International Boxing Federation or the IBF Light Heavyweight Championship belt holder Bernard Hopkins has admitted that he is ready to put his title on the line against Karo Murat is only because he is obliged to and also because of his preferred opponents for a fight are not available at the moment.

Hopkins overcame the challenge of Tavoris Cloud on the 9^th of March to break his own record and become the oldest fighter in the history of the sport to win a world title but the fight was given the go ahead only through exception because he was already due to face the challenge of mandatory contender Karo Murat.

The International Boxing Federation granted the exception for the match between Bernard Hopkins and Tavoris Cloud to go ahead with the stipulation that whoever won the title on the night would have to face the mandatory challenger Murat or face relinquishing the title, a stipulation agreed to by the camp of Murat as well. Speaking to ESPN.com, Hopkins stated that the match is an obligation that he has to do at this moment and added that if there was a better option for him at the moment, he would be doing it.

He went on to mentioned that sadly; there is no better option for him at the moment because almost all of the top guys are busy with their own fights right now. As a result, historically and/or financially, there is no better option than doing this fight and getting it out of the way.

Bernard Hopkins added that after he is done with Murat, he is targeting a super fight. The likes of Nathan Cleverley, Carl Froch are all in the running to get a shot at the oldest champion in history of boxing if he wins against Murat.

World Boxing Organization or WBO champion Nathan Cleverly expects an in ring battle against fellow Light Heavyweight fighter Bernard Hopkins, sooner rather than later. The 48 year old Hopkins recently defeated Tavoris Cloud in New York to win the International Boxing Federation or IBF Championship and break his own record to become the oldest champion in the world. And Cleverly, who gets ready to take on the challenge of Robert Krasniqi at the fabled Wembley Arena on the 20^th of April believes a win over the mandatory challenger would clear the road for a fight against Hopkins.

He stated that a fight between him and Hopkins is almost an inevitability at this moment. He went on to state that a fight against Bernard Hopkins will definitely be on and it will happen after his next fight. But he did mention that he will need to get the better of Krasniqi in order to land the fight against the American champion. The former undisputed Middleweight champion of the world was awarded a unanimous decision victory against Cloud.

And Cleverly stated that he had known Hopkins would prove too strong for Cloud simply because he had been around the ring more than his fair share and that was what turned out to be. And at 25 years of age, the Welshman is half the age of the American. But he doesn’t think that it would stop the fight from happening.

He went on to praise Bernard Hopkins further, stating that the American is a real fox inside the ring and he added that he is very glad he went on to win because now, if he does get a fight against him, it will get more hype and it will be for the unification of the IBF and WBO titles as well.

Former undisputed World Middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins says that he is done worrying whether the Filipino Bomber Manny Pacquiao and Floyd ‘The Money’ Mayweather will ever enter the ring and square off against each other, bringing the dreams of each and every boxing fans into the realms of the reality. And he added that he is particularly worried about whether the recent knockout loss that Manny Pacquiao suffered at the hands of Mexican boxing legend Juan Manuel Marquez in December has taken a few years off his career and he might be forced to retire sooner.

Mayweather has plans to return to the ring after his jail sentence for domestic battery last year on the 4^th of May at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States of America but he has no plans to take on the Filipino fighter anytime soon. The man who is most likely to take on the American is Robert Guerrero with a fight against Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez also on the cards later in the year. It should be mentioned here that talks over a match between the American and the Filipino star has broken down several times.

And speaking to ESPN.com, Bernard Hopkins stated that the match would be absolutely easy pickings for the greatest pound for pound fighter in the world. He went on to state that he had picked Mayweather to win by knockout before. He added that if they fought now, which he doesn’t see happening, Mayweather would win easily than he had predicted before.

Bernard Hopkins stated that Mayweather is one of the best defenders in the sport and one can never see him get hit with one, two, three four combinations and that is something that makes him almost unbeatable much like he has done too.