Bernard Hopkins Rules Out Three Future Opponents

Bernard Hopkins may or may not fight Chad Dawson this fall, but tonight on Twitter he did rule out three potential opponents.

The 46-year-old light heavyweight champion says he has no intention of fighting Andre Ward, David Haye, or Steve Cunningham, as they're too friendly. Haye faces Wladimir Klitschko on July 2 for the world heavyweight championship, and in the past Hopkins did have interest in Haye. But that's probably a pipe dream at this point, and with Haye's relationship with Golden Boy Promotions growing since then, it does seem quite understandable and logical that the two have become friendly and wouldn't want to fight one another.

Ward, the super middleweight star whose profile grows with each passing fight, has expressed great admiration for Hopkins. The Oakland fighter has been compared favorably to Hopkins style-wise in the past, too. Hopkins said he'd like to fight the Super Six winner recently, and that's favored to be Ward at this point. But Hopkins says no go on a Ward fight. And Cunningham is a Philly fighter like Hopkins, and the two are very familiar with one another.

So while we wait to find out what Hopkins does next -- he has no intention of retiring -- we can at least scratch off those three names, though none were particularly likely anyway. Of course, all of this could change, being that we're talking about Bernard Hopkins.