Execution

As part of my role as the World's Oldest Sports Blogger, I need to point out the following: Bernard Hopkins is older than me. By a substantial amount.

He is, in fact, 43 years of age, and while part of that time (nearly 5 years) was spent in state custody for armed robbery -- and hence, not being spent in the meat grinder world of the ring -- that's still an absurd age to be in a boxing ring for money.

Tonight, he ensured that he can continue to pursue that profession. And then some.

Against a highly regarded fighter in his prime (Kelly Pavlik), The Executioner didn't just survive. He dominated. It went the distance, and was never in doubt.

Here's how good Hopkins is: in 54 fights, he's never been knocked out. He's only been knocked down twice. He's 49-5-1, and might be the best that's ever been at his age.

Now, I don't get too much into boxing; it's a fine thing in person when you can get deep into the live event, red meat vice of it all... but if you're looking for anything more than Human Cockfight, it's a hard sport to deal with. People who know what they are doing are relatively rare. Like basketball, the quality of the opponent is paramount; you can watch the best boxer in the world, but if he's paired up against someone useless, it's not going to be very good.

But still, think about the scope of the accomplishment here. At an age where most of us are just trying to avoid stepping up in pants size, Hopkins is beating the crap out of guys that are 16 years younger than him. In over fifteen professional hours in a ring against people trying to take his head off, he's never been stopped.

As the man himself said, after the fight but before the scores were read, "I'm tired of proving myself." Somehow, I'm thinking that won't be an issue for a while.