Is Bernard Hopkins Crazy for Wanting to Fight Gennady Golovkin?

Bernard Hopkins wants one more fight.

Gennady Golovkin.

The 49-year-old former light heavyweight champion first floated the possibility of facing the devastating Kazakh knockout artist prior to his unification fight with Sergey Kovalev this past weekend in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  

It seemed crazy then and now; even those closest to Hopkins must be thinking about sending the future Hall of Famer to a head doctor to make sure that Kovalev didn’t knock a few screws loose in hard ‘Nard’s noggin.

It’s insane to even consider facing Golovkin—the undefeated middleweight champion has a knockout percentage a tick above 90 percent—in the wake of the whupping Hopkins took on Saturday night.

Kovalev dropped him in the opening frame, peppering him with power shots for the next 10 rounds, before unleashing a hellacious beating in the final three minutes that would’ve sent men half Hopkins’ age to the nearest hospital.

Golovkin is cut from a similar cloth.

And that’s exactly why Hopkins wants to fight him, crazy as that sounds.

It’s been the hallmark of his career, particularly during his post-40 run, to seek out the challenges that seemed too tough, the bridges that seemed too far and the fighters who nobody else wanted to face.

Hopkins, who will turn 50 years old on Jan. 15, while not mentioning Golovkin specifically by name, was clear about his motivations, telling Steve Ginsburg of Reuters:

"

It will be somebody that's a champion. It will be from a division beneath me but where they're comfortable and I'm comfortable. It will be someone that's dominating today. I'm going to do it the way I've done it my whole career. People respect you for fighting fights that others run away from. I want to fight the best no matter how it pans out.

"

And that sums it up perfectly.

Those last two sentences encompass an entire career.

Hopkins is a throwback, an old-school fighter in a modern age that values perfection and box-office appeal over daring to be great.

Gaudy records, often filled with the same stuff they use to pack your pillows, are immortalized, while truly historic, transcending achievements are given short shrift.

Hopkins has been around this game for a very long time, and he’s one of the few who get it.

He’d rather lose trying to be great than win by being average.

And that’s how he’s always been.

He’s made a career out of bucking the system, refusing to comport himself to the conventional rules of the game, blowing up the well-laid plans of the people who sign his paycheck, and doing all that while avoiding no challenge.

Drew Hallowell/Getty Images

Why does he want Golovkin?

Why would anyone want Golovkin, who has shelved his last 18 foes—and counting—inside the distance?

If you know Hopkins, or have ever had the chance to pick his brain just a little, the answer is simple.

He wants him because conventional wisdom says he shouldn’t.

Many in the boxing establishment would probably tell you that Hopkins' walk-away moment should’ve come against Kovalev, and they might well be right.

But many of the same people who woke up Sunday morning lamenting Hopkins’ performance against the Krusher are the same people who 24 hours earlier were telling you he’d find a way to expose another overhyped champion. (For the purposes of full exposure, yours truly picked Hopkins to win the fight.)

The worm turns that fast in boxing.

It’s fair to be motivated by genuine concern about his health and well-being—Hopkins swallowed a vicious 39-punch barrage from Kovalev in the final frame—but there are a good number of people who just want the stubborn old man out of the game.

They've had enough of him.

Rob Carr/Getty Images

But Hopkins has certainly earned himself a farewell fight.

Is it fair to question, legitimately, the wisdom of pursuing a swan song against someone like Golovkin?

We can question—perhaps we should—but he’s not going to listen.

It may or may not happen—Golovkin would first need to get by Martin Murray in February and agree to the fight—but you can be sure Hopkins will do everything in his power to make sure it's the former rather than the latter.

Hopkins is hardheaded, and he marches to a very different beat than you, me or any of the other fighters who share this era of the sport with him.

It’s a big part of what makes him special and has helped him leave a lasting legacy of achievement and longevity that will probably never be matched.

He could head home to Philadelphia, where it all started, handpick a soft opponent and ride off into the sunset with a victory lap.

But he’s not going to devalue it that way.

Hopkins told Matt Breen of The Philadelphia Inquirer: "It isn't going to be a cheap, cheesy one. 'I'm done, I'm going, had a great time, bye ya'll.’ This is going to be a thing where I want you to get dressed up. I want you to come. I want you to have a little hors d'oeuvre. I want you to get ready for the fight."

This isn’t about legacy anymore.

That question has long been settled, and nothing Hopkins does from this point can diminish what he’s accomplished.

It’s an ending that, maybe, should’ve been apparent all along.

It’s the only way.

Hopkins wants to go out on his own terms, pushing the limits and bucking the system one last time, even if people think he’s crazy, even if it means getting beat.

But Golovkin?

That's crazy.

And that's why it makes perfect sense in the mind of Bernard Hopkins.