Hopkins had made 12 consecutive title defenses as a middleweight and was looking to make it 14, tying him with Carlos Monzón for record defences.

At around the same time, Félix Trinidad had cleaned out the welterweight division, defeating everybody in front of him, including a win over Oscar De La Hoya.

Following this he made the move to Super Welterweight defeating Fernando Vargas and was by this time considered to be one of the best boxers in the world by many.

Don King had then organized a middleweight tournament featuring Keith Holmes, William Joppy, Bernard Hopkins & Félix Trinidad.

On April 14, 2001, Hopkins defeated Keith Holmes by unanimous decision to retain IBF middleweight championship and also capture the WBC belt.

After the fight, Bernard Hopkins was named 2001 Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year, and also won this award from the World Boxing Hall of Fame.

His father, Félix Trinidad, Sr. announced that his son had not even entered a gym following his January 2008 defeat to Roy Jones Jr.[8] Bernard Hopkins went on to defeat several big names, including Oscar De La Hoya and William Joppy as well as defend his middleweight title another six times, making it twenty defences before finally being dethroned by Jermain Taylor.

Following this he lost a close split decision to Joe Calzaghe, but rebounded with a dominant victory over undefeated middleweight champion, Kelly Pavlik.

On 21 May 2011, Hopkins at the age of 46 became the oldest world champion in boxing history by defeating Jean Pascal by unanimous decision for the WBC and The Ring Light Heavyweight Championship.

Many names were thrown around including Tomasz Adamek,[10] Chad Dawson[11] and Steve Cunningham as well as potential rematches with Roy Jones Jr., Glen Johnson[11] and Joe Calzaghe.