- Heavyweight
Hopkins: Fight with Floyd would be out of this world
Bernard Hopkins has thrown his hat into the mix to fight undefeated welterweight king Floyd Mayweather Jr in May 2014.
Hopkins, the oldest ever world champion on record, faces Karo Murat on Saturday night but insisted he would relish a bout with fellow world titlist Mayweather Jr.
'Money' is expected to fight in May next year as part of his bumper deal with Showtime, with Amir Khan long considered favourite to fight the unbeaten American.
However, Hopkins refused to rule out stepping into the ring with Mayweather Jr and is adamant he could provide a suitable challenge - even if it meant dropping down the weight divisions.
"I would love to put a feather in my cap to go down two weight classes after coming up two weight classes to make history with [Antonio] Tarver, almost six, seven years ago," Hopkins told the Daily Mail.
"I mean can you imagine the 'All Access' [Showtime pre-fight build up show]? Can you imagine the promotion for that fight? Because I'm not a shy guy and I don't have a shy camp.
"But I keep reminding people, okay yes, there's a possibility of anything. I'm not chasing anybody. I'm not standing in line for anybody. I'm not trying to pick on the little guy.
"But if you can find somebody that people want to see fight after that performance [Mayweather's fight against Saul Alvarez], masterful performance of a king chess player that we witnessed less than two months ago - good luck."
Hopkins defeated Tavoris Cloud for the IBF heavyweight title in March, breaking his own world record to become the oldest ever world champion in the process.
The 48-year-old may have recently rebranded himself as 'The Alien', but does not believe the idea of himself fighting Mayweather Jr is out of this world. In fact, Hopkins assured he would pose more of a threat to the 36-year-old than many younger fighters.
"Well, first of all I had no conversations, but it was a conversation said to me, and that's why I responded," Hopkins said.
"And when I realised that there is a fight that they owe him in May of next year, and whether I'm willing or can I make 160 [pounds], and I said, well, if I have that much time, a guy like me, the way I live and the way I keep my body right, even six pounds from fight night next week, sure.
"They didn't act like they were joking, and we're talking powerful people. So I'm sitting back saying, 'Okay, hey, you know' because no one else is going to beat Floyd Mayweather in their 20s and even in their early 30s.
"Not this checkerboard man colony, young fighters who can be great later, but right now they just don't have the degrees to do it. So that's the only reason I threw my hat in there."
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