BoxingBy Matt Clapp on

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:

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:

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.

[@HBOBoxing]

About Matt Clapp

Matt is an editor at The Comeback. He attended Colorado State University, wishes he was Saved by the Bell's Zack Morris, and idolizes Larry David. And loves pizza and dogs because obviously.

He can be followed on Twitter at @Matt2Clapp (also @TheBlogfines for Cubs/MLB tweets and @DaBearNecess for Bears/NFL tweets), and can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.

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