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Labeling boxing as unique is hardly a stretch.

But sometimes a matchup comes along that pushes the strange bedfellow envelope.

Such is the unlikely Saturday night HBO card-topper that'll pit calendar-defying quinquagenarian Bernard Hopkins against Long Island union laborer Joe Smith Jr.

Hopkins, who'll turn 52 just 15 days into the New Year, became a professional fighter back in October 1988 -- presumably a few weeks before Smith, born in September 1989, was conceived.

They'll take the ring together at the Forum in Inglewood, California to headline a 10 p.m. ET show that'll also include a cruiserweight title tilt between Oleksandr Usyk and Thabiso Mchunu, and a 10-rounder involving featherweights Joseph Diaz Jr. and Horacio Garcia.

The old man hasn't fought since a 12-round thrashing by Sergey Kovalev in 2014, insists the weekend return will be a one-and-done endeavor and likens the spectacle to a high-profile NBA exit.

"I will be the matrix. I will be the executioner. I will be everything that I need to be to win," Hopkins said. "The sweet science is something that I've always been addicted to.

"My fight will be like watching the last game of Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant."

His counterpart, though, might be a little closer to home in a bar-league pickup game.

"We are always training and preparing the same like we do for all our fights. I don't do anything different," Smith said. "When the call came for (my last) fight, I was working for the labor union and trained for two months straight and that resulted in a win.

"The same thing happened when I got the call for this fight."

Indeed, Smith was a once-beaten product of East Coast club shows when he headed west for a June 18 date with streaking light heavyweight slugger Andrzej Fonfara.

The trip to Chicago proved life-changing for the now-27-year-old, who starched Fonfara in less than three minutes and instantly hit the Golden Boy Promotions radar as the company looked to provide Hopkins with a farewell foe.

The Fonfara fight is a prime candidate for both the top upset and KO of 2016.

"Bernard is not fighting someone who is a walk in the park," said Golden Boy founder Oscar De La Hoya, a former Hopkins opponent. "Joe Smith has every opportunity to take control of the fight and win. Hopkins is the type of man to challenge himself and fight the very best. This fight with Joe Smith is a very difficult fight. That is why Bernard Hopkins is a living legend, because he is willing to take on the best."

Hopkins was six months past his 39th birthday in mid-2005 when a split-decision loss to Jermain Taylor ended a middleweight title reign that had spanned 10 years and yielded 19 successful defenses.

Another loss to Taylor five months later prompted calls for retirement, but the Philadelphian defied odds by climbing to light heavyweight - where he toppled IBO champion Antonio Tarver and kick-started a decade-long renaissance that's seen him go 9-3-1 while capturing three more title belts.

He'll arrive Saturday with a new trainer in tow, having enlisted the services of former middleweight victim John David Jackson, who was on the other side of the ring running Kovalev's corner when the then-unbeaten Russian swept all 12 rounds against Hopkins, then 49, at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

"Even though I defeated John David Jackson, he is the very best out there and we wanted him in my corner," Hopkins said. "JDJ is much overlooked, but he is one of the top three or four trainers.

"He has known me since I was a younger fighter trying to make it into boxing. If you look at the craftsmanship of JDJ -- when you see that a guy not only has the tools, the way to use them in the ring, and you as a fighter have the confidence and trust in your teacher -- you're in great hands."

The arrival of new personnel, however, doesn't signal a long-term arrangement.

"I am done. This will be the final one," Hopkins said. "Whether it was JDJ or (ex-trainer) Naazim (Richardson) in my corner, I will not fight, even if I feel that I can do a lot more. I want to give a performance where you beg me to stay, and it's a challenge that Joe Smith will have to take on.

"For fighters to show their greatness, they need someone to bring it out. Timing is everything, and I am doing it in my calculation. I proved a bunch of people wrong already. There is no stone that has not been unturned, meaning that when I look back I would have done everything that I wanted to."

Smith hasn't lost since he was stopped in four rounds by Eddie Caminero in his seventh pro fight in 2010. Nevertheless, he's a decided underdog against the significantly older man at Bovada, where it'll take a $270 outlay on Hopkins to generate a $100 profit.

A $100 wager on Smith will return $210 if he ends the night with a surprise.

To him, though, such a result shouldn't be considered all that shocking.

"To fight someone well known like Bernard is a privilege," he said. "I will be bringing my best, and will make sure that he doesn't return. I will make sure he exits my way."