Bernard Hopkins (born January 15, 1965) —nicknamed The Executioner— is a professional boxer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Going into his fight against Jermain Taylor in July 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, 4 losses, 1 draw, and 1 no contest with 32 knockouts.

Bernard Hopkins was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, growing up in the Raymond Rosen housing projects and later in Germantown, where he became involved in crime and gang activity at a young age. Today, he describes himself as a "thug" in his youth and regrets that it took a stint in prison for him to turn his life around.

Late in 1982, when Hopkins was in the 11th grade, he was convicted and sentenced to 18 years in the state penitentiary for "strong-arm robbery" (not armed robbery - beating people and taking their money). For fifty-six months, from 1984 through 1989, Hopkins was one of three thousand inmates in Graterford State Penitentiary in Pennsylvania. While incarcerated, he decided to turn his life around.[1] Hopkins studied for and earned his high school diploma, and also began to take part in boxing again, which he had done off and on as a youth.

During four years and eight months in prison, Hopkins won the national penitentiary middleweight championship three times. He converted to Islam [2] during his incarceration and was paroled in 1988, as soon as he was eligible. His dedicated approach to the faith helped him build his successful monastic boxing career by instilling discipline in the once troubled young adult
Source : Wikipedia