By Jake Donovan
Admit it. You swore, moments after the conclusion of his grappling match with Winky Wright, that you'd never again watch Bernard Hopkins in a prizefight.
You also swore before the Felix Trinidad fight and again before both fights with Jermain Taylor that you'd never again root for him.
But there you were, awed by his performance against Trinidad, to where with each passing round you rose higher and higher out of your chair, until you could do no less than give him a standing ovation by nights end.
Fast forward to 2006. After all of the bitterness he spewed prior to each Taylor fight, and after breaking a lifelong promise to his mother that he'd never fight past his 41st birthday, you were right there rooting for him to pull off the upset against Antonio Tarver.
You were so impressed, that you were still intrigued to see how much he had left 13 months later. You knew deep down that a Hopkins-Wright fight couldn't be anything but a stinker, but one shove at the weigh-in changed all of that. All it took was Bernard to get in – and eventually mush – Wink's face for your stance on the fight to change from "thanks, I'll pass" to "Click OK to order this event for the asking price of 49.95."
Then they fought, or so it was said. Mauling, grappling, butting… anything but the prize fighting we know and love, and most importantly prefer when we're the ones paying.
You laughed at yourself when you received the cable/satellite bill the following month. "That son of a bitch got me good, but this is the last time I'll ever watch him fight."
Liar.
"I'll never let a white boy beat me."
One sentence; that's all it took. That Hopkins repeated it over and over during his brief face-to-face encounter with Joe Calzaghe last December was window dressing. You were drawn in on the first try.
Suddenly, a matchup nobody cared whether or not it materialized was now Must See TV.
Suddenly, Joe's underwhelming desire to travel to America, or campaign beyond the super middleweight division, was given the proper incentive to reconsider.
Why the worldwide turnaround in public opinion, you might ask; because an event once again had a villain. Intrigue once again replaced potential entertainment value – or lack thereof.
He filled the role after tossing the Puerto Rican flag on the ground not once but twice in the buildup for the Trinidad fight.
He filled the role after the Trinidad fight, feuding with everyone who helped him reach the top, even if it meant spending more time in court than in a boxing ring. He didn't just burn bridges; he doused them with gasoline before blasting with a flamethrower.
He filled the role prior to the first Taylor fight, resorting to antics which included labeling Emanuel Steward an Uncle Tom for not agreeing with him. Before the rematch was even made official, Hopkins already laid down the groundwork by demanding The Ring magazine strip Taylor of its middleweight championship due to the controversial nature of the scoring.
He didn't need to fill the role prior to the Tarver fight. He was already the underdog, against a man whom most loved to hate. He let Tarver do all of the talking, before shutting him down, first with a single sentence in the pre-fight hype, then for 12 rounds on fight night.
Realizing something was wrong prior to the Wright fight, Hopkins knew the easiest way to generate buzz for an event that had teetered on anonymity. Push literally came to shove, spiking interest enough to boost PPV sales past the 300,000 mark.
Even as his skills have eroded over the years, Bernard Hopkins still finds ways to win.
Even as the entertainment value drops with each passing fight, Bernard Hopkins still finds ways to draw you in.
Whether it's Hopkins the fighter or Hopkins the salesman, he's still doing what he does best - making someone look foolish every time out.
With each lie or broken promise Bernard Hopkins offers, you're just as guilty every time you tune in to watch him fight. You're doing so even after swearing to your God that never again will he grace your TV screen, unless to cure a sudden case of insomnia.
Perhaps Bernard Hopkins breaks another promise this weekend. Perhaps he does in fact lose to a white boy. But for most, hearing about or reading what happens after the fact won't be good enough. There's no way you want to risk not seeing your wish come true.
That's where he's already won. The moment you tune in to HBO this weekend to watch the fight, Bernard Hopkins has another reason to continue his boxing career beyond April 19.
He could proceed to lose 12 rounds to nothing against Calzaghe.
He could get got with the very first punch in the fight.
It doesn't matter, nor will it matter that you'll be licking your chops, thinking of ways to serve up his crow before once again insisting that it's the last time you'll ever again watch him fight.
Because long before you have a chance to see whether or not he was made to be a liar, Bernard Hopkins will have already made a liar out of you. Worse, he'll continue to do so until he decides he's fought his last fight. No matter how often he says it, you'll keep watching.
It's why Bernard Hopkins remains a man to be admired, no matter how greatly he's despised.
Jake Donovan is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the Tennessee Boxing Advisory Board. Comments/questions can be submitted to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com
