No Holds Barred: Charles Farrell on Bernard Hopkins and the 2013 Fighter of the Year Award

(Photo Credit: Tom Casino/Showtime)

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleague, correspondent, and award-winning boxing writer, Charles Farrell, who is also co-editor of The Boxing Standard.

With his commanding and impressive unanimous decision victory October 26 over the 30-year-old challenger Karo Murat (25-2-1, 15 KOs), the 48-year-old IBF light heavyweight champion Bernard "The Alien" Hopkins (54-6-2, 32 KOs) is still doing things in the ring perviously thought to be impossible or at least highly improbable. He has thus, in his 25th year as a professional fighter, legitimately put his name into consideration as a candidate for 2013 Fighter of the Year.

We spoke about this phenomenon with Charles Farrell by phone Tuesday.

"Absolutely he should be considered," he said. "Whether he wins it or not, I don't know. But he's had two good wins. And I think if you frame it historically, which I think it's a fair thing to do, I think that's a legitimate element of what you look for, he's very, very much in the mix."

His preference for Fighter of the Year is the unbeaten 122-pound champion Guillermo Rigondeaux, who essentially put on a boxing clinic against last year's consensus Fighter of the Year, Nonito Donaire, with a unanimous decision victory in April. That was, he said, the best performance by a fighter he had seen "certainly in recent memory."

But, he added about Hopkins, "If he were to win it, I think it's a deserving win. He's not the guy I would choose, but I have no quarrel with him winning it."

We also discussed how Hopkins quickly analyzes his opponents in their fights and responds accordingly, why he believes it is unlikely that Hopkins will fight Floyd Mayweather next, the dwindling talent pool in boxing, and much, much more.

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