FightFranchise | Executioner Lines Up Another Victim

Tomorrow night, former middleweight and light-heavyweight kingpin Bernard 'The Executioner' Hopkins returns to Philadelphia for his first fight in his hometown in over six years. In the other corner will be Mexican Enrique Ornelas, facing what most would consider to be an impossible task.

Even though he's 15 years Hopkins junior and has had almost half the fights, Ornelas, 29-5-0 (19), is no world beater and has not even fought for a world title, losing a split decision to Marco Antonio Rubio in a WBC middleweight eliminator around a year ago.

In contrast, Hopkins, 49-5-1 (32) has had around 30 world title fights (being specific is difficult as occasionally only the 'lineal' title was on the line and not some alphabet trinket) and has fought pretty much everyone who's anyone around the 168-175lb division for the last twelve or so years.

Obviously Hopkins is expected to win, as he is already pencilled in to face Roy Jones Jr in March next year in a long overdue rematch. Jones, himself fighting on the same day halfway around the world in Australia against Danny Green, will co-headline a US tv broadcast on Versus in what one would imagine will be an attempt to try and stir up some interest for the two veterans to meet. And actually, Hopkins has probably never had a better chance of getting one over on the great Roy Jones as he does now.

Having won decisively against Kelly Pavlik against all odds last time out in October '08, Hopkins has had a long hiatus from the ring, especially considering his age (44). Whether that will affect his performance is unknown, as he has already proved that he isn't cut from the same mould as anyone else.

After losing a very tight disputed decision to Joe Calzaghe, Hopkins, at the grand old age of 43, humiliated possibly the biggest new name in world boxing, Kelly Pavlik, and shocked all those that witnessed. He has proven time and time again that you never write him off and you never underestimate him. Unfortunately for Ornelas, whether he underestimates Hopkins should be irrelevant, because if the old dog still has some life in his legs, Ornelas doesn't stand a chance.

In what should be a fairly comfortable night for the Executioner, the real question lies in Hopkins' ability to entertain. If there's one man that has turned negativity into an artform it's Bernard, and to make that March rematch with Jones marketable, he may have to step out of his comfort zone against Ornelas and turn the fight into a show, but either way, Hopkins should not lose this fight.

The action begins from 8PM ET on Versus in the U.S.