2300 Arena to host card in honor of Hopkins' 50th birthday
Bernard Hopkins, who turns 50 in January, is excited to see a night of boxing in his hometown in celebration of his milestone.
GOLDEN BOY Promotions announced yesterday it will celebrate Bernard Hopkins' 50th birthday with a televised card on Jan. 20 at South Philly's 2300 Arena (2300 S. Swanson St.)
Philadelphia featherweight Eric Hunter (19-3, 10 knockouts) will fight Rene Alvarado (21-3, 14 KOs) of Nicaragua in a 10-round main event. Michael Perez (21-1-2, 10 KOs), a super lightweight from Newark, N.J., and Lamont Roach Jr. (5-0, 2 KOs), a junior lightweight from Washington, will also be featured on the card, each fighting opponents yet to be announced.
Hopkins (55-7-2, 32 KOs), the Philadelphia boxing legend and the oldest in his sport's history to win a world championship and to unify world titles, turns 50 on Jan. 15. "The Alien" has yet to announce his next fight, though 2 days after his Nov. 8 loss to Sergey Kovalev, the most lopsided defeat of Hopkins' illustrious career, he expressed the desire for a grand finale in the spring of 2015.
Fox Sports 1 and Fox Deportes will televise the Jan. 20 card starting at 8 p.m. Tickets are available at the arena, by calling 215-364-9000 and at www.wanatix.com and cost $35, $50 or $75.
"I'm so excited that Golden Boy has decided to honor my birthday in this way," Hopkins said in a statement. "The best present that they can give me is to bring a great night of fights to my hometown and give Philly boxing fans something to celebrate."