Bernard Hopkins plans farewell fight in April or May for 168-pound title

LAS VEGAS - Bernard Hopkins says his illustrious career is finally coming to a close.

The legendary fighter turns 51 on January 15, but he wants one final bout before he hangs up the gloves. Hopkins told Paste BN Sports on Wednesday that he's targeting the fight for April or May, and the plan is to challenge for a super middleweight title, a division in which he's never competed.

Hopkins (55-7-2, 32 KOs) and Golden Boy Promotions (which he works for as an executive) have had preliminary talks with WBO champion Arthur Abraham about such a fight, and the Philadelphian says they're close on a deal. If Abraham can get past Martin Murray on Saturday - no easy task - talks will move forward.

"I won't be surprised if Abraham loses that fight," Hopkins said following the Miguel Cotto-Canelo Alvarez news conference. "I hope he don't. But I won't be surprised. This is a good fight. Abraham fighting in his country might be good for him."

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If Murray lifts the title from the German, will "The Alien" consider fighting him?

"Then I'm going to the nursing home," Hopkins joked. "If he beats Abraham and it was one of those (ho-hum fights), then it won't do nothing for me. Abraham has a name. But it's a lot of ifs. Right now, just in case, we're getting a No. 2 and No. 3 guy just in case."

So if Abraham no longer has the strap, what are other options are out there? James DeGale defends his IBF title Nov. 28 against Lucian Bute, but he's advised by Al Haymon, making a negotiation tricky. Badou Jack holds the WBC belt but is also handled by Haymon. Undefeated Russian Fedor Chudinov has the WBA version but is unknown stateside.

If Hopkins wants a title and Abraham loses, he may have to turn to Murray. While Murray doesn't hold the same name value as Abraham, he has headlined on HBO twice (title losses to Sergio Martinez and Gennady Golovkin at middleweight) and has a following in the UK.

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Hopkins, who made a record 20 consecutive title defenses at 160 pounds, skipped over the 168-pound weight class for a shot at lineal light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver in 2006, a bout he handily won. A super middleweight title would give him a belt in a third weight class, something he covets.

"I want to be in a position to fight someone with a name, and also if they have a title, it makes it even better," said Hopkins, who hasn't competed since a November 2014 loss to Sergey Kovalev. "It has to be somebody that people can recognize. I don't want to fight anyone where they go, 'Oh, he's a champion, but we don't know him.'

"Age really is not a factor when it comes to that. I've been dealing with that 10 years. It's going to be one more. It's just who?"