In part four of this four-part interview with Fightnews.com®, ring legend Bernard Hopkins pulls no punches as he prepares to embark on the biggest fight of his career outside the ring.

By Jeff Zimmerman

Oscar De La Hoya told Fightnews.com® at the weigh-in for the Ortiz-McKinson fight a few weeks ago, that Ortiz Jr. was now the mandatory from all sanctioning bodies to get a shot at the 147lb title held by Errol Spence Jr. [WBC, IBF, WBA] and Terence Crawford [WBO].

Bernard Hopkins shared his thoughts on what that means for Ortiz Jr. and his potential crack at the welterweight title.

“It is worth it right now [getting Ortiz Jr. mandatory status by all sanctioning bodies]. Any other time, I would be like, ah ok, it’s an incentive to get one person and everyone sitting there waiting for someone to come next and I’m in that position. And that statement I support, and it is clear. It’s not end all, be all.”

Hopkins continued, “That move by the sanctioning bodies was my understanding was to put Vergil in the position that he has earned if he gets past Saturday [Aug. 6] being right there not only with his performance, his record and who he is fighting up to now and who he wants to fight even now, more incentive to say the winner of this fight will be the mandatory. I need to do and say as clear as that can be.

“Now you’re going to have the puppetmaster who has done this before in my era to say give the belt up. We don’t need the belt. I go back to my history. The same thing was tried to be pulled over my head. But I knew it before it came to me from my resources and my intelligence. So, I want to be able to say this first to you, not that I’m a boxing genius, I’m trying to tell you that’s the counter move on that. We don’t need that title, get their manager first or whatever blood sucker is hanging around to say we don’t need the belt, we’ll make a couple hundred thousand on the side. Their eyes get big. Next thing though, that problem is solved based on the advisor.

“I’m not going to say promoter. I know what title they are hiding under, so they won’t be regulated as a promoter and a manager, it’s called the Muhammad Ali Act. They know I’m going to be a pain in their ass because I’m healthy, I talk healthy, I eat healthy, I think healthy. They can’t send nobody to trap me in these traps out here. I’m their worst nightmare. They just hope I don’t say anything and be a good boy and mind my business. Nah, I can’t help myself. I just can’t help myself.”

Hopkins speaks to his own experience and history on the idea of giving up a belt to fight someone else.

“Forget the belts, forget the belts,” Hopkins said he was told. “The belts mean nothing. I can line you up to get another belt. I heard this when me and Adonis Stevenson were going to fight. I have seen the game, I have seen the bullshit, trying to get me stripped. I wanted to fight Sergey Kovalev. Why do you think I said this, it’s just repeating itself, which history always does?”

Hopkins summed up his thoughts and now more than ever, he is going to let his voice be heard whether others like it or not.

“At the end of the day, we are going to keep moving and knocking them down as much as we can.” Hopkins said. “We fight outside the ring; they fight inside the ring. When they put their personal feelings because we are still in their face, they know what I mean by that. And you still got your pants in your ass. Come out of the house. Come out of that attic. Show your face, talk to the public, tell them how you feel.”

“There is nothing for you to cut out of this, this is me talking,” Hopkins explained. “This is when you know there’s a lot of weirdo shit going on. Because not only do I want to be heard, but I also don’t mind being seen. I challenge anybody to ask me questions or figure out something. I’m not hiding behind no tree. I’m not hiding in no house. I’m not hiding nowhere. When Bernard Hopkins speaks, Bernard Hopkins speaks.

“I want to pull the covers off these mystery men that people think they are, but they are right there. I don’t want to talk to the cronies, I don’t want to do the sacrificial lambs, I don’t want to talk to none of them jokers. Come out of the closet. I’m pulling then out of the closet, attic, wherever they are at, I’m pulling them out. And I’m calling them by name.

“I’m airing them out, I am going to force them to respond. Watch, every fight I am going to be relentless. Shit is going to get nasty. It’s not going to be with just you, but every reporter I see.”

“I got to do what I got to do,” Hopkins concluded. “I got to be me. I’m not talking off emotion. I have thought about it. I have talked to my team. I can’t keep doing this, sitting back.”

Click here for Part One
Click here for Part Two
Click here for Part Three