March 16, 1996

Joe Lipsey, Las Vegas (KO, 4th)

Lipsey, a church choir singer, was 25-0 with 20 knockouts and viewed as a stern test for Hopkins. He wasn't. "It was a right uppercut, and it was a thing of savage beauty," The Inquirer's Bill Lyon wrote of the finishing blow in Round 4. "Lipsey stood there frozen, upright but out on his feet, while his mouthpiece tumbled end over end in a slow, lazy arc toward the canvas." Lipsey went down, too.

July 16, 1996

Bo James, Atlantic City (TKO, 11th)

Apr. 19, 1997

John David Jackson, Shreveport, La. (TKO, 7th)

July 20, 1997

Glen Johnson, Indio, Calif. (TKO, 11th)

Nov. 18, 1997

Andrew Council, Upper Marlboro, Md. (W in 12)

Jan. 31, 1998

Simon Brown, Atlantic City (TKO, 6th)

Aug. 28, 1998

Robert Allen, Las Vegas (No contest in 4)

The legend says Hopkins made 20 straight world-title defenses, a middleweight record. But that's only if you count this "no contest" as his eighth successful defense. Allen was beating Hopkins to the punch consistently and had Hopkins backpedaling.

"I saw fear in Hopkins," recalled Elbaum, the longtime Philadelphia promoter.

Then referee Mills Lane, breaking up a clinch in Hopkins' corner, pushed Hopkins too hard and sent him tumbling off the elevated platform to the floor. Hopkins grimaced with an injured ankle and did not continue. He kept his title.

Feb. 6, 1999

Robert Allen, Washington (TKO, 7th)

Same fighters, different story. Hopkins dominated Allen to retain his middleweight title -- by winning.

Dec. 12, 1999

Antwun Echols, Miami (W in 12)

May 13, 2000

Syd Vanderpool, Indianapolis (W in 12)

Dec. 1, 2000

Antwun Echols, Las Vegas (TKO, 10th)

"A raucous, foul-filled affair," Lampley remembered. "That night you could see his dominant mentality -- the self-possession that allowed him to finish a fight with an apparently damaged shoulder.... I began to get a sense that weekend of how dominant Bernard's mind could be."

April 14, 2001

Keith Holmes, New York (W in 12)

Sept. 29, 2001

Felix Trinidad, New York (TKO, 12th)

Hopkins was never meant to beat Trinidad in the 2001 middleweight title-unification series staged by Don King. But his prefight taunts got Trinidad to come out too aggressively and make mistakes. In a career-making bout at Madison Square Garden weeks after 9/11, Hopkins picked Trinidad apart to become undisputed middleweight champ.

"He's so conscious of his legacy that he almost had to win," Philadelphia promoter J. Russell Peltz said. "If he hadn't won the Trinidad fight, he would have been considered just a guy who fought a lot of bums.... Knocking him down at the end of the fight, it was just a perfect night for him." Hopkins also pioneered the practice of selling advertising on his back, receiving $100,000 to wear a temporary tattoo for an online casino, then betting the money on himself to multiply the cash.

Feb. 2, 2002

Carl Daniels, Reading (TKO, 10th)

After the Trinidad upset, "Hopkins was on top of the world. And he didn't know what to do," Peltz says. He resisted fighting Roy Jones, calling a potential $7 million payday inadequate.

March 29, 2003

Morrade Hakkar, Philadelphia (TKO, 8th)

Fighting in Philadelphia for the first time in a decade, Hopkins carried an outclassed foe in a poor fight. "Aren't you embarrassed by this?" HBO's Larry Merchant asked Hopkins. Hopkins' reply: "I don't know what kind of degree you got, but I got paid tonight."

Dec. 13, 2003

William Joppy, Atlantic City (W in 12)

June 5, 2004

Robert Allen, Las Vegas (W in 12)

Sept. 18, 2004

Oscar De La Hoya, Las Vegas (KO, 9th)

The stunning Round 9 stoppage on a debilitating liver punch made Hopkins a national sports star -- and led him to a business partnership with De La Hoya. You can question Hopkins' multiplication but not his cash-and-carry logic: "I fought the De La Hoya fight and got $15 million," he says. "I could have fought Roy Jones and got $7 million, but I fought the smaller guy and got triple the money.... It was a brilliance of self-patience."

Feb. 19, 2005

Howard Eastman, Los Angeles (W in 12)

Hopkins 20th title defense: lackluster but successful.

July 16, 2005

Jermain Taylor, Las Vegas (L in 12)

Hopkins may have let the undefeated 26-year-old win the first six rounds, by some scorekeeping, and his remarkable late-rounds comeback fell short. The 40-year-old Hopkins lost his four title belts in his first defeat since 1993. "Jermain Taylor is way better, way more physical, way more rambunctious, and bigger, than the other guys against whom Bernard had been defending the middleweight title," Lampley said.

Dec. 3, 2005

Jermain Taylor, Las Vegas (L in 12)

A sequel with a script similar to the first Taylor fight, without the late rally by Hopkins.

Final fight preparation includes a few verbal jabs

ATLANTIC CITY -- The media circus started pitching its tent at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa yesterday, as the hype for Saturday's Antonio Tarver vs. Bernard Hopkins fight entered its homestretch.

In a hotel function room, Hopkins sat dressed in a cardinal-red warm-up suit bearing the logo for IceLink, a company that makes jewel-encrusted wristwatches most people can't afford.

He talked about his sadness as he heard his friend Eric Gregg, the baseball umpire, had died.

"I saw him not too long ago in Chickie's and Pete's," Hopkins said.

And he talked about acquaintances who would be arriving for the fight. "I got a call for Barkley. Jordan. [Charles] Oakley. Jay-Z, of course. Beyonce. Rasheed [Wallace], a big boxing fan. Iverson. I don't think McNabb, but T.O. will be here."

Then he got miked for a "satellite tour" -- sitting in front of a camera and answering questions from disembodied reporters around the country who spoke through his earpiece. He talked to "Steve with ABC" and "Gordon in L.A." and more, answering questions that no one in the room could hear but Hopkins.

On his breakfast: "I had three pancakes, egg whites, two glasses of orange juice. That's a luxury I never had in over a decade. I doubt Tarver had a big breakfast this morning."

On whether he is ready: "I have a game plan. I had a game plan when I fought Jermain Taylor, but the judges had another game plan."

On either Tarver's size advantage or a review of The Da Vinci Code: "You ever read a book that's thicker than the other? Does that mean it's better than the smaller book?"

Then it was off to the Atlantic City Police Athletic League gym, where Hopkins worked up a sweat with intense shadow boxing for four or five rounds. Assistant trainer John David Jackson put on the punch mitts and a body bag, and Hopkins banged on them with quick combinations and hard body shots. He looked fast and strong.

"Just a tune-up," he said. "Start the engine, hear the roar, but don't push down the pedal yet."

Contact staff writer Don Steinberg at 215-854-4981 or dsteinberg@phillynews.com. Contact staff writer Don Steinberg at 215-854-4981 or dsteinberg@phillynews.com.

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