Bernard Hopkins’ Big Win Inspires Others To Fight On
By Mitch Abramson
DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley isn’t a very emotional fighter. The expression on his face rarely changes in a fight.
When he had Miguel Cotto wobbled and ready to go in 2005, Corley was as serene as a summer day.
When he buzzed Floyd Mayweather Jr. a year earlier, there was almost no reaction. (Corley lost both fights and was criticized for not going after those fighters when he had them hurt.)
As Corley was battered and cut against Randall Bailey on Wednesday at B.B. King’s in Manhattan on a Lou DiBella-promoted show, it was the same old “Chop Chop.” He carried on, round after round, his expression the same, as he showed he is better at surviving than winning at this point in his career.
Corley (31-10-1, 17 knockouts) lost a unanimous decision to Bailey. He was knocked down in the third round and had red slits over both eyes from punches and butts that proceeded to dribble slightly during an interview minutes after the fight.
This once proud champion, a former titlist at junior welterweight who was more than competitive against the elites of his class, who admitted to wearing women’s underwear, whose personal life has been marked with tragedy when his brother was murdered, discussed what it felt like to be at the tail end of his career.
As always, his expression never changed even though the loss to Bailey was his sixth straight and fifth by decision.
“It is what it is,” he said, sitting on a table, topless, still wearing his boxing trunks near a kitchen as workers buzzed by. “I felt fine, felt good for the fight. I need the right fights now to get my career back on course. This was really the perfect fight for me to come back, but it just wasn’t my night tonight.”
It hasn’t been his night for awhile.
Corley is 34-years-old and seems to have lost his legs and his pop. He had trouble moving against Bailey, whom he had beaten convincingly in 2003, and parked himself in front of the slugger and basically tried to make him miss and counter. It was a losing strategy from the start, but Corley pressed on, somewhat courageously.
In the middle of the fight, Bailey, who knocked Corley down with a straight right in the third round, seemed to realize that Corley wasn’t going anywhere, and the two engaged in a spirited, yet somewhat methodical skirmish the rest of the way. Corley was never really in the fight, but he wasn’t out of it, either. And Corley’s vast experience- he turned pro in 1996- allowed him to reach the final bell.
Still, it was shocking to hear Corley discuss his future plans afterward.
“I’m going to keep going until I get all the belts,” he said. “I still love this game, and I’m not going to stop until I’m a champion again. I’m still dedicated. I still train hard. I just have to get the right fights to get me back on track. I don’t think this game has past me by.”
Describing one of the motivating factors that keep him going, Corley mentioned Bernard Hopkins and his masterful performance against Kelly Pavlik.
It’s now become clear that an offshoot of Hopkins’ victory is that more boxers may stay in the game, thinking they can emulate Hopkins success.
“If he can do it, why not me?” Corley said. “That’s how you have to think as a fighter. That it’s only a matter of time until it’s your time.”
Listening to him, I couldn’t help but think of Evander Holyfield and the stubborn way he insists of staying in the sport despite not having fought in a year. He is now being discussed as a possible opponent to WBA heavyweight champ Nikolai Valuev, and the scary thing is that Holyfield might win that fight.
But when is it enough? The frustrating thing about Corley for those who would like to see him retire is that he is still viable as an opponent. In fact, he’s now become the definition of an opponent: someone who goes rounds while making things somewhat competitive. He lost to the highly touted prospect Devon Alexander in January, and he was stopped by Jose Alfaro in the eighth round after Corley had him down in the first. He’s not really embarrassing himself, but even as he makes a living doing this, he taints his reputation and legacy as a once proud champion.
This was clear after his fight on Wednesday when Corley retreated to his dressing room, which he was sharing with Gary Stark Jr., who fought in the co-feature and was slow to leave. Stark, a thoughtful, sensitive kid, was celebrating with a large group of friends after a decision win over Leivi Brea. It was his first bout in seven months and he was clearly making the most of his time and savoring the victory while Corley organized his possessions by himself. Don Turner, who trained Corley for the fight, walked out of the crowded dressing room and basically sneered at the whole scene.
“I can tell you right now,” he said, “they wouldn’t let a fighter do that in Las Vegas. They wouldn’t let him bring all his people into the dressing room like that.”
It was hard not to feel a twinge of sympathy for Corley. Why was he still putting himself through situations as these?
Rare is the case of someone like Donovan “Razor” Ruddock, the former Mike Tyson antagonist, who retired in 2001, having won nine straight fights, nine by knockout. Ruddock decided to call it a day after he was jogging and felt his left arm dangling by his waist. He was suddenly unable to raise it above his head.
“I decided that was the end,” he told doghouseboxing last year. “I decided I don’t want to take any chances with my health because if you stay in there too long you get hurt.”
After dropping the fight game, surprisingly, Ruddock has become an inventor. He is the architect of the “Boxing Compactor,” a manually operated garbage compactor that “crushes” the garbage. The idea was borne out of Ruddock’s frustration with having to lug bags of garbage out of his home to curbside collectors.
Unfortunately, if Ruddock decided to come back to boxing, he could probably move up the heavyweight rankings pretty quickly, given his name recognition and heavy hands. Although a contrarian by nature, Johnny Bos is still an astute boxing mind and the matchmaker is right when he says that most of the popular fighters today happen to be getting on in age. Fighters like Bernard Hopkins, Roy Jones Jr., Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley, etc. are still well-received by fans and are often showcased on Pay-Per-View cards.
Corley looks at these guys as role models, ignores his record, and thinks, why not me?
Mitch Abramson covers the boxing beat for the New York Daily News and BoxingScene.com