Bernard Hopkins, 48, retained his light heavyweight title with a convincing unanimous-decision victory over Karo Murat of Germany on Saturday night at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

Hopkins won by scores of 117-111 (Benoit Roussel), 119-110 (Julie Lederman) and 119-110 (Joseph Pasquale). The cards of Lederman and Pasquale seemed a bit off the mark as Murat seemed to deserve better than a nine-point deficit.

The excitement in a Hopkins fight has waned as the years have gone by, but this was very action-packed at times, particularly in the middle rounds when there were several  toe-to-toe exchanges.

Murat was cut twice over the left eye.

Hopkins (54-6-2) recently changed his nickname from “The Executioner” to “The Alien” and he entered the ring wearing a green alien outfit complete with mask. In the fifth round, he kissed Murat on the back of the head when Murat got turned around during a clinch.

Murat (25-2-1), who is 30, was later deducted a point for hitting on the break.