literally knocked out of the ring by Smith to end the fight in the eighth round:
Watch: @beastsmithjr knocks @THEREALBHOP out of the ring 53 seconds into round 8, ending the fight. #Final1 https://t.co/Pj2svLUlC9
— HBOboxing (@HBOboxing) December 18, 2016
Hopkins tried to get back up and fight about 10 seconds after falling out of the ring, but the official definitely made the right call to end the fight, given that Hopkins appeared to land on his head.
After the fight, Hopkins told HBO’s Max Kellerman that he was pushed out of the ring by Smith, despite the replays making it clear he was punched out:
Watch:@THEREALBHOP‘s Post-Fight Interview. #Final1 #HopkinsSmith https://t.co/eaL7ReTlJl — HBOboxing (@HBOboxing) December 18, 2016
Hopkins (55-8-2; 2 no contests; 28 KOs) also reiterated to Kellerman that this was indeed the last fight of his illustrious 28-year boxing career.