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I'm no big fan of Bernard Hopkins. Granted, I'd never seen him in his earlier days when he used to wear a silly mask and apparently lived up to his nom de plume.
But there's nothing worse than seeing a doddering granddad staggering around the ring, avoiding anything approaching a fight and selecting the weakest opponents with which to pump up his "20 defences" workrate. Granted, it's one way to get into the history books, but it saddens me that followers of the sport also buy into his "P4P" joke.
To date his two most notable wins have been over blown-up Welterweights who had no business being in the division in the first place. In order to fight the winner of Dela Hoya/Sturm (yeah... because Sturm was ever likely to win that one in Vegas, right?) he matched up with an opponent he'd already faced twice, and beaten once (one NC). The Hopkins-Allen trilogy may be up there with Barrera-Morales and Ali-Frazier in terms of edge-of-your-seat excitement, but could Hopkins really justify that match?
Most galling of all for me was the showing against Eastman. Granted, Eastman turned in a joyless, soulless and unimaginative performance, but while Hopkins was only too happy to offload on smaller guys, against the Hard Tumping Eastman Hopkins was arrested for hit and run. When you hear his fans describe it, you'd think it was a "hit and not get hit" sweet science masterclass by Ali himself. Instead it was a dismal display by someone desperate to get into the records by any means necessary... as long as those means didn't involve fighting.
But what really galled me is reading in Boxing News his future plans before retiring. After Taylor (admittedly a risk), apparently the Hopkins camp planned for... rematches with Tito Trinidad and Glen Johnson.
Granted, Johnson is a worthwhile opponent, and is currently the man at Light-Heavy. It would mean a step up in weight for Bernard to face a man with every reason to want to beat him: after all, Johnson acknowledges that while one or two of his defeats "could have gone either way", most of them were robberies, and out of his 9 losses/2 draws deficit, he claims that the Hopkins loss was the only one he considers legitimate.
But it's still a man he's defeated. Since the news, Tito has famously retired (which takes away the match, if not the intent), which leaves questions asked.
Okay, every boxer has to make money, but for his final two bow-out fights (after he's ran from Taylor to retain) Hopkins planned... two men he'd already beaten, one a much smaller guy.
Hall of Fame? Hall of Bull****, more like.
But there's nothing worse than seeing a doddering granddad staggering around the ring, avoiding anything approaching a fight and selecting the weakest opponents with which to pump up his "20 defences" workrate. Granted, it's one way to get into the history books, but it saddens me that followers of the sport also buy into his "P4P" joke.
To date his two most notable wins have been over blown-up Welterweights who had no business being in the division in the first place. In order to fight the winner of Dela Hoya/Sturm (yeah... because Sturm was ever likely to win that one in Vegas, right?) he matched up with an opponent he'd already faced twice, and beaten once (one NC). The Hopkins-Allen trilogy may be up there with Barrera-Morales and Ali-Frazier in terms of edge-of-your-seat excitement, but could Hopkins really justify that match?
Most galling of all for me was the showing against Eastman. Granted, Eastman turned in a joyless, soulless and unimaginative performance, but while Hopkins was only too happy to offload on smaller guys, against the Hard Tumping Eastman Hopkins was arrested for hit and run. When you hear his fans describe it, you'd think it was a "hit and not get hit" sweet science masterclass by Ali himself. Instead it was a dismal display by someone desperate to get into the records by any means necessary... as long as those means didn't involve fighting.
But what really galled me is reading in Boxing News his future plans before retiring. After Taylor (admittedly a risk), apparently the Hopkins camp planned for... rematches with Tito Trinidad and Glen Johnson.
Granted, Johnson is a worthwhile opponent, and is currently the man at Light-Heavy. It would mean a step up in weight for Bernard to face a man with every reason to want to beat him: after all, Johnson acknowledges that while one or two of his defeats "could have gone either way", most of them were robberies, and out of his 9 losses/2 draws deficit, he claims that the Hopkins loss was the only one he considers legitimate.
But it's still a man he's defeated. Since the news, Tito has famously retired (which takes away the match, if not the intent), which leaves questions asked.
Okay, every boxer has to make money, but for his final two bow-out fights (after he's ran from Taylor to retain) Hopkins planned... two men he'd already beaten, one a much smaller guy.
Hall of Fame? Hall of Bull****, more like.
Yeah, I did. I was gonna do one about Ruiz set to that 60s tune "Hold Tight" with images of his constant clinches (and him getting KOed when he lets go) but... I couldn't be arsed.
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