We’ve spent years waiting for Bernard Hopkins to show his age. If one accepts the proposition that it finally started to happen in the first Taylor fight, the fact that he’ll be half a year older still this time around becomes even more critical. We like Taylor by decision – again – but don’t expect a carbon copy of the first fight. Hopkins knows he dug himself a deep hole with his customarily methodical approach and will be uncharacteristically aggressive in the early going as he tries to re-establish himself as the Alpha Male in Taylor’s eyes.

George Kimball writes for The Sweet Science, as well as for the Boston Herald. To read more of his work