Only a handful of men in boxing history have successfully defended major world titles 20 times at one weight.

Sugar Ray Robinson is not among them and neither is Roy Jones Jr. Nor are Muhammad Ali or Henry Armstrong, both of whom fell one short.{{more}}

But undisputed middleweight king Bernard Hopkins is, after comfortably winning his 20th defence against Briton Howard Eastman in Los Angeles.

The “Executioner” joins an illustrious list, topped by “Brown Bomber” Joe Louis, and including Larry Holmes, Dariusz Michalczewski, Virgil Hill, Sven Ottke and Ricardo Lopez.