By Rick Reeno
Bernard Hopkins told the Associated Press that if Jermain Taylor does not accept his offer of $1.5 million to fight him on July 16th, the fight will never happen. Hopkins gave Taylor 24 hours to accept the offer or else he was likely going to face top middleweight Felix Sturm.
"Jermain Taylor has his opportunity, and his opportunity in the next 24 hours is probably over.We're not begging these guys to fight.'' said Hopkins
"I did the research and got accurate numbers to justify what would be a fair offer. I started out with a million dollars based on what he received in his last fight. I was a rabbit all these years and they always had me on the run. Now the rabbit has got a gun. How do they feel now?"
"The bottom line is who is the name, who is the star, who is the undisputed champion. He's not a gold medal winner, he's never beaten anyone in the top three.''
Taylor's promoter, Lou DiBella, told the AP that Taylor is willing to fight Hopkins on July 16th, but not for 1.5 million. DiBella feels that Taylor should got a lot more money and that Hopkins better look for a new opponent if he is sticking to the $1.5 million dollar offer.
"If that's his position, then it's over. Jermain wants a fair deal and that's now what they offered. We could probably do better than that in a purse bid.'' said DiBella
If I was Jermain Taylor, I would take the offer. This is Hopkins' last year in the sport, it's now or never. Even if Hopkins retires and Taylor takes charge of the division, the shadow of Hopkins will always be hanging over him. People will say that Taylor became the man because Hopkins left, not because Hopkins lost.
If Taylor wants to be the "man", he has to go for the gold and beat the fighter considered the man in order to hold that status.
