“Quest for History” is an appropriate name for the Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins – Oscar “The Golden Boy: De La Hoya unification middleweight title fight. It will be the first time that four world championship belts will be on the line.
The Top Rank promotion will be fought at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on September 18th, it will be shown on HBO PPV.
The history part of it would suit Oscar a lot more than it would Bernard. Oscar, in only his second fight at the middleweight limit, would indeed make boxing history if he were able to beat Bernard and unify the titles.
Hopkins has already made history during his reign as the ruler of his division. Against Oscar, he will be making the nineteenth defense of his crown, a record I do not think I will see a middleweight break in my lifetime, especially if he keeps adding to it. Bernard’s ultimate goal is to successfully defend his crown twenty times and then retire. Bernard Hopkins is also universally regarded as the undisputed champion, holding the WBC/IBF/WBA versions of the middleweight title. The lightly regarded WBO crown would just add to Bernard’s already awesome legacy. He already sits on top of the pound for pound throne. Most of the knowledgeable boxing people seem to be in unison. Even its former ruler, Roy Jones Jr. thinks Bernard belongs at the head of the list.
Oscar, as the WBO champion, would put an exclamation point on his career if he were able to add the other three belts to his laurels. The always-personable Golden Boy has his work cut out for him if he intends to upend “His Majesty Bernard.”
Knowing Oscar as I do, I know that being an underdog for the first time in his professional career, as well as being the smaller man, he will, and must be prepared to do everything and anything to win this fight. Oscar will be fully aware that he will be wading into treacherous water when he confronts the man who has fought his entire career as a middleweight.
Recently at his training camp in Big Bear, Oscar was quoted as having said: “I’ll use my youth, footwork, hand speed and intelligence to confuse Hopkins.” Even his trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr., after watching some of Hopkins’ previous fights, threw in his two cents when he said: “Bernard is not a complete fighter. He loops punches and tries to smother you.”
Floyd saying these things is similar to what I have read and heard from quite a few people lately that say Bernard Hopkins has a lot of trouble with guys who are fast and give him movement. I have a big problem with this way of thinking. First off, Bernard Hopkins is as a complete fighter as there is fighting today. There is really not anything in the world that is truly complete, with perfection; God being the only exception, there has to be a few flaws. Looping punches and trying to smother you, isn’t breaking any rules. Bernard is simply an old junkyard dog who just happens to be a Philly fighter who knows all the tricks. You cannot get any punches off if you are being smothered.
As for those who say Bernard has trouble with fast fighters, please! Dating back to the year 1993, the man has not lost a fight in the last ten years, he is unbeaten in his last twenty-four fights, he’s only lost one real fight in his career and that was to the best fighter of his generation…Roy Jones Jr. In that fight, Bernard won four or five rounds in the twelve round title bout. Up until their fight, I do not believe Roy Jones had lost a round to anyone. So in essence, why haven’t any of these fast moving fighters who give Bernard so much trouble, beat him?
I agree with Oscar on the things he said he has to do, but confuse him? Bernard Hopkins has been around much too long for anyone to start confusing him at this stage of the game. With the exception of Jones, and the fact that he has beaten everyone put in front of him, confusion is not a word in the Executioner’s vocabulary.
Outstanding conditioning, footwork, hand speed and most assuredly, intelligence, are the four main ingredients Oscar has to be ready to put into play for the entire twelve rounds if he is to succeed. I left out youth, merely because Bernard Hopkins fights like a very young man. The only thing that would have to do with youth is if Bernard were to get old overnight. Don’t count on that happening. As a former trainer, the things I look for after a fight has gone the distance, is the way a fighter reacts when he is spoken to, such as the immediate interviews, I do this to ascertain what kind of condition they finished the fight. I have always marveled at Bernard’s consistent training habits.
In his last two fights against William Joppy and Robert Allen, Bernard was not even breathing hard at the end. For that to happen, a fighter has to be in superb shape. Hopkins walks around at 165 pounds, five pounds over the middleweight limit. He and Evander Holyfield have been the two best-conditioned fighters in the game for many, many years. So Oscar, forget about youth and confusion, replace them with stamina and power.
I will start with Oscar on the things he must do if he has any chance to win this fight. The very first things he must work on are his stamina and concentration. In the Trinidad and the first Mosley fight, Oscar lost steam going down the home stretch. He would have beaten Shane if he had not tired, the same goes for Felix, although he did beat Tito, and no one will ever convince me otherwise, Oscar could have put icing on the cake by throwing some punches in the last few rounds.
In the late rounds of the Trinidad fight, Oscar was comfortably ahead, he received very bad instructions from his corner, telling him to coast home by avoiding Tito. Luckily for Oscar, Trinidad did not know how to cut off the ring in the remaining three rounds. Make no mistake about it, if Oscar tires, and thinking he might be ahead in the scoring, Bernard Hopkins knows how to cut off a ring. The one thing you cannot do is get tired if you’re in with The Executioner. He instinctively senses when a fighter starts getting fatigued, that’s when he does his best work.
The stamina factor will allow Oscar to keep on the move and out of harm’s way, Bernard has already gone on record as saying that Oscar would be committing suicide if he elected to stand in front of him and trade punches. Oscar has a three inch reach advantage, he has to use it by keeping a hard jab in Bernard’s face, he has to get in and out quickly, throw fast, crisp, hard combinations and get on his pony, do not give Bernard a chance to retaliate. Oscar must always be at the ready to throw his money punch, the left hook whenever he sees an opening. He has to try and get Bernard’s respect and attention by landing a few good, hard shots early.
Oscar cannot overlook what Bernard will be doing when he attempts to employ these tactics. Bernard is like the great fighters of old; he has what the majority of fighter’s today lack, and that is patience. It is a lost art among most of today’s fighters. Bernard will let you think you are doing your thing to an extent, but little by little, his punches will start getting a little harder and at a faster clip. Just as he methodically broke Trinidad down round after round, he will be looking to do the same to Oscar. He does it with every fighter he’s in with. The only thing Bernard has to realize early on is that Oscar De La Hoya is a lot smarter than Felix Trinidad.
I’ve followed Bernard’s career from the get-go. I’ve always known what a superior fighter he was and is. That is why, after watching him over the years and being the perfectionist that he is, making winning look so easy, his greatness went unnoticed. It didn’t get by me, I not only picked him to beat Felix Trinidad, I picked Bernard to knock him out. I took a lot of ridicule leading up to their fight, but in the end, I had the last laugh. I knew of his greatness.
For Oscar, concentration should start with the opening bell, if he stays mentally focused, he will know that he must not let his guard down for a second.Bernard Hopkins comes equipped with boxing radar, make a mistake and you will pay for it dearly. He will know if and when, you try to tire his thirty-nine year old legs…he won’t bite. Bernard is a very good puncher, although he is not considered a one-punch knockout artist. He subscribes to the correct way of fighting; hit him often enough and he will eventually fall. Bernard’s thirty-one kayos in forty-four fights will attest to his success in using this theory.
Oscar, an eight-time world champion in six different weight classes, is already secure of his place in boxing history. He has to be admired for stepping up to the plate to challenge Bernard Hopkins, a champion I consider one of the great middleweights of all time. Oscar knows that he will be giving up size, strength and experience in a weight class that has been so dominantly ruled by his opponent.
The things that Oscar De La Hoya has going for him are his ability, his determination and a tremendous fighting heart. They have seldom let him down, if not for his lack of stamina in the final round in his first fight with Mosley, Oscar’s record could very easily be 40 and 0, given the fact that he was robbed in both the Trinidad fight and his second encounter with Shane Mosley.
Bernard and I became good friends before and after the Trinidad fight. He, like Oscar, have co-hosted my two-hour radio show at the ESPN Zone in Downtown Disney. Bernard liked my introduction of him so much, that he told me he listens to the cassette tape of the intro when he does his roadwork. He said it motivates him.
Oscar says he will win and will destroy Bernard in the process, Bernard has said he is going to knock out Oscar inside six or seven rounds. Oscar was recently quoted: “This fight with Hopkins, it doesn’t get any bigger than this. Fighting a guy who hasn’t lost in ten years…this is the type of challenge I need to elevate myself. I’ve been training as hard as I can. I am going to beat this guy. I’ve worked hard enough to do what I have to do to take his titles away…a 6-1 underdog?…My gosh, a lot of people are going to lose a lot of money on the fight.”
During a recent teleconference, Bernard had this to say: “My plan is to establish a work rate in the first round that only an opponent in 100% physical condition could ever hope to match. I will set a pace so fierce that Oscar De La Hoya will be shocked and I will keep it as long as the fight lasts, I’m going to make him fight every second of every round and if he takes a deep breath, the fight is over. He better not get tired.” Knowing them both, I really do not much credence into their pre-fight talk. I know they believe what they are saying, but it also helps to build a bigger gate. It’s a high stakes fight, the more money that comes in, the more they both will make. They really do have a lot of respect for one another. Talk doesn’t mean a thing…it’s what happens in the ring that does.
Oscar has so much going for him outside of boxing; it would hurt him in any other fight. I know for a fact that this time around, Oscar will be 100% both physically and mentally ready for this fight. If he is to lose, it will not be that he wasn’t well prepared. Bernard on the other hand, will be Bernard…ready as any fighter can possibly be.
Bernard Hopkins is such a great fighter, it is a real shame that it took so long for the boxing world to finally discover what a legendary fighter they had on their hands and did not know it. It took the Trinidad fight to finally wake them up. Bernard was late appearing on the superstar scene, but better late than never. We must enjoy this extraordinary fighter while we can.
I will not bother to tell Bernard Hopkins what he has to do to win; he obviously knows how to win fights, all he has to do is fight his fight. With Oscar, my advice for winning was predicated on his moving into the middleweight division and taking on a man already considered an all time great, a man who is not accustomed to losing and a man whose style I am very familiar with. I consider both Bernard and Oscar my good friends, I am happy that their confrontation will bring both good fortune.
Oscar De La Hoya, as anyone who has read my articles or heard me on my radio show over the years, know that I have been 100% behind Oscar since he turned pro in 1992, the same year I began my radio career. I have it on cassette tapes and videos, the many times he has thanked me for being, and staying in his corner from the very beginning. Back then, the Oscar dissenters were already branding him a ‘flash in the pan,’ Oscar proved them wrong…big time. I knew even then that he had champion written all over him. I have never picked against Oscar, and I am not, or will ever abandon his ship, I’m with him until the day he crosses the finish line for the last time. As far as this fight is concerned, I have to be honest with the way I present the facts as I see and know them.
I know, even by Oscar’s own admittance, that he was clearly and visibly out of shape when he fought his first middleweight fight against Felix Strum. Even if Oscar would have been in great shape and had won convincingly, I was troubled with him at the middleweight limit. The middleweight division is like no other in boxing, it is a weight class that caters to boxer-punchers. Pound for pound, they are the hardest punchers in boxing. In the Strum fight, Oscar did not appear to have sufficient middleweight power. True, he has the undeniable great boxing ability, good enough to beat a lot of middleweights, but in truth, Bernard Hopkins is no ordinary middleweight; he is an all time great that can box and punch. Having fought his entire career at 160, there are no surprises. If Oscar were fighting Felix Trinidad at the middleweight limit, I would pick Oscar in a heartbeat. The same goes for a rematch with Strum. A fighter can only go up in weight so many times before it catches up with him.
Although personally, it will be a hard fight for me to watch due to my friendship with both fighters, it will nevertheless be a tremendous fight between two of boxing’s most exciting warriors as well as two future Hall of Fame fighters.
The same reasons I picked Bernard over Trinidad are all there in this fight. Bernard is still too big, too strong, too smart and most importantly, has been a middleweight for sixteen years. I could not pick a guy like Trinidad with only one middleweight fight going in, Oscar with only one middleweight fight under his belt will be going in against the King of the Middleweights, he faces a Herculean task in attempting to dethrone Hopkins. Oscar has said that he will fight the fight of his life and he will win. If anyone can do it…it’s The Golden Boy, but it will take the fight of his life to beat…The Executioner.
On September 24, All Star Boxing will present the NABC Bantamweight Championship fight between Miguel “Makito” Martinez and Kahren Harutyunyan at the Quiet Cannon in Montebello, California. Promoter Ed Holmes and Co. are doing a great job in keeping local boxing alive. Their fights have been standing room only affairs. You can reserve your tickets by calling: (323) 816-6200.
I am sincerely honored and humbled that All Star Boxing has chosen me to be their Special Guest Honoree on this great night of boxing.
Also keeping local boxing alive is Thompson Boxing Promotions. They will have a WBO Lightweight title fight on September 17th between Marco Angel Perez and Miguel Angel Huerta. Like the Quiet Cannon, Thompson Boxing Promotions are also playing to standing room only crowds. The fight card will be held at the Omega Products International in Corona, California. Tickets can be purchased by calling: (714) 935-0900).
UNTIL THE NEXT ROUND…PEACE AND GOD BLESS!