Bernard Hopkins brought up an interesting comparison to a legendary fight of the past ahead of Golovkin vs Canelo this weekend in Vegas.

In 1986 Ugandan knockout artist John Mugabi was given his first loss of his professional career when ‘Marvellous’ Marvin Hagler knocked him out in a thrilling middleweight title fight.

31 years later and another modern middleweight classic is upon us, and a legendary middleweight in his own right is playing a hand in promoting it.

Bernard Hopkins, one of the greatest middleweights of all time, now finds himself a partner in Golden Boy Promotions who co-promote this weekend’s Golovkin vs Canelo fight.

Hopkins brought up the Hagler vs Mugabi fight perhaps with a subtle reference to how Golovkin comes into this fight with a similarly ferocious reputation that Mugabi did, possibly hinting that his fighter (Canelo) could pull his own Marvin Hagler type win:

“I see the danger in the first couple of rounds the way both of them fight and the way one more is more aggressive. The first thing I thought about was if you remember Marvin Hagler and John ‘The Beast’ Mugabi. John ‘The Beast’ Mugabi was a guy that was destroying everybody, even middleweights from Philadelphia. Anyone up here that knows about boxing, knows about that era.”

He added:

“Understand that history don’t always repeat itself.”

What do you think? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section below or on social media. Here is how Hagler vs Mugabi went all those years ago: