Bernard Hopkins vs. Karo Murat

Bernard Hopkins vs. Karo Murat was a professional boxing match contested on October 26, 2013, for the IBF light heavyweight title.

Bernard Hopkins vs. Karo Murat

Date	October 26, 2013
Venue	Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.
Title(s) on the line	IBF light heavyweight title
Tale of the tape
Boxer Bernard Hopkins Karo Murat Nickname The Alien Hometown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. Kitzingen, Bavaria, Germany Pre-fight record 53–6–2 (2) (32 KO) 25–1–1 (14 KO) Age 48 years, 9 months 30 years, 1 month Height 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) 5 ft 10+1⁄2 in (179 cm) Weight 172 lb (78 kg) 174 lb (79 kg) Style Orthodox Orthodox Recognition IBF Light Heavyweight Champion The Ring/TBRB No. 1 Ranked Light Heavyweight IBF No. 1 Ranked Light Heavyweight
Result
Hopkins wins via unanimous decision (119–108, 119–108, 117–110)

Background

Earlier in 2013, Bernard Hopkins had defeated reigning IBF light heavyweight Tavoris Cloud to become the oldest world champion in boxing history. Before facing Cloud, Hopkins had agreed to the IBF's prerequisite that he would face their top contender, the largely unknown German fighter Karo Murat should he win. True to his word, Hopkins quickly came to terms to face Murat just a month after his victory over Cloud admitting that facing the obscure Murat was an "obligation" that he wanted to get out of the way in lieu of a "better option." Originally set for July 13, 2013, that date was cancelled in June after Murat failed to be granted a visa from the United States Department of State. Murat eventually settled his visa issue and the fight was rescheduled for October 19, though Showtime pushed the fight back one week to October 26 to avoid competition with rival network HBO, who were broadcasting a Mike Alvarado–Ruslan Provodnikov fight on HBO World Championship Boxing on that night.

For this fight, Hopkins would discard his previous nickname of "The Executioner" and rechristen himself as "The Alien", in reference to his "supernatural" ability to continue winning fights despite his advanced age. Hopkins complemented his newfound nickname by wearing green accented ring gear as well as an alien mask in place of his customary executioner hood during his pre-fight walk to the ring.

The fight

Hopkins put forth a dominating effort, winning by a very lopsided unanimous decision. Two judges had Hopkins winning all but one round with each scoring the fight 119–108 while the third scored the fight 117–110 (9 rounds to 3). Through the first half of the fight, Hopkins implemented his usual defensive-minded approach, but he abandoned this approach midway through the fight, aggressively attacking Murat and landing a high amount of punches during the later rounds, eventually opening a cut above Murat's left eye.

Aftermath

Hopkins admitted after the fight that he was in fact trying to gain a knockout victory after having not obtained one in almost a decade since his 2004 fight with Oscar De La Hoya.

Fight card

Confirmed bouts:

Weight Class	Weight		vs.		Method	Round	Notes
Light Heavyweight	175 lbs.	Bernard Hopkins (c)	def	Karo Murat	UD	12/12	Note 1
Middleweight	160 lbs.	Peter Quillin (c)	def.	Gabriel Rosado	TKO	10/12	Note 2
Heavyweight	200+ lbs.	Deontay Wilder	def.	Nicolai Firtha	KO	4/10	Note 3
Featherweight	126 lbs.	Braulio Santos	def.	Dave Clark	TKO	1/8
Super Middleweight	168 lbs.	Dominic Wade	def.	Roberto Ventura	TKO	1/8

^Note 1 For IBF light heavyweight title
^Note 2 For WBO middleweight title
^Note 3 For WBC Continental Americas heavyweight title

Broadcasting

Country	Broadcaster
Australia	Main Event
Germany	ARD
United Kingdom	BoxNation
United States	Showtime