Bernard Hopkins is back in Miami, surrounded by the beach and the punishing heat, preparing for his October 18<sup>th</sup> battle against Kelly Pavlik. He has returned to a place where he has trained for over 10 bouts, holding every training camp but four (Wright, Taylor II, Tarver, and Calzaghe) there since 2001 when he prepared to face Tito Trinidad. He is focused on the task at hand and confident that his intense regimen will prove that at 43 years old he has not lost a step. Rising in the morning at 6 am, Hopkins walks out the back door of his condo and onto the Miami sand beach while it is still dark. Danny Davis, his assistant trainer who sometimes works the mitts in workout sessions, is always with him. Davis will also be in Hopkins’ corner come fight night. By the time the two are headed back from their 3 mile run the sun is coming up, and Miami’s club goers are just on their way home. http://www.fightbeat.com/news_details.php?NW=21839
Hopkins can stink it out against whoever he wants and come out the other side with thorough impunity due to his overrated age, he can back up,..back up, back up,..clinch, potshot, headbutt,.. back up back up back up,...and due to how disgusting he stinks up the fight,..and makes the rounds inevitably difficult to score the way John Ruiz does, people will point to his age and go WOW!!.. he made the fight close with PRIME FIGHTERS!!...imagine what Hopkins woulda dun to em' in his PRIME!!!.... what would he do?.. lead?.. go forwards?.. present fighters with oppurtunities of openings to time him?...walk through other fighters gauntlet of timing ranges while the clock ticks out?... what prevents a prime Hopkins from being clinched and headbutted?....One things for sure,..these days he's fighting larger fighters,..no doubt they're still smaller than him, but I think that can certainly account for ah?.. his 'slow down'.. ..
