Hopkins knows how to go out in style: Star middleweight ends boxing career

This was one doozy of a retirement party for Bernard Hopkins.\nThe star middleweight ended his boxing career after 18 years and 52 fights with a storybook finish, an upset of light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver.\n"I'm done, I'm done, I'm done," he said. "I don't need to risk anything else."\nHe risked plenty Saturday.\nAt 41, coming off back-to-back losses, he jumped two weight classes to take on the 175-pound champion in hopes of doing what his idol Sugar Ray Robinson couldn't, win a light heavyweight title.\nThe big night for Hopkins started when his sisters, wife and teachers were brought into the ring in a tribute before a video about his career played on the scoreboard. A who's who of Hollywood and pro sports watched from ringside, with announced spectators including Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Allen Iverson, Edgerrin James, Queen Latifah and Julius Erving.\nAsked by HBO if he would consider coming back for a $20 million payday, Hopkins replied: "I might come out of my grave for that kind of money."\nBut the fighter, who got his start in boxing while in prison and held the middleweight title for 11 years and finished with a flourish, insisted later he was definitely calling it a career.\n"I did what I said I was going to do," he said. "I wanted to make history, then move up and fight the winner of Roy Jones and Antonio Tarver. And although I had to fight Taylor one extra time, that's what happened."\nA 3-1 underdog, Hopkins thwarted Tarver's jab, attacked him with combinations whenever he tried to get close and controlled the tempo from the opening bell.\nHopkins started slowly in his two losses to Jermain Taylor last year, and was determined not to let that happen again. When the bell rang, he bolted from his corner and met Tarver in the middle of the ring, unleashing a flurry of punches before referee Benjy Estevez separated them.\nIt was a sign of things to come.\nPestering Tarver like a gnat, Hopkins forced the action and never stood still long enough for Tarver to connect on one of his signature left crosses.\n"I felt like in the first round, something was wrong," said Tarver (24-4). "I did not have any answers."\nTarver, who'd agreed to pay $250,000 to a charity of Hopkins' choosing if he didn't knock him out in five rounds or less, needed a miracle in the fifth to avoid paying off. He didn't get it.\nInstead, he was the one who went down.\nAfter missing Hopkins with a right, Hopkins (48-4-1) countered with a right lead that caught Tarver flush in the face, knocking him backward. \nEstevez ruled it a knockdown because Tarver's left glove touched the canvas as he struggled to stay on his feet.\nIn the seventh, the pro-Hopkins crowd of 10,200 at Boardwalk Hall broke into shouts of "B-Hop! B-Hop! B-Hop!"\nHopkins stayed in control in the later rounds, waiting for Tarver to swing and then unleashing five- and six-punch combinations as he chased him across the ring.\n"Tarver definitely is a good puncher," said Hopkins. "I can see why he knocked out Roy (Jones), but I never really gave him a clean target to land his punch."\nBy the end, Tarver's right eye was nearly swollen shut, and the other one didn't look much better.\nThe 37-year-old Tarver, who had bulked up to 210 while serving as Sylvester Stallone's on-screen opponent for the upcoming final installment of the "Rocky" series, looked listless and lost. \nEven when it became clear he'd need a knockout to win, he remained tentative.\n"I hope people got their money's worth," he said.