Bernard Hopkins happy to travel for fights with Carl Froch or Lucian Bute

Bernard Hopkins has a July 13 fight with mandatory challenger Karo Murat set for Brooklyn, but the 48-year-old IBF light heavyweight titlist is already thinking long-term, and bigger money fights down the road, saying that he's willing to go abroad to face Carl Froch or Lucian Bute in the future.

Froch would send Hopkins to the UK, whereas Hopkins would of course return to Montreal, where he fought Jean Pascal twice, to face Bute. Both of those fighters have dates on May 25, as Froch will face Mikkel Kessler, and Bute will take on Pascal. Victory for either man is hardly guaranteed.

This is a wild bit of ambition and drive for any top fighter these days, as it sounds like Hopkins (53-6-2, 32 KO) is entertaining the idea of fighting three times this year. He beat Tavoris Cloud on March 9, has Murat in July, and could conceivably fit in another fight late this year.

The last time Hopkins fought three times in a calendar year was 1994, before he'd even won his first middleweight title.