Bernard Hopkins is regarded by experts to be one of the best middleweight fighters of all time, and The Ring magazine and the World Boxing Hall of Fame named Hopkins as the 2001 Fighter of the Year.

He first joined the professional boxing ranks as a light heavyweight, losing his debut on October 11, 1988 in Atlantic City, New Jersey to a fighter named Clinton Mitchell. But he showed enough in the loss that respected trainer Bouie Fisher took him on. After a 16-month layoff,  Hopkins resumed his career as a middleweight, winning a unanimous decision over Greg Paige on February 22, 1990.

Between February 1990 and September 1992, Hopkins worked his way through the ranks of middleweight journeymen, scoring 20 wins without a loss. He won 15 of those fights by knockout, 11 coming in the first round.

His first chance at a world title came on May 22, 1993 in Washington, DC, when he faced Roy Jones Jr. for the vacant IBF middleweight belt. Hopkins, who was still inexperienced against top fighters, nevertheless went the distance with Jones before losing a unanimous decision.

By the end of 2000, he had defended the IBF title 12 times without a loss, while beating such standouts as John David Jackson, Glencoffe Johnson, Simon Brown, and Antwun Echols.

For the first time in many years, Hopkins was an underdog in the betting, when challenged by then undefeated fighter Felix Trinidad. He was on his way to a lopsided decision victory. It was the first loss of Trinidad's career, and made Hopkins the first undisputed world middleweight champion since Marvin Hagler in 1987.

In the biggest fight of his career, Hopkins fought six-division titleholder Oscar De La Hoya for the undisputed middleweight championship on September 18, 2004 in Las Vegas. Hopkins won the bout with a knockout in the ninth round.

De la Hoya soon thereafter invited Hopkins to join his boxing promotional firm, Golden Boy Promotions, as president of its new east coast chapter. Their alliance was announced publicly on November 20, 2004.

Hopkins is expected to sign and guide the careers of young east coast fighters, including several from his hometown of Philadelphia.

Hopkins reached his stated goal of 20 title defenses on February 19, 2005 against Howard Eastman, the European middleweight champion.

In his next fight on July 16, 2005, Hopkins, who had not been defeated since 1993, lost his undisputed middleweight title to the undefeated Jermain Taylor.

On December 3, 2005, Hopkins lost his rematch against Jermain Taylor by a unanimous, albeit still controversial, decision. All three judges scored the fight 115-113 for Taylor. Compubox statistics showed that Hopkins outlanded Taylor 130-124 in total punches and 101-60 in power punches.

On June 10, 2006, Hopkins defeated Antonio Tarver in a completely one-sided fight by a unanimous decision to win Tarver's Light Heavyweight Title.

Until his controversial loss to Jermain Taylor in July 2005 and a second time, in early December, of 2005, Hopkins was the undisputed holder of the championship belts from all 4 major sanctioning bodies (WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO). In addition, he was awarded the coveted linear Ring Belt after defeating Felix Trinidad in September 2001.

On June 10, 2006 he defeated Antonio Tarver to become The Ring light heavyweight champion. His career record stands at 47 wins, four losses, one draw, and one no contest with 32 knockouts.