Existing comment:
Bernard Hopkins born 1965
Born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
In 2011, at age forty-six, Bernard Hopkins claimed the Ring's light-heavyweight title, becoming the oldest professional boxer in history to win a world championship. Hopkins's early years were troubled ones, however. He amassed a lengthy criminal record as a youth and was just seventeen when he began serving an eighteen-year prison sentence in 1982. By the time he was paroled in 1988, Hopkins was determined to turn his life around. He converted to Islam, swore off alcohol and drugs, and turned his focus to boxing. After losing his first professional bout, Hopkins rebounded with twenty-one consecutive victories and adopted the nickname "Executioner" -- the persona he projects in this portrait. He took the International Boxing Federation's middleweight title in 1995 and defended it successfully for a record-setting ten years. Moving up to the lightheavyweight class in 2006, Hopkins consistently dominated that division until November 2014, when he was dethroned at the age of forty-nine.
Holger Keifel (born 1962)
Inkjet print, 2003 (printed 2013) |