Washington, DC (SportsNetwork.com) - At age 49, Bernard Hopkins showed why he's still a force to be reckoned with in the boxing world.
On Saturday night in America's capital, the Philadelphian puncher (55-6-2) recorded a 12-round split decision over Kazakhstani Beibut Shumenov (14-2) to claim three unified titles: IBF and IBA light heavyweight and the WBA super world light heavyweight.
Hopkins won over two American judges with scores of 116-111 and 116-111, with the other, a native of Panama, taking Shumenov by a 114-113 count.
After a plodding start, Hopkins began to assert himself during the middle rounds. In the fifth, he pounded Shumenov with a combination of a straight right to the temple and a left hook to the jaw, then staggered his opponent with a left hook.
Shumenov then went to the canvas for an eight-count in the 11th round after Hopkins exploded with a right to the jaw and had little left in the bout's final segment.
The next step for Hopkins could be a match with Adonis Stevenson, currently the WBO light heavyweight champ.
In the undercard, Peter Quillin (31-0) remained unbeaten and retained the WBO middleweight belt with a 12-round unanimous decision over Lukas Konecny (50-5). The scores reflected the domination of "Kid Chocolate," 120-108, 119-109 and 119-109.
Quillin defended his title for the third straight time and backed up a 10th-round TKO against Gabriel Rosado from late October in Atlantic City with his first non technical victory since taking the title from Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam in October of 2012. Konecny had beaten Karim Achour last March and Moez Fhima for the WBO European Middleweight crown last July.
Shawn Porter bested Paul Malignaggi for the IBF welterweight crown, thanks to a fourth-round TKO. Porter (24-0-1) battered his opponent from the start, cutting him under the left eye early in the bout and eventually dropping the former champion Malignaggi (33-7) with a hail of punches just over a minute into the fourth.
[SportsNetwork.com]
