By Rusty Rubin

The fight on everyone’s mind this weekend is at Mandalay Bay, where Jermain Taylor tries to make it two in a row over certain Hall of Famer Bernard Hokins.

The Executioner seems to believe he was robbed in their first bout, and he’s got a lot of fans who agree. I happen to not be one of them. Hopkins, as usual gave away too many rounds to a hungry young man, and left himself an almost impossible task of catching up in the later rounds, although he did turn in on, but too little, too late.

Hopkins who says he’s not going to leave it to the judges this time and predicts a knockout, may be fooling himself. Bernard is a great fighter and a smart one, but has never been known as a big knockout puncher.

To add to his hunger, Bernard wants to win this for his ailing trainer, Bouie Fisher, who in all likelihood will not be on hand for the event.

But at age 40, hunger and desire are not always enough when you fight a young man who is hungry and who learned a lot in their first match. Making it harder for Hopkins is his tendency to be a very slow starter, something he can ill afford to do if he expects to win the return on December 3.

If Taylor fights his fight he can control the pace and put Hopkins into a hole that he will not be able to crawl out of.

I can also see the fight being stopped on an accidental head butt, and if it does, Taylor should have piled up a sufficient lead to win if they go to the scorecards.

Either way, I like Taylor to repeat.

Agree or disagree, we’d like to hear from you. (Rngsportsr@aol.com).

Glove2Glove:

Prayers for the soul of Don Georgino, son of Hall of Fame promoter, Bennie. The younger Georgino passed away in Las Vegas Nov. 12.

Prayers needed for Elise Brown, grand daughter of Ringside Products head honcho and good boxing guy John Brown. Young Elise has heart problems.

Prayers have also helped but continue to be needed for Dennis Wilcox, brother of boxing scribe David Wilcox, who is in an Oregon hospital suffering from Leukemia. The family and everyone at Glove2Glove ask for your prayers in his recovery.

Prayers for the return to health of Audrey Talmo, wife of Ed, a long-time boxing fan who cares about our sport.

Prayers needed for the return to health of Alfonso Luna, father of our outstanding photographer Ray Luna, who has taken ill in Southern California.

Please say prayers for the return to health of Helen Wambolt, wife of our East Coast World Boxing Hall of Fame writer Danny Wambolt. Cards will also be most welcome.***

Please say prayers for the return to health of Orazio Esposito, father of our photographer Richard Esposito.***

Prayers for the return to health of Don Donelson, father of writer Tom, and Gene Sebastian, brother of former middleweight champ Billy Soose. Both are suffering from congestive heart disease.

Please say prayers for Phill Grazide of Santa Rosa, CA. a big supporter of amateur boxing, who is suffering the crippling effects of rheumatoid arthritis.***

Needless to say we need prayers for the return to health of both former champs Greg Page and Gerald McClellan, both confined to wheelchairs.***

Glove2Glove is a non-denominational group set up to aide those boxing folks and their relatives in need of prayers and cards. We accept no money and only contact our members when someone is in need. It’s free to join. Simply send us your e-mail address. And even if you’re not a member, feel free to contact us if you are aware of some boxing person in need.***

Touching on politics briefly: I have to feel bad that President Bush believes that citizens of this country are flat-out stupid. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that if it looks like a pig, and smells like a pig, no matter how you dress it up and put after shave on it, it’s still a pig.

I refer to his dressing his ‘guest worker’ amnesty program up, changing the parameters slightly, and try to sell it to the public and Congress as a new idea when the end result is exactly the same. I will never understand the strange relationship our President has with Mexican head honcho Vincente Fox, who is certainly not a friend of America.

The peculiar thing is if Mr. Bush tried to fool the public with the same stunt before 9/11, he just may have gotten away with it, but since 9/11, Americans are on guard, and unquestionably should be. We cannot afford to be lax in our vigilance, as our very survival as a nation could be endangered.

Why Mr. Bush continues to pander to the illegal aliens that cross our border, use our resources, and now some are even firing across the border in Mexico into this country. I know he doesn’t read much (except his favorite, ‘My Pet Goat’), but if he thinks he can dress a hog up as a goat, the American public still can tell it’s a hog. Mr. Bush should read the dictionary and find out the meaning of the word ‘illegal’.

Fortunately those firing the guns and rockets are a very small majority of the hard working Mexican populace, if, in fact, they are even of Mexican decent at all. Still a real leader like Teddy Roosevelt would have taken some troops, cross the border and get rid of the few jerks, who are, in truth, ruining it for those who want to come to America and earn an honest living. Mr. Bush may well be accused of impersonating a President.

But there is time to change his ideals, and Mr. Bush, who is and always has had a huge stubborn streak, isn’t likely to do that.

Still to sit back and try to tell Americans that something illegal will remain illegal, but still calls for amnesty and proposes rewarding the vast majority undocumented Mexicans who are here now, makes no sense at all.

I agree that we should welcome the Mexican worker, but is it really that hard to come into this Country legally, by filing the correct documents? Maybe it is, but if that’s the way to come to America and earn a living, that’s the only thing that should matter to Mr. Bush.

America has always welcomed hard working citizens from all around the world in general and Mexico in particular, since they are one of our closest neighbors. But if they want to live here, and want to work here, they have to file the papers, take the oath, and make it legal.

Unless of course, there is something that these folks want to hide, and I’m sure most of them do not.

Agree or disagree, I’d like to hear from you. I respect everyone’s opinion. (Rusty@ringsports.com).