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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, December 3, 2009

Veteran Hopkins still has a punch at age 44


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Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Bernard Hopkins, left, lands a punch against Enrique Ornelas during their non-title light heavyweight bout.

MATT SLOCUM | Associated Press

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At 44, Bernard Hopkins dominated enough to prove he has a few fights left in his celebrated career.

A rematch with Roy Jones Jr. probably isn't one of them.

Hopkins defeated Enrique Ornelas by unanimous decision in a light heavyweight bout, sweeping the scorecards to the delight of his hometown fans in his homecoming fight last night in Philadelphia.

"This is what happens when you take care of your body when you're young in the brutal sport," Hopkins said. "I invested in myself like you invest in money in the bank."

Hopkins, one of the sport's all-time great middleweights, counted on depositing some major bucks in the bank after a proposed rematch with Jones in March in Las Vegas. But the long-awaited bout is unlikely to happen after Jones was stopped by Australian Danny Green in the first round yesterday.

Hopkins showed he can still go against Ornelas. Hopkins turned it on in the 12th round and punished Ornelas (29-6) over the final 10 seconds. Had he started earlier in the round, Hopkins (50-5-1, 32 KOs) might have won by knockout.

The three judges scored the fight 118-110, 120-108 and 119-109 in favor of Hopkins.

GREEN RETAINS TITLE

Australian Danny Green stopped Roy Jones Jr. in the first round of their IBO world cruiserweight title fight yesterday in Sydney, preventing the 40-year-old American from claiming his ninth title across five weight classes from middleweight to heavyweight.

The 36-year-old Green retained his title and improved to 28-3 with his technical knockout over Jones at the Acer Arena, in the American's first professional fight on foreign soil in his 20-year career.

It was only Jones' sixth loss since 1989, along with 54 wins, 40 by knockout.

CYCLING

ARMSTRONG'S TEAM

Tour de France stage winners Yaroslav Popovych of the Ukraine and Belgium's Gert Steegmans will ride for Lance Armstrong's RadioShack team when it makes its world debut at the Tour Down Under cycle race in Adelaide in January.

It is the first ProTour event of the 2010 season.

Team RadioShack also includes South Africa's Daryl Impey, American Jason McCartney, Belgium's Sebastien Rosseler and Tomas Vaitkus of Lithuania.

TENNIS

SISTERS IN KING CUP

Serena and Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters and Svetlana Kuznetsova will play a one-night exhibition for the Billie Jean King Cup at Madison Square Garden in March.

Serena Williams and Clijsters could stage a rematch of their U.S. Open semifinal a few miles away, which ended with Williams' tirade at a line judge that earned her a record $82,500 fine.

The March 1 event will feature one-set semifinals then a three-set final, all with no ad scoring. Serena Williams beat her sister in last year's final.

The event, with $1.2 million in prize money, is sponsored by BNP Paribas.