Hopkins beats Ornelas, targets heavyweight champion Haye

PHILADELPHIA, (Reuters) – American Bernard Hopkins  returned to the ring after a near 14-month absence to score a  unanimous points decision victory over Mexican Enrique Ornelas  in a non-title light-heavyweight bout on Wednesday.

Hopkins, 44, the former middleweight and light-heavyweight  champion, used his experience to land sharp counters, and when  Ornelas stood back, scored with lead right hands.

After a wobble in round four where Ornelas landed a  succession of right hands, Hopkins took over in the fifth,  pinning Ornelas into a corner and digging to the body with the  Mexican visibly tiring by the tenth.

“I’d like to give Ornelas a lot of credit, he didn’t come  to lay down,” said Hopkins, who improved to 50-5-1 (32 KO’s).  “He hung in there, he took some great shots. I took some great  shots. I think for 44 years old, my energy level was  fantastic.”

The judges scored the bout 120-109, 119-109, and 118-110  for Hopkins, who has said he plans to step up to heavyweight  and fight WBA champion David Haye of Britain.

“I’m going to be the heavyweight champion of the world in  2010,” Hopkins said

Hopkins had previously said he intended to fight a rematch  in March with long-time rival Roy Jones Jr, who defeated him in  a middleweight title bout in 1993, followed by a challenge to  Briton Haye later in the year.

That first part of that plan seemed to be in tatters after  Jones was stopped in the first round by IBO cruiserweight  champion Danny Green in Sydney on Wednesday but Hopkins offered  hope the contest could yet go ahead.

“Oh yeah, definitely,” he said when asked if the Jones  fight could still happen.