Hopkins ready to face Froch and Bute after fight against Murat

PanARMENIAN.Net - IBF light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (53-6-2) said that he plans on fighting a total of three times this year. The 48-year-old Hopkins is the oldest champion in boxing history. He broke his own record in March, as the oldest man ever to win a major world championship, when he captured the IBF light heayvweight title by handing Tavoris Cloud his first career defeat in a fight televised by HBO, BoxingScene.com reported.

Hopkins is slated to face his mandatory challenger Karo Murat (25-1-1) on July 13 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY in a fight televised by Showtime. The future hall of famer eyes a big clash before the year concludes. There are many potential opponents and two of the names at the top of his list are Carl Froch and Lucian Bute. Both boxers have tough fights coming up that they must win to make such a fight possible. Froch hopes to avenge his loss to Mikkel Kessler in their rematch on May 25th while Bute faces former champion Jean Pascal, also on the same May date, in a huge Canadian clash in Montreal.

"I want fight Carl Froch if he beats Kessler, and Lucian Bute if he beats Pascal. I would go [overseas] for either one," Hopkins said.