Speaking with BoxingScene.com’s Jose “OnFire” Aguirre, Bernard Hopkins, at age 43, says that he is finally starting to get tired of fighting. The only thing that can motivate him to fight again is facing the winner of Roy Jones Jr. vs. Joe Calzaghe, scheduled for November 8.

The future of another Hopkins fight is riding on the shoulders of Jones. Calzaghe, who won a close decision over Hopkins in April, has no interest in a rematch with Bernard and he doesn’t plan on fighting beyond the Jones encounter. If Calzaghe beats Jones, last weekend’s astonishing win over Kelly Pavlik may become the final ring performance by Hopkins. It also depends on how Calzaghe wins. If Joe wins a close decision and Jones puts on a good performance, a rematch with Hopkins may still be possible.

“I'm really getting tired of proving myself and I've used that for the fire for many years. That means it's like one foot out and one foot in, and the only thing that can motivate me is the winner between Joe and Roy. It's the only thing I see to where people will spend their money on and to get interested in,” Hopkins said. “On that, I'll be motivated but after that, there is nothing else - win, lose or draw.”

“There is nothing else that can motivate Bernard Hopkins. I want to show that I can beat Joe Calzaghe and that I can beat Roy Jones Jr. If I can get that opportunity, then I can ride off into the sunset because there will be nothing else to prove. And I know that I'll probably be the underdog in those fights.”

Hopkins would tell BoxingScene that in preparation for the fight with Pavlik, he studied Marvin Hagler's three-round war with Thomas Hearns. He studied Hagler’s technique of taking away the long reach of Hearns and used the same tactic against Pavlik.

"I knew I had a little bit more speed than him. Not by being in the ring, but by watching tapes. I said 'wow, this guy got long arms'. I watched the Tommy Hearns vs. Marvin Hagler tape. When I saw Hagler was on the outside in the first round, he got caught with a right hand that split him [on the head], but when he got inside - he took away the long reach and that's what I did with Kelly Pavlik,” Hopkins said.

“He got such long arms. Jermain Taylor stayed outside. Edison Miranda stayed outside. But, if you go halfway to his elbow, not enough to smother my punches, but enough to where I take away his reach - then he has to pull his arms back so far to either protect himself or get a shot in with me. He's too lanky, he's too slim and he's too long to be mobile like that. So once I got my foot and went in and then went out, without wasting energy - that just rattled him.

“And I stayed away from his strong hand. I went away from his right. I went my left, which is his right, so when he threw the punch he had to reach across his body and then I could counter him.”