Hopkins Focused To Continue Historic Run With Hard Work

By Mitch Abramson
 
Bernard Hopkins was momentarily speechless.

In the more than 20 years that Hopkins has been in boxing, not much has confounded the future Hall of Famer, from his opponents to promoters to his ability to make himself into the oldest world champion in the history of boxing at 48.

But on Wednesday, before the start of a press conference to promote his July 13 light heavyweight title fight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn against Karo Murat on Showtime, the hyper talkative Hopkins was left temporarily speechless, something that happens about as often as a solar eclipse. There, face to face with the grizzled, tough-as-nails Hopkins was someone who could have posed a serious problem to his career over the years.

There stood a tiny and exceedingly polite waitress who asked Hopkins what he wanted for breakfast. Now Hopkins is famous for his strict diet, for his lean physique, for not gaining more than 10 pounds in between fights so as not to put his body through the ordeal of cutting weight. It was a rare glimpse into the inner sanctum of Hopkins as he managed the demands of his diet in the weeks leading up to a fight. What would he order? A bowl of fruit? Egg whites? Bacon? Maybe he’s not as health conscious as we’ve been led to believe.

“Give me scrambled eggs- egg whites- um, uh, pancakes and salmon,” he told the waitress, ordering a meal that wasn’t on the menu provided to the guests at this invite-only brunch. “No bacon- that’s pork.”

After a little haggling and a couple of quizzical looks, the 48-year-old Hopkins (53-6-2, 32 knockouts) appeared to get what he wanted. He then went back to doing what he does best (outside of boxing)- which is talking- about the fight, about his wish to get a super-fight, (presumably against the Englishman Carl Froch though Hopkins wouldn't identify the bold face name), about his need to keep fighting, forever it seems. He referred to himself as the anti-Lance Armstrong because of his capacity to keep winning without the benefit of performance enhancing drugs. Then he dropped this little nugget:

He doesn’t want to be known as Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins anymore, he said at one point. Instead, he wants to be called “Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins because of the other-worldly way he’s been able to beat younger fighters, such as Tavoris Cloud, whom he beat for the IBF title in March, back in Brooklyn, breaking his own record as the oldest fighter to win a world title.

He even had one of his advisors pass around a picture on his Iphone of Hopkins with an alien’s head superimposed to his body. At another point, when things were winding down, he gave advice on how to sit correctly in a chair, so as to maintain good posture. The man simply talked about everything. 

“There’s no magic pill,” he said of why he’s been able to sustain his career for so long. “There’s no magic drink, no magic food.”

Only hard work, he said. Hopkins shelled out advice about real estate and playing the stock market. He doesn’t know why he’s not bigger, more famous, why he doesn’t get more love from Madison Avenue in terms of endorsements.

“Can you imagine how big a deal it would be if a 48-year-old was playing on the Miami Heat?” he said. “There’s no Lance Armstrong. I am the guy who’s doing it by the book. Where are the major sponsors that loved Lance Armstrong?”

He implied he might as well retire if he loses to Murat, his IBF mandatory challenger, who was present via Skype from Germany at his training camp during the luncheon.

Murat joked with Hopkins about the large amount of food he ordered but Hopkins responded that he didn’t have to worry about weight since he was already near his fighting shape. Murat wore a shirt with his name and Hopkins’ on it. He said he owned several of these shirts, which he wore for inspiration for the fight. He said he’s been following Hopkins’ career since he was 10 and knew what he liked to do in terms of his tendencies in the ring. Hopkins said that because of the anonymity of his opponent, the fight posed an extra risk.  

“Win, win, win, win,” Hopkins said of his own motivation. “The burden is on me. I’m not taking him lightly because I know what’s on the table for Bernard Hopkins future, and it could be this year,” though he wouldn’t elaborate on what that meant.

Later he said: “You put me on the Miami Heat right now,” Hopkins said. “How huge would I be?”

It was a reference to the mainstream popularity that Hopkins believes has eluded him in his career. It was a question that didn’t quite require an answer, though Hopkins would have likely had one if asked.

Mitch Abramson covers boxing for the NY Daily News and BoxingScene.com.