BERNARD Hopkins destroyed Kelly Pavlik on Saturday night to fully justify Joe Calzaghe’s decision to take on Roy Jones Jr in his final fight.

Hopkins, beaten by Argus columnist Calzaghe in April, used an assortment of punches to completely dominate Pavlik and scored a unanimous 12-round decision in a non-title light-heavyweight fight at Boardwalk Hall.

Calzaghe’s critics had argued that Pavlik would be a much tougher test of his unbeaten record than the veteran Jones but that notion was knocked down on Saturday.

Hopkins (49-5-1) at times toyed with his much younger opponent, using several bolo punches that landed solidly on Pavlik, 17 years Hopkins’ junior.

Pavlik (34-1) moved up to the light heavyweight category for this fight and suffered the first defeat of his professional career after going undefeated as middleweight champion.

The 26-year-old Pavlik, who entered the bout as more than a 4-1 favourite, absorbed the bulk of Hopkins’ various left jabs, overhand rights and numerous left-right combinations that left the fighter from Youngstown, Ohio, totally confused. Pavlik hung in there until the end as both fighters continued to exchange blows as the final bell sounded.

“Pavlik is tough. He’s a great champion,” Hopkins said. “He was very heavy-handed and I could feel his power, but he never hurt me, because I made sure he never hit me flush.”

Judges Alan Rubenstein (119-106), Steven Weisfeld (118-108) and Barbara Perez (117-109) all gave Hopkins a substantial margin of victory with Rubenstein awarding Hopkins all 12 rounds.

The 43-year-old Hopkins glared defiantly at the media assembled at ringside as the final scorecards were announced.

Hopkins made references to two earlier victories over opponents that were favoured to beat the 43-year-old from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

“You (the media) all got a right to voice your opinion, but I wanted to look and stare, like I did when I beat Tito (Trinidad) as a 4-to-1 underdog,” Hopkins said.

“I did the same stare when I beat (Antonio) Tarver, because I wanted to let you all know that you all had somebody special amongst you and you all ain’t gonna realise it until I’m gone.

“I wanted to stop him, because they say I’ve been playing it safe because of my age,” Hopkins said. “But I wanted really to pick it up, show people I could still fight and try to stop him. But now, anyone I fight, I’m gonna go for the knockout.”

Pavlik suffered a bloody nose in the sixth round and bled around his left eye in the ninth, although Hopkins had a point deducted for holding in that round.

Pavlik was taken to a local hospital following the bout to get stitches.