By Jeff Zimmerman

Just mere days after Gervonta “Tank” Davis laid claim to being the “face of boxing” after his resounding one-punch body shot KO against “King” Ryan Garcia last weekend at the T-Mobile Center in Las Vegas, the self-proclaimed “Biggest Instigator in Boxing,” Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins, bared all in what he described as an attempt by the PBC to silence him during fight week and the fight itself.

Hopkins shed light in a phone interview with Fightnews.com® last night that included the potential riot that was sparked by Hopkins putting his hands on Davis at the weigh-ins, why he was conspicuously not in the ring during the fighter’s ring walk and the “no show” from him and Oscar De La Hoya at the post-fight presser.

Hopkins, as usual, did not pull any punches as he took aim at the PBC and their ringleader Al Haymon in this post-fight rant. In a four-part series on Fightnews.com® earlier this year and well before the Tank-Ryan fight was officially announced in late February, Hopkins put the whole boxing community on blast as he called out fighters, promoters (including his own) and especially Haymon as the main reason why the biggest fights were not getting made, such as Spence-Crawford.

But when Garcia agreed to all the stipulations made by “Team Tank” to make this fight happen such as the 136 catchweight and the 10lb rehydration clause, boxing had its first “Super Fight” in a long time. Hopkins declared during the lead-up, that this fight could be the genesis of the “best fighting the best.”

And everywhere you turned, Hopkins was doing interviews on every plausible platform, big or small, to not only sell the fight, but explain why his guy, Garcia, had a puncher’s chance. In the end, the best fighter won and there was no controversy, at least in the ring.

But behind the scenes and in the lead-up to the fight, the situation was vastly different according to Hopkins.

Hopkins instructed his team at Golden Boy well in advance of the fight that they had to be prepared for everything and anything as the PBC was the A-side promoter and they were essentially calling all the shots. For starters, Hopkins brought his own security detail to Vegas and advised De La Hoya to do the same. They were not taking any chances.

And then at the final press conference last Thursday, Hopkins was told he would not have a seat at the dais, like he did at the one in New York and LA where he was called to speak as he has in every big fight at Golden Boy. Hopkins was not going to sit idly and promptly directed his security to get him a chair at the end of the table next to Joe Goossen but was not given an opportunity to speak at the podium.

Hopkins let Kelly Swanson, who runs Swanson PR and oversees all PBC events, have it verbally and wanted to know who made this call. She insisted it came from the top and Hopkins implored her to say who it was, even though he knew already it was Al Haymon. Hopkins even sounded off to a throng of reporters on-site about the incident.

Now came Friday’s weigh-ins. According to Hopkins, Tank’s entourage took over the stage and had Mike Tyson front and center as if he was the promoter. The commission had warned Hopkins moments earlier of the potential danger of all these people on the elevated stage and the fighters needed to stay behind their prospective lines.

While Tank and Ryan unleashed their trash talk, Hopkins put his hand on Tank to warn him to be careful, so they do not fall off the stage. This led to a wave of Tank’s people pushing forward and then the subsequent push by Tank against Ryan where a melee almost ensued.

Then came fight night, where Hopkins always joins De La Hoya in the ring with their fighter before and after the fight. Hopkins was not in the ring and not shown throughout the Showtime telecast. Hopkins shared with Fightnews.com® that when he attempted to get into the ring, security and local Vegas police met him. He also mentioned that he was seated next to Tom Brown, the “official promoter” of the event to keep an eye on him. Instead of making a scene, he promptly went back to his seat.

And it just so happened his seats were right in front of the PBC fighters such as Errol Spence Jr., the Charlo Bros, Danny Garcia, and many others, but there was not one shot on air that showed Hopkins was even in the building. Hopkins stated it was because they did not want him and Oscar to have line of sight with Ryan during the fight and give instructions as they tend to do.

Hopkins also addressed the no-show at the post-fight presser. He stated that he and Oscar had already talked to Ryan in the dressing room, and he did not want to take any attention away from him. Oscar took it a step further on an Instagram post Monday afternoon that he had received death threats all week and was advised by his team to get out of town.

So why would the PBC and Al Haymon look to silence one of the legends of the sport, who one could argue did more to promote this fight than anybody on either side of the street?

Per Hopkins, there is a long history with Haymon going back to his two fights with Jermaine Taylor for his middleweight title. Haymon was the advisor for Taylor and was also very tight with HBO executive Lou DiBella at the time. For context, Hopkins had his own court battles with DiBella.

Plus, Hopkins was pursued by the PBC to leave Golden Boy at a time when Richard Schaefer aligned with Haymon and took the Golden Boy stable to the PBC. In many ways, Hopkins may have been the rock Golden Boy needed to stay afloat during those tumultuous times, someone who knew the ins and outs of the sport like very few.

In retrospect, it may have seemed shocking that Hopkins would stay with De la Hoya through his rough personal issues, but there seems to be a deep kinship between the two and loyalty of two legendary fighters that once shared the ring together.

Perhaps that is why the Harvard-educated Haymon has such disdain for Hopkins and seems to be a thorn in his side. He has no control over Hopkins and what he might say or do, so he did his best to silence “The Executioner” of all people on boxing’s biggest stage.

But Hopkins knew what was coming and did not flinch. He got his seat at the table. He kept his cool on stage at the weigh-ins instead of going back to his D-Block days as he stated, a reference to his time in prison where the worst inmates were held. He did not escalate his right to be in the ring that night. In many ways, the ex-con from the hard streets of Philly outsmarted the man with an Ivy League degree.

Hopkins also knew every time he had a mic or a camera in his face during the build-up and went off on Haymon about the big fights not happening, Haymon would no doubt hear about it. There is no love lost between the two.

Thankfully, this fight happened between Tank and Ryan and Tank could certainly now lay his rightful claim as the “face of boxing.” And let us hope, even with all the vitriol between the two camps in this generational “Super Fight” for the fan’s sake and all of boxing that this will lead to many more as Hopkins suggested.

In other news, one of PBC’s biggest stars, David Benavidez, posted a photo on his Instagram of him and Oscar having lunch while in Vegas.