"I'm special," stated unified WBA & IBF light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins, who spoke immediately after his split decision victory over former champion Beibut Shumenov. The scorecards, specifically the one that was 114-113 in favor of Shumenov, did reflect the dominance in the performance of Hopkins, who made the fight look easy despite the fact that the 49-year-old was fighting a man nearly half his age. "Special doesn't mean bad. I don't have to explain special. Special is what it is. There's no definition for special. Special speaks for itself."
Hopkins continued as he assessed his performance, "Naazim been begging me to throw that short, 6-inch right hand over the jab; pull him in, and he'll run right into it because he likes to spin out to his left. He done that in a couple fight. They didn't capitalize on it, but I did. I didn't get it off earlier, because it was there the whole fight, and I clicked in and finally got in there. But like I said, he has an awkward style, but I've been around 27 years. I've seen everything and I just had to make those adjustments. And that's what I tell the young guys; the Danny Garcia's, the Danny Jacobs, the Kid Chocolate, all the fighters, Broner, my little buddy, all these guys, look at the artwork! Boxing is a science. If you don't have to get hit, don't! You don't want nobody else counting your money."
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