The Hopkins - Taylor - Dibella Match: Real Politik

It may not be official, but it looks like Bernard Hopkins is going to fight Jermain Taylor in July. I know it’s a very attractive match up pitting the great older established champ against a young hungry undefeated former Olympian, but the question is that if Hopkins has less than three fights left in his illustrious career then why is he fighting a dangerous kid on the way up who really doesn’t have a lot of market appeal. They are talking about Bernard getting 3 million for the fight, but at this point in his career that’s chump change. I mean the guy has had one of the longest reigns in the history of the sport, and he is the only person to have stopped De La Hoya and Trinidad. He is the MAN right now. Boxing is a funny business because It’s so politically charged. In fact, I believe that it’s the most politicized sport in the world. Unless Hopkins realizes that this fight isn’t the best thing for him at this point in his career and decides to go another route, he is going to fight Taylor because of numerous politically influenced factors. First it’s tradition at HBO to pit the old established champion against the young up and coming dynamo. They did it with the Vargas-Campas fight, the Floyd Mayweather-Genaro Hernandez match, as well as with the Lewis-Grant match. Those fights and many others have set this precedent by which HBO matches champions with fighters that they view as potential future superstars in the sport. This allows HBO to expose viewers to the sport’s future and it provides them with the opportunity to form an early relationship with the up and coming fighter so that they will most likely be the network involved with that potential future superstar. details]