Dominant Hopkins decisions Murat
Bernard Hopkins (54-6-2) continued his reign as boxing's oldest champion with a one-sided points win over Karo Murat (25-2-1) on Saturday night at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic city.
The 48-year-old was a class above Murat and retained his IBF light-heavyweight title with wide scores of 119-108, 119-108 and 117-110.
Murat set a high tempo in the early rounds, but failed to unsettle the veteran, who forced his opponent on the back foot with some crisp punches in the 4th.
Hopkins was frustrating Murat with his wily ring skills and the German was docked a point for hitting on the break in the 7th.
Murat finally landed powerful punches of his own in the 9th, but he was hindered by a cut and Hopkins came on strong in the closing rounds.
The American pressed for the stoppage in the 12th and almost finished off Murat, who was glad to hear the final bell.
On the undercard, Peter Quillin (30-0) kept his WBO middleweight title with a 10th round stoppage win over Gabriel Rosado (21-7).
Quillin dropped his foe in the 2nd round, but was hurt himself in the 4th before a bad cut forced the fight to be waved off.
Unbeaten heavyweight Deontay Wilder (30-0) picked up another knockout win after halting Nicolai Firtha (21-11-1) in the 4th round.