Hopkins, the taller of the two fighters, came out strong using his jab and good ring movement, keeping Bravo off balance and unable to do much of anything in the first few rounds. For the most part Hopkins boxed beautifully on the outside while landing accurate shots as Bravo tried to get on the inside. Even when Bravo was successful in his attempt to get close, Demetrius would simply tie him up, not allowing him to get any punches off.

As the fight progressed Bravo began to have more success getting close to Hopkins, but unfortunately for him once he was close he was unable to capitalize and take advantage of the opportunities Hopkins gave him. Most of Bravo’s punches were either slipped or smothered by Hopkins when the two were in close and when the fight was on the outside Bravo appeared to be simply overmatched because as the shorter fighter he was out of his punching range, which rendered him incapable of landing anything meaningful.

While the two fighters fought on, Demetrius’ uncle Bernard Hopkins, who was ringside and seemed to be anxious over the performance of his nephew, insisted on consistently yelling out instructions hoping to motivate his fighter. Demetrius seemed to listen to some of these instructions as he began to sit down on his punches a little bit more to try to discourage Bravo from walking his way inside. In the later rounds Hopkins was successful in once again reestablishing his dominance with accurate punching and solid defense. The fight went the full ten rounds and in the end Hopkins prevailed with a unanimous decision victory. (97-93, 97-93, 98-92).

Nito Bravo threw more punches and was perhaps the more active fighter, but unfortunately for him being the busier of the two does not guarantee you a victory. Although Hopkins threw less punches, his connect percentage was significantly higher. His punches were simply more accurate, which can largely be attributed to his superior hand speed. Overall it was a solid win for Hopkins whose good performance may have been somewhat overshadowed by the presence of his uncle and Jermain Taylor who was in the ESPN2 studio as the special guest of the night. The short conversation between him and Bernard was respectful without any trash talking or insults. Jermain expressed his excitement over the upcoming bout and Hopkins reiterated what he said before, that Jermain will be a champion, just not now.