By Jeff Zimmerman
Fightnews.com® caught up with Hall of Fame champion Bernard Hopkins today and got a series of hot takes…
On the Canelo-Plant skirmish during their press conference face-off
The prefight stuff happens. I don’t pay too much attention to it. I did it with Winky Wright. Someone should have been up there with Canelo and Plant. The entourages are up there, and they are all getting paid, no one is there for free. If the fight doesn’t happen, no one gets paid including the entourages.
It may be a scratch (on Plant) but it could open from friction of the gloves. I don’t know.
Thoughts on celebrity fights
Nobody gives two shits about boxing. They only care about the money and whatever comes after that. They don’t care about the Muhammad Ali’s and the Joe Louis’ and the sweet science of the sport. Ali did his things after retirement. Ali was special in and out of the ring.
Mayweather and Jake Paul. Not everyone can pull that off. And they can’t.
More scrutiny now with the recent Holyfield fight
The writing is on the wall and the pot is hot. Someone got busted. There are eyeballs on the corner in that neighborhood (referring to the recent fights with YouTubers, celebrities and former fighters).
It’s the same thing in business and boxing, you can’t shove that down people’s throats. It’s entertainment and people will watch two people wrestling in the mud. There is an audience for buffoonery.
Holyfield doesn’t need my pity or anyone else’s. But you can’t mix gasoline and water.
Keep an eye on your money
I tell my comrades in the sport to be conscious of your money and who’s handling your money. It can be very stressful. You have an empire. How do you keep that? Things happened early in my career. But I caught it. I hired some advisors and didn’t have to give 40%.
Boxing has been having a pandemic for 50 years due to Ignorance.
We [fighters] are disadvantaged because we are on the labor side. Most handling business are way smarter than us, not in all cases. I’m going to watch my money. The craziness is never going to stop. I live this way, think this way, that’s the choice you make.
But exploiting fighters that don’t have the means, that’s when you need commissions to step up.
“Nobody gives two shits about boxing.”
– The fine people on this site care, Bernard.
I notice some of the comments have been taken down on this forum. Hmmm…Hopkins must have told fightnews he will do the interview for the article, but no bashing his ego or arrogance with comments.
My comment is still alive, Scoob.
– Maybe because I wuz “nice” 🙂
Thanks for the feedback….
not true. never said that too me… Scooby Doo… thanks for reading as always!
Jeff, thank you for the update! Yes, I enjoy reading your work.
Yeh, Some truth here..
As a boxer massive respect but as a person B-Hop is well … a twit.
To a point. He’s very smart with his money and it’s good that he gives that advise to boxers. There are a lot of leaches out there.
One thing for sure, Hopkins got KO of the year he was KO’d by Joe Smith! Smith rocked his world!
You’re so tough. You feel you ‘belong’ on a boxing site. Typing it up. I invited you to take my address and cell and you ‘wished me a good weekend.’ Now you have fighting and disrespectful words against a bizarre technical knockout [ of a pugilist, who fell out of the ring, shoulder first ]. And you think it’s funny. That’s called being a sissy. Typing tough.
Coach, are your lithium levels off again? Feeling manic in behavior lately? Need some medical guidance to deal with such grandiose delusions and schizo tendencies?
On a side note, last I checked, I am within the limits/boundaries of posting my thoughts or opinions on this website. It’s not your call to determine those boundaries, but only by Fightnews. I don’t ever recall you posting any cell phone number(s) or physical address by you so you can puff your chest up and feel pseudo-invincible in such a large world. Besides, you are not the first person with mental issues I have dealt with in my line of work as a medical professional. Please, spare us all your hyped-up crap and get your mental issues under control. 🙂
Hop was a couple weeks shy of 52. He had 20 years on Smith.
Very true, but Hopkins signed that contract to fight thinking he could beat Smith in his right mind. Hopkins’ arrogance got the best of him. Smith’s youth and sheer perseverance handed Hopkins his demise. Great KO for boxing!
Disagree, Bhop knew that Smith was limited but very very tough…To his credit….at Bhop age ….he took that fight anyway…I believe that it was a barometer fight for him…and he failed…nothing wrong with that .,,this is what defined his career in the later years…taking fights that he was not suppose to win..and winning…just didn’t happen… absolutely nothing wrong with that…..
Yes, I give Hopkins credit to step in with a younger fighter, but I don’t take anything away from Smith for a great performance.
He signed the contract to challenge himself at an advanced age but B-hop did too many good things for the sport to keep a spotlight on a time when he fell. I dont expect that from the Boxing fans that care for the sport. When an athlete show a high, and sometimes unrealistic, display of confidence the general people call it arrogance.
He spoke big to sell a fight and fell short (no pun). At this stage, B-Hop deserves respect on his name.
Thank you for the input. Hopkins achieved many goals as a professional fighter. Yes, respect was given to him then and now. I also give Smith respect for a spectacular performance when he defeated Hopkins when the cards were stacked against him. However, that KO was one a person can watch over a few times on video before taking it all in.
What did he do for the sport he only took non fighters he thought he could beat younger Jones took him to school Taylor clearly out boxed him and he never really took mom a top tier fighter again kovalev closed him out really he always had an excuse for every lost he was able to stay around so long because the division was old Toney older Jones Trinidad was a welterweight and Oscar also so tell me what did he do the guy he fought to become the oldest champion sic… he was no Foreman in the ring and definitely not in business
Do the guys in those huge entourages have actual responsibilities that they get paid for? I always assumed that fighters’ entourages were about 90% leeches, and the only ones with real jobs were the trainer, assistant trainer, and cutman.
I am older and remember when there were 8 or 9 weight classes. A champion in each class would fight the top contenders. Kind of like a champion.
Nowadays, there are 17 weight classes and 5 or 6 sanctifying authorities. Over 60 champs and if you look at the top ten in each, they aren’t even similar. they are as unlike as our current president is to the American people.
I hope the pendulum swings back a little. I love boxing.
Eight weight classes with one champion in each-championship fights were major sporting events in the US with the exception of the flyweights and bantamweights. Even casual fans knew most of the champions. Only disadvantage of living in these golden years of boxing is that we are old now.
Right on, MStJ, I can remember when a heavyweight champeenship fight was the biggest event in sports. And others in lighter classes too, like Sugar Ray Robinson and a few others. Rocky Marciano, Joe Louis, Ali, when they defended, everybody was interested, and watched on tv or listened on radio, whichever the case was. Closest thing to that lately, was Tyson Fury beating Deontay Wilder. A lot of eyes were on that one. And except for some spectacular fighters here and there, the heavyweight have always drawn the most interest over the country. And always will when they deserve it.
This reminds me of the Harrison Ford interview in the movie Bruno.
I’m glad Bernard kept it short and sweet, and everything he said made sense and is true. He used to just ramble on and it was annoying. He’s finally getting tired 🙂
Boxing has always been a poor man’s sport with dishonest judges, managers, promoters. etc. We can never compare the fighters of the present because their are way too many wieght classes and organizations. Another thing is fighters used to weight in on the same day the fought. Now they fight the next day weighing 2 weight divisions higher. Did I mention the championship fights were 15 rounds.