It wasn't Hagler-Hearns, but it wasn't expected to be. That's not Bernard Hopkin's style. His style is to secure the win, not please the crowd, and that's exactly what he did last night against tough Howard Eastman at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

The start of the fight was delayed after a miscommunication between HBO officials and the Hopkins camp, who apparently were told they had forty minutes to get ready regardless of how long the undercard fight lasted. By the time Jermain Taylor scored a TKO win over Daniel Eduard in the 3rd round, Hopkins hadn't even started wrapping his hands (the time was filled nicely by Jim Lampley listening to an affable, enthusiastic Mike Tyson wax poetic about Taylor and Max Schmeling, and Oscar De La Hoya, in promoter/politician/bad actor mode, talk about how excited he was to see Taylor perform and his own planned return to the welterweight division).

When Hopkins finally entered the ring, he did so wearing a black robe with gold letters reading "Golden Boy East P-4-P Champion" stitched on the back. In round 1, both fighters didn't do much as they tried to feel each other out. By round 4 though, the fans started booing Hopkins as he retreated and feinted, content to land one punch at a time as Eastman tried to get inside and force a brawl.

Even though Hopkins was winning most of the rounds, he wasn't winning much fan support with his safety-first style. That changed in the second half of the fight, though, as B-Hop found his groove after spending the first few rounds measuring and timing the quicker Eastman. From that point on it was all Hopkins, landing flush left hooks and right hands as the crowd "oohed" and "aahed" in acknowledging the work of the middlweight champ.

By the time the 12th round ended, there was no doubt that Hopkins, 46-2-1 (33), had succeeded in securing his historic twentieth defence of the world title, and announcer Michael Buffer confirmed it when he announced Hopkins the winner by unanimous decision. I scored the fight 119-111 for Hopkins with round 1 even.

In the post-fight interview with HBO's Larry Merchant, Hopkins called Eastman, 40-2 (35), a "B-" fighter and when asked to comment on Jermain Taylor's performance, said that he was a young lion who'd just graduated from 8th grade to high school. When touching upon his imminent retirement, Hopkins joked, "I'm gonna miss you Larry, believe it or not", prompting Jim Lampley to remark, "They're getting closer all the time".

On the undercard, Jermain Taylor improved his record to 23-0 (17) by stopping sparring partner Daniel Eduard, 16-1-2 (9) in the 3rd round.