This weekend, former middleweight world boxing champion "Executioner" Bernard Hopkins will challenge the light heavyweight champion "Magic Man" Antonio Tarver.

Being a Hopkins fan I always become filled with excitement whenever I know he is fighting. But we have to accept the fact that he's no longer young. The 41 year-old Hopkins, 46-4-1 with 32 knockouts, has not looked dominant since that brilliant fight when he dismissed Felix Trinidad, on Sept. 29, 2001. In the last three fights Hopkins looked lifeless, one against De La Hoya and the other two against Jermain Taylor.

For Hopkins to win, he has to take risks, the risks he wasn't willing to take when facing De La Hoya and Taylor. Due to the age and the smaller size, Hopkins has to fight hard, be aggressive all the time, just like Glen Johnson did in his win over Tarver. If this fight took place 5 years ago, I would say Hopkins can make it with no sweat. But as we saw from his last three matches, this Bernard is more laid-back and waiting for his opponent to make mistakes. He is not aggressive enough to do those things.

On the other hand, Antonio Tarver is bigger and in his own fight zone. He has great hand speed and punching power, a fact to which Roy Jones Jr. can testify. His boxing skills are quite formidable in that he is very accurate when he commits to a punch, concurrently throwing them in devastating combinations. Another strength he possesses is a 75 reach which can be used to keep him from the opponents at a safe remove.

Despite all the strengths of Tarver, Hopkins still has some chances. Tarver has boldly stated that he won't let Hopkins pass the sixth round, meaning that he is looking for a knock out. To do this he must be aggressive from the onset of the match and not allow Bernard to warm up and get into his fighting rhythm.

Hopkins can use this to his advantage. If Tarver exerts most of his energy and punches in hopes of making his prediction come true, Hopkins can then capitalize on that since his opponent is known to have stamina problems in the later rounds of a fight. If Tarver comes out overly aggressive, this gives Hopkins many opportunities to counter punch his way to victory.

As a Hopkins fan, I definitely will be on his side. But in fact, I highly doubt he will win. No matter what the result is, this fight will be the one that worth all our boxing fans to pay great attentions to.