Bernard Hopkins took a beating from Sergey Kovalev in their light heavyweight world title unification bout on Saturday night at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Hopkins, who will turn 50 years old in January, was dominated by the hard-punching Russian for the entire fight, and was knocked down badly in the opening round of the match.
After the match, Kovalev had nothing but praises for Hopkins, but the 31-year-old champion said that the 49-year-old future Hall of Famer should consider calling it quits, and pass the baton to younger boxers like him.
"I really respect him for the fight, but he needs to stop his career," Kovalev said of Hopkins via ESPN. "I think, because he's already done a lot in the boxing world and he needs to give an opportunity to younger fighters to be champions. I'm next."
But when asked if he is planning to retire after taking a beating on Saturday night, Hopkins, who holds a career record of 55-7-2 with 32 knockouts, said that it is too early to decide about his future.
"Asking me to fight right now is just like asking a woman who was in hours of labor if she would have another baby," Hopkins said during the post-fight press conference via BoxingScene.
Sources indicated that his camp was eyeing a showdown against Gennady Golovkin and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. after the Kovalev bout. But when pressed to give details about his future plans, Hopkins reiterated again that he is still unsure about hanging up his gloves for about.
"It's 50-50 right now," Hopkins stressed. "I don't really want to say anything. Everyone will have a long time to talk about my career. It's 50-50 right now. It's been 50-50 for the last nine years."
Hopkins admitted, though, that his reign as the best light middleweight fighter in the world is over, saying that Kovalev is now the best in the division and he expects the Russian champion to dominate in the next several years.
"He already got the torch. I didn't have to pass it. He got the torch tonight," Hopkins said after Saturday's bout. "I feel comfortable to say that as a light heavyweight champion that if he wants to stay there and defend it, he going to have it for a long time. It's up to him how long he wants to keep it."
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