Bernard Hopkins' best bouts: No. 4 vs. Kelly Pavlik

Daily News boxing writer Bernard Fernandez counts down what he considers to be the top five performances by 46-year-old Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins, who bids to become the oldest fighter to win a widely recognized world championship when he challenges WBC light-heavyweight titlist Jean Pascal Saturday night in Montreal.

Here is his account of No. 4, Hopkins' unanimous decision over Kelly Pavlik on Oct. 18, 2008, in Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall.

At 26, WBC/WBO middleweight champion Pavlik seemingly had every physical advantage over Hopkins. Not only was Pavlik 17 years younger than a man who was coming off a loss - OK, so it was a disputed, split-decision setback to the undefeated Joe Calzaghe - but Pavlik was a seemingly deserving 5-1 favorite in the catchweight (170-pound limit) bout. He was, after all, 34-0 with 30 knockouts and had twice beaten Jermain Taylor, who held two decision nods over Hopkins.

So confident was Pavlik that he said he would "do boxing a favor" and "forever free" him and other dissidents of the torture of watching defensive genius Hopkins make good fighters look bad.

But Hopkins went into the ring with even more motivation to succeed than having heard the obligatory putdowns from a younger, cocky opponent about to make the same mistake others had, of assuming the old man was on his last legs.

Lying in his bed in the Parkwood section of Northeast Philadelphia was a partially blind, pain-wracked 18-year-old Hopkins fan named Shaun Negler, who on Oct. 23, 2008, would die from brain cancer. Hopkins had formed a friendship with the young man, who had vowed to stay alive long enough to see his idol in action one more time.

Maybe Pavlik wasn't as invincible as many believed, but on a night Hopkins had dedicated to Negler, B-Hop proved beyond a doubt that he wasn't nearly as far gone as his power-punching opponent from Youngstown, Ohio, had dared to believe. He systematically took Pavlik apart to win by scores of 119-106, 118-108 and 117-109. *