En route to staging a historical upset on Saturday night, a muscular Bernard Hopkins bullied Antonio Tarver around the ring from bell to bell while forcibly taking away Tarver's light heavyweight belts. Despite adding weight and having never fought as a light heavyweight, "The Executioner" Hopkins threw his punches quickly and accurately all the way into the later rounds of the fight. A determined Hopkins also achieved the goal that his idol Sugar Ray Robinson fell just short of accomplishing: stepping up from middleweight to win the light heavyweight title.

    Compared to Hopkins, Tarver appeared surprisingly frail. "Magic Man" Tarver managed to lose a tremendous amount of weight after playing the part of Rocky's antagonist in Sylvester Stallone's latest installment in the Rocky series, "Rocky Balboa." While the weight loss was magical, the performance in the ring was not. Tarver fought lethargically. His punches lacked snap. His ring movement lacked direction. And his morale in the ring seemed very low. This was not the same Antonio Tarver who recently put on several strong performances against the likes of Roy Jones and Glen Johnson. Though Tarver vehemently denied any negative effects from his drastic weight loss, something in his pre-fight preparation was clearly off the mark. Hopkins on other hand, employed super consultant Mackie Shilstone, who is renowned for helping smaller fighters stage big upsets. Shilstone proved to be quite an addition as Hopkins appeared sharper than ever - physically and mentally.

    Between rounds, the scenes that took place in each fighter's corner were strikingly different. Trainer Buddy McGirt repeatedly told Tarver to stop retreating. After a few rounds Buddy told Tarver to "stop dancing to his (Hopkins) beat." While giving instructions, McGirt constantly implored Tarver to look at him as the unusually reticent Tarver just stared off blankly, often blinking his left eye after getting knocked down in round five.

     On the other side of the ring, Hopkins looked confident in his corner as he received instructions from trainer Noazim Richardson. At certain points between rounds, Hopkins even smiled and winked while sitting on his stool.

     Although Richardson advised Hopkins to use body blows as punches of investment, Hopkins appeared to have more luck throwing headshots. In the fifth round, a whopping overhand right by Hopkins wobbled Tarver, causing the champion to touch the canvas with his glove. Referee Benjy Esteves Jr. scored this as a knockdown for Hopkins. Tarver's face provided the strongest evidence that Hopkins headshots were finding their target. By the beginning of the championship rounds, both of Tarver's eyes were swollen. Still the soon-to-be-deposed champion fought on bravely through the final rounds and staved off a knockout even though he was clearly overmatched that night. In round 10, the weary-armed Tarver launched a mis-timed off-target haymaker. After ducking the punch, Hopkins raised his arms and posed for the Atlantic City crowd while Tarver stumbled after his big miss.

     Amazingly, in round 11, Hopkins delivered a furious combination that looked like something from a classic Sugar Ray Leonard fight. This also showed that stamina was clearly no problem for Hopkins, even with the extra weight.

     A defining moment took place before the final round. Rather than command his fighter to go for a desperate knockout, Buddy McGirt gave Tarver a set of survival plans. Tarver complied knowing he did not have anything in his tank that would enable him to pull off the the impossible.

     Staging an obvious role reversal, Hopkins sat back during the fight's pre-fight press conferences and interviews and allowed the articulate and loquacious Antonio Tarver to do most of the trash-talking. Perhaps this was on the advice of Mackie Shilstone. Either way, it was Hopkins who added an exclamation mark to the whole event, and perhaps to the final chapter his career.