"He [De La Hoya] showed a championship heart," Hopkins said. "He showed he could pull out the last few rounds."
Hopkins wasn't impressive, but he kept his part of the bargain with an ugly but easy decision to retain his middleweight titles and keep an 11-year winning streak alive.
Hopkins knocked Allen down in the seventh round, but spent much of the fight posing with his southpaw opponent, much to the displeasure of the crowd at the MGM Grand hotel-casino, which booed both fighters throughout the fight.
"For this fight I was more nervous than usual because there was so much on the line," Hopkins said. "I was more cautious because I wanted everything to go perfectly."
Hopkins said he didn't want to do anything to derail the September fight with De La Hoya, which will be the biggest payday of his career.
"There's US$10 million waiting for me if I win and De La Hoya wins," he said. "All of this on the line and all it would take is one shot."
Hopkins (44-2-1) won 119-107 on two scorecards and 117-109 on a third. The AP had Hopkins winning 116-110.
Hopkins, who was defending a portion of the 160-pound title for the 18th time, spent much of the fight circling Allen, who passively followed him around the ring. When the two did exchange punches, it was Hopkins landing the heavier and harder blows.
Hopkins, had threatened not to fight if Joe Cortez was the referee, but actually got the benefit of a questionable decision by Cortez to deduct a point from Allen without warning him first for a low blow in the fifth round.
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