48-year-old Bernard Hopkins will make a quick return to the ring on July 13, when he'll face IBF mandatory challenger Karo Murat at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Showtime will televise the fight.
Hopkins (53-6-2, 32 KO) defeated Tavoris Cloud to win the title on March 16, and this turnaround will be the quickest he's had since 2009-10, when he fought Enrique Ornelas and Roy Jones Jr over a four-month span. Prior to that, he hadn't fought twice in four months since 2004, when he beat Robert Allen in June and Oscar De La Hoya in September.
Murat (25-1-1, 15 KO) is getting what will likely be the biggest opportunity of his career, past, present, and future, because any win over Hopkins at this point holds a strong chance that it will be the win that retires the legend, and that would be quite a claim for any fighter.
Gary Russell Jr will also be part of the show, according to Richard Schaefer.