5.Bernard Hopkins
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One gets the feeling that Hopkins could climb out of bed on his 75th birthday, run five miles, school some guys in chess, and then win a close unanimous decision against a top-ten Light Heavyweight before slipping an alien mask over his head and staring daggers through press row for doubting his abilities.
He’s certainly lost several steps, and he suffered the most one-sided loss of his career last November to Sergey Kovalev.
But Sergey Kovalev is a monster, and at 50 years old, many people actually picked Hopkins to beat him. He didn’t, but it wasn’t because he suddenly looked shot. Kovalev is an elite, fantastic fighter, and Hopkins took him the distance for the first time in years.
“B-Hop” may no longer be a dominant fighter, but he’s still a nightmare match-up for damn-near anybody out there.