Hopkins: Taylor Then Winky, Not A Bad Plan B

Hopkins forced to adjust schedule By BERNARD FERNANDEZ fernanb@phillynews.com The exit strategy was a sound one. Undisputed middleweight champion Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins would defend his title a division-record 21st consecutive time by defeating Jermain Taylor, then end his career in January by moving up to light-heavyweight and take on either Roy Jones Jr., who in 1993 became the last man to defeat him, or Antonio Tarver. But Taylor's controversial split-decision victory over Hopkins on July 16 necessitated a rewrite of the script. Goodbye, Plan A. Hello, Plan B. Hopkins has confirmed he relinquished an Oct. 1 HBO pay-per-view date to allow for a rubber match between Jones (49-3, 38 KOs) and Tarver (23-3, 18 KOs). Hopkins (46-3-1, 32 KOs) will exercise a contract clause for an HBO PPV rematch with Taylor (24-0, 17 KOs) on Dec. 3, then likely say goodbye to his fighting career with a Jan. 28 bout, probably against Winky Wright (49-3, 25 KOs). Hopkins promised his mother, Shirley, before she died that he would retire by his 41st birthday on Jan. 15. "I don't think she'll be too upset if I go past that by 13 days," he said. Hopkins acknowledged that the disputed loss to Taylor might mean millions of extra dollars for his retirement nest egg. "I'm not saying that I'm glad they said I lost, because I'm not," Hopkins said. "But I'm getting so much love back from people who know I got shafted. Everywhere I go, I hear from the barber and the cop on the street. 'We love you, champ. You'll get him the next time,' they all say. "So I'll get him the next time, and I guess I'll just have to knock him out and take it out of the judges' hands, so there can be no doubt whatsoever. If Taylor needs until Dec. 3, I'll let him heal and rest up, because I don't want him having any excuses that he had a concussion or whatever." With reported pay-per-view sales of 350,000, at $49.95 per subscription, Hopkins - who gambled on himself by taking a relatively small minimum against a percentage of the PPV - figures his take for the Taylor bout will be close to $8 million. Taylor's purse was $1.8 million. "And I can make double for the rematch," Hopkins said. "Controversy sells. From a business standpoint, what happened ain't all bad. After I beat Taylor, I'll probably go out against Winky." Wright, the WBC/WBA super welterweight champion who has been inactive since his one-sided, unanimous decision over Felix Trinidad on May 14, was negotiating for a catchweight bout with WBC super lightweight champion Floyd Mayweather (34-0, 23 KOs). But those talks fell through, setting the stage for the possible Jan. 28 matchup with Hopkins.