Immediately after his split decision victory over Beibut Shumenov last April 20, Bernard Hopkins made known his future plans: He wants to be the undisputed light heavyweight champion and then he wants to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a super bout that he’s already dubbed as 50-50. Hopkins is a legend, and with those statements, you would never think that he is 49 years old.

The Alien

Back in his younger days, Bernard Hopkins was nicknamed “The Executioner” because he not only executed his game plans during fight night, he executed champions and contenders one after the other. But before his October 2013 fight against Karo Murat, Hopkins told the world that the Executioner had retired at 48. In his place now is The Alien, the one which Hopkins said is” of this world but not from this world”

Hopkins is the oldest boxer in history to win a major championship. He set that record at age 46 back in 2011 and he set the bar higher when he beat Tavoris Cloud in 2013 for the IBF light heavyweight belt. In his next bout of 2013, he became the oldest person to defend a world title. Then last April 20, he added another feather by becoming the oldest boxing champion to unify a weight division.

Hopkins has every reason to call himself an alien, because he’s done what no one in this planet has ever done. And he’s done it at such and advanced age where many people would have gone fishing with their grand kids. But at age 49, Hopkins is looking ahead to 50-50.

50-50

The reason Hopkins calls it 50-50 is because Floyd Mayweather Jr is setting his sights at the 49-0 unbeaten record of the great Rocky Marciano. Mayweather is at 45-0 right now, and is looking for win number 46 on May 3 against Marcos Maidana. For Mayweather to surpass Marciano in the books, he’s got to tally 50 wins. Hopkins is 49 and will turn 50 years old  in January 2015.

So as Floyd continues to move closer to 50 wins, he’s got to beat the 50 year old legend. And Hopkins has set a timetable of between “now and January 2015” to do it. And he also added that it will happen in “a stadium”. But here’s one hitch: He wants to unify the light heavyweight belts by the end of 2014. This means that he wants to fight superman Adonis Stevenson first.

Superman

Superman is Adonis Stevenson, the Haitian-born Canadian who holds the WBC light heavyweight belt, the only major alphabet title missing from Hopkins’ waist.  Stevenson is slated to make a title defense on May 24, which he is expected to win. After that, Hopkins is hoping to land the next shot at Superman. Stevenson is 24-1 with 20 knockouts. But Hopkins is the alien, and he is unfazed. He has set his sights at being undisputed by December 2014.

January 15,2015

Hopkins will turn 50 years old on January 15,2015. So one half of the 50-50 condition will be satisfied on that date. The problem will be the other 50 percent.

This is not the first time that Hopkins has flirted with the idea of fighting Mayweather. After beating Murat last October, he publicly stated that he can easily make 160 lbs if the negotiations were serious. But the only Mayweather who responded to this was Floyd Sr. who said that it was a crazy idea because Hopkins is too big.

Then last week, Hopkins made the pitch again. The only response Money gave was that Hopkins, like everyone else from flyweight to heavyweight, is trying to cash in on the Floyd Mayweather Jr. jackpot. Of course, Floyd has to worry first about his May 3 bout with Maidana. And although the odds are at 11/1 in his favor, Maidana is a tough customer. But barring any major accident, Mayweather is a given at 46-0.

Floyd is set to fight again in October or November. Hopkins wants to take care of Stevenson first. If they both win their last fight of 2014, then the 50-50 talk will smoke out once again.

Superfight

A Hopkins-Mayweather bout would be intriguing yet stellar. While it will surely turn out to be a boring chess match, it’s one that will break the barriers of boxing. Hopkins is naturally bigger, and he has publicly stated that he can make 160 lbs easily.  Mayweather has fought in the 154 lbs division thrice in his career: Against De la Hoya, Cotto and Canelo. But his heaviest weight was at 151 lbs against Cotto.

It doesn’t seem like Mayweather will make 160 lbs because he didn’t even make 154 in all his bouts at light middleweight. Hopkins, on the other hand has hinted only at 160 lbs. So there may be no catch weight if this fight were to happen because their weights will never meet. It would be a super fight- a bout usually fought in mixed martial arts where the fighters fight in an open weight category.

The sport of boxing is dedicated to its weight classes. Although it allows catch weights for title fights, there has never been a super fight in boxing. The UFC is boxing’s chief rival in the sport of fighting. They have recently broached the idea of reviving their Super Fights. Their light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones has hinted that he is willing to fight heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez or middleweight king Chris Weidman in a super bout.

The UFC is eons away from snatching the PPV buys from boxing, but it’s gaining popularity worldwide. So a Mayweather vs Hopkins super fight will cement boxing as the world’s top prize fighting sport.

Complications

But this fight has a lot of complications. First of all this matchup is close to impossible, physically. Mayweather is 5’8″ while Hopkins is 6’1″ Hopkins has not fought as a middleweight since 2005 while Mayweather has not even weighed in at light middleweight. Second, Floyd Mayweather makes decisions on his fights, he will not be dictated by Bernard Hopkins the promoter. Floyd Mayweather Jr has always decided based on the interest of business, not the fans. Although it has a potential to be a hit, it is a totally unnecessary business risk. Floyd is right, Hopkins may be chasing a lottery.

As of now, there isn’t even a 50-50 chance that the Mayweather vs Hopkins bout will happen in the near future. It may never happen at all. But remember that the Dream Match between De La Hoya and Pacquiao started as wishful thinking in the fickle mind of Larry Merchant. Hopkins may be talking like the king of wishful thinking. But he is also a promoter. Boxing is a business and PPV numbers do a lot of talking and match making.

Generally the first round of the NBA playoffs serves as a formality for the favorites to get a little bit of glorified practice against opponents other than their teammates, however, this year things are going a bit different than usual. 30 games into the 2014 NBA postseason we have witnessed a competitive spirit that is unmatched by any opening round of any playoffs in the history of professional sports’ postseasons.

Seven of the eight first round matchups are beyond competitive (with the exception of the Miami Heat/Charlotte Bobcats series which had two close games in the beginning before a blowout in game three) leaving fans on the edge of their seats no matter if they are watching it in the arena, a local bar or at home in their living room. Hoop fans have gone to heaven thanks to this wide-open array of basketball at its highest level where each and every team (expect the Bobcats) feel they have a legit opportunity to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy in June.

Now grant it seven of the eight opening round series have been amazing to watch however there have been a few more than the rest that have been 100% enthralling and beyond captivating including the Oklahoma City Thunder/Memphis Grizzlies series, the Golden State Warriors/Los Angeles Clippers series, the Portland Trailblazers/Houston Rockets series and the Brooklyn Nets/Toronto Raptors series. While all four have been must see entertainment they all have been so for varying reasons.

Thunder vs Grizzlies

Let’s start with the OKC/Memphis series shall we; what’s better than a best of seven series tied at two games apiece where the last three consecutive games have all went to overtime? Maybe a seven game series tied at three apiece with the last five games going to overtime with game seven going to triple overtime.

The Thunder and Grizzlies may supply us with that but already we’ve seen unbelievable four-point plays produced by OKC stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook which made O.T. possible in two of those games. When this series is all over and done with the winning team will be battled tested and the series itself will produce some very memorable playoff moments.

Trailblazers vs Rockets

The Portland/Houston series has also produced three overtime thrillers including games one, three and four; in fact the total point differential in this series is Blazers 473 – Rockets 466, yes that’s right four games separated by seven points.

Portland All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge is introducing himself to the entire world on the playoff stage posting huge numbers in this series in game one he put up a Blazers postseason high 46 points only to follow that up in game two with 43 more. He along with fellow up and coming star Damian Lillard have the Blazers set to take the series by just winning one more game as they have a 3-1 advantage over James Harden, Dwight Howard and the Rockets.

Warriors vs Clippers

Entering the 2014 postseason many expected this series to be the one-to-watch and it hasn’t even begun to disappoint. The series is tied at two games apiece currently and each of the first four games has been action packed with points, points and more points.

The extraordinary matchup at the point guard position between Chris Paul and Stephen Curry along with the two teams’ dislike for one another has fueled this cross-state series with the winner being able to hold the Cali bragging rights this season with the Lakers being a non-factor.

This series has produced everything a true basketball fan and even a casual one could ever want however there is a problem the series may possibly get overshadowed by the ignorant and asinine comments that were made by one of the two team’s owner who I won’t even give the acknowledgment of naming. Hopefully the players can shake off all of the non-sense surrounding the series and continue to provide the fans with an amazing series; and hopefully that joke-of-an-owner gets what he deserves.

Nets vs Raptors

Last but not least here is the battle-of-a-series between the Brooklyn Nets and Toronto Raptors which is currently tied at two games apiece, which is exactly what was expected after the division rivals split the season series two games apiece with each winning once on the other’s home court.

This series has had everything from the Raptors General Manager Masai Ujiri chanting an anti-Brooklyn remark that began with an f word, Paul Pierce knocking down clutch jump shot after clutch jump shot, the Brooklyn fans chanting U.S.A. in response to the GM’s remarks, R&B artist Drake lint rolling his pants while sitting courtside in the fourth quarter of game one and R&B diva Rihanna sitting courtside with a see-through blouse and no support in game three. Now if that isn’t a lot in a series I don’t know what else you could ask for.

Oh yeah let’s not forget that each of the four games have been nail bitters that have gone back and forth from beginning to end. Through four games the Raptors have scored 372 points while the Nets have scored 370 bringing the point differential in this series to a miniscule two points in favor of Toronto. I for one can’t wait to see how this series unfolds.

If these first 30 playoff games have been this great can you imagine how great the next thirty will be as the postseason unfolds and gets down to the final eight teams, then four and then two? One thing is a strong possibility; this could go down as the greatest postseason we’ve ever witnessed period, point blank!