Bernard Hopkins interview.
BERNARD HOPKINS: ROY JONES JR WAS SCARED TO DEATH
By G. Leon
GL: Congrats on your win over Roy Jones Jr. Can you give us some thoughts on your performance and the way the fight played out? "First of all I would like to say to all my fans and everybody who was concerned about me, I am fine. I'm good. It was a precautionary thing because I got light headed in the dressing room. I felt light headed in the ring from the moment he hit me behind the head and that changed the way I wanted to attack during the second half of the fight. I was seeing spots for the rest of the fight, I felt like was in an elevator on the top floor of a skyscraper coming down to the lobby. It was like the room was moving and I was standing still. I was fighting off of instinct. I don't know when the bell rung, I just know I had to get him and throw punches. Then I saw the referee jump in there and I thought he was stopping the fight at first, but then I saw other people jump in there. I never heard the bell ring. I attacked him like that because I didn't think I would be able to finish the fight seeing spots like that."
"I was trying to shake my head and clear my vision, but I just had to tough it out because that's what warriors do. I think the fight could have been different, but when the other guy doesn't want to do anything to you, but it becomes a mess.
"I thought Roy Jones was going to come in there and be a little leary, but he was scared to death. Trust me, anybody who been in the ring before, not the guys who have been watching it for ten years and think they're experts, when you go in that ring it's a whole new different ballgame. Roy went into that ring petrofied and he had good reasons to based on his previous encounters.
"I expected Roy Jones Jr to fight like a legend and let it all hang out. Our styles don't mesh well, and I knew there would be grabbing, but at the end of the day I'm going to fight like a man. When you fight in the ring you fight under any circumstances. Some don't continue and we've seen that recently. There's only that time when it happens that you have to make the decision to bite down and do what you got to do. 90% of that fight was based on instinct. I think the average person would have been trying to find a way to get out, I didn't. I went right after him."
GL: Do you think that you fouled Roy Jones Jr just as much as he fouled you?
Bernard Hopkins: "I think he fouled me intentionally. I fouled him retailiating or hitting him on the hip. One punch was kind of low, but I think it was a situation where Roy Jones Jr said had a secret weapon and I think that plan was to foul. He didn't come to fight, he didn't come out there to show that he just had a bad fight with Danny Green. He came out with a reluctant body language and I know you saw it Greg. I was the aggressor the whole fight. When has that happened? I was coming straight to him trying to make some action, but it takes two to tango, and when the other side didn't come to fight it is what it is.
GL: Is it concerning to you that you had bad reaction to these punches behind the head considering that they...
BH: (cutting in) "On the first one he nailed me. The second shot behind the head was okay, but he nailed me on the first one. That's the one where Roy lost a point.
GL: On the second one Weeks deemed that you both fouled each other.
BH: "I wasn't mad at him about the second one, but I was mad over the first one because it was done intentionally. I was mad at myself for the second one because I turned into it."
GL: On the second one you hit him behind the head first.
BH: "Greg listen, if a guy hits me on the back of the head, I'm going to hit him back. War is war. Anybody out there that's in this boxing game knows how it goes. Do unto others as you want them to do unto you. When he hit me the first time I knew I was going to get him back and I knew I was going to attack him when the action started. At the end of the day what I can do to you, whether it's wrong or right, you can do to me. I'm a veteran I take advantage of every situation I can, if I feel like I need a minute or two after being fouled I'm going to take it. I'm not worried about the crowd hollering and screaming, I'm a professional. It wasn't them who was getting hit behind the head."
GL: Are you disappointed that you were unable to stop Jones or inflict any serious damage?
BH: "I was hoping that I put the William Joppy beating on him and I'm disappointed that I didn't get to do what I was set out to do, which was give him a beating he'd never forget. At the end of the day a win is a win. After 17 years, I got my redemption. If you go and look at our records right now, we're even. Right now we're 1-1 and there will never be a third fight. I wanted this fight, I took criticism for the fight before it started. I knew it wasn't going to be front page news. We put this fight together because Richard Schaefer believed that I should fulfill that itch that I had. And I did, so now I can map out what I want to do next. I got a chance to show patience through life and show courage to persevere in a lose-lose situation. If I sit around and don't fight when I'm still active to fight it doesn't do anything for me or my momentum. It was a fight I wanted to do and I done it, but for anybody to try to write me off following last Saturday, there's nothing they're saying that I haven't heard before."
GL: Do you feel like certain people are trying to bury you and Roy Jones Jr at the same time?
BH: "Like they're digging a twelve foot deep ditch. I understand the fight wasn't the greatest, but the other guy didn't come to fight. With all that I've accomplished, fighting as one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world today at 45 years old, to put me and Roy Jones in the same category right now is disrespectful to my legacy. But they want a reason to say I should go. They put this perfect fight that I have to fight every time out. If one of my jabs gets countered, I should retire, but fighters get countered all the time. With me the rules are different. If I'm not perfect, I'm done."
GL: Since they prematurely called the coroner, what's next?
BH: "I came out of that fight unscathed from a physical point, but I got hit behind the head and it was a serious blow, but I dealt with it. I have options on what's next, but I haven't any discussions yet, when I do **********.com will be where they hear it first. What's next is what best motivates Bernard Hopkins. If they think I have no chance with David Haye because he beat John Ruiz, who lost to Roy Jones Jr. They're acting like Ruiz is a Klitschko or something. If it ain't meaningful I won't do it. I'm not retired, I don't have no reason to retire and I still have fight in me."
GL: What happened when you went back to the dressing room?
BH: "I felt light headed and I went to sit down and I missed the chair, so everybody wanted me to go to the hospital. I didn't lose consciousness. I was just queezy and I went to sit and missed the chair. I didn't feel stable for the second half of the fight, and that's where I like to break down guys and finish them off.."
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