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By Cliff Rold - Perception is not always reality.
In an excellent match-up, current Ring Magazine light heavyweight titlist and former middleweight emperor Bernard Hopkins (47-4-1, 32 KO) of Philadelphia knows it. So too does his opponent this Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, former World jr. middleweight king Ronald “Winky” Wright (51-3-1, 25 KO, #1 contender at middleweight) of St. Petersburg, Florida.
They know because, heading into this pay-per-view showdown, they are confronted by a sizable base of fans and pundits who don’t think much of their pending contest. Skeptics look at their age and technical competence, coming away with a single expectation: boredom. It’s the first time I can recall where two of the sports universally recognized best fighters facing off for the first time has met with negative reactions. It’s a bizarre mixed signal. In a sport criticized, falsely, for not presenting enough top tier matches, a top-tier match is being criticized.
HBO boxing head Kery Davis isn’t among the skeptics. I asked him about the criticism of the fight. “I don’t think anyone can prognosticate what is going to happen when two elite fighters get into the ring. This is a fight where two of the top five or six fighters in the world are fighting each other. That’s enough to sell it. What you want is the best fighting the best and let’s see who wins the competition. Every fight doesn’t have to be Ward-Gatti. I have no idea who’s going to win the fight. I watch fights like (Wright-Hopkins) because I want to see who wins.”
Each man can take solace that perceptions of them individually, if not as a duet, in July 2007 are pretty strong. Look around from Ring to ESPN to here at Boxing Scene and you’ll find both anywhere from top five to seven in the mythical pound-for-pound ratings. It’s a remarkable feat considering the age of each man. Hopkins is 42; Wright is just shy of 36. An observer with little knowledge of the past would look at such a thing and reasonably assume that each must have been perceived even greater a decade ago.
They’d be wrong.
Almost exactly ten years ago, on July 20, 1997, Hopkins was 32-2-1 and facing an undefeated Glenn Johnson on CBS in the fifth defense of his IBF 160 lb. strap. Seen as the best of a weak middleweight field, Hopkins was the leading contender for a then five-year's vacant lineal crown. He tortured the future light heavyweight titlist Johnson in front of that national audience, winning every round before scoring a stoppage in the 11th round. Review of the tape leaves one to ponder if it was Hopkins first truly great performance.
Hopkins was faster then, throwing more, throwing harder, all while showing the defensive prowess that allows his aged bones to still carve away at more youthful flesh today. In short, ten years ago Hopkins was even better than he is today. To the public though, he was just another good fighter with a loss to Roy Jones.
Wright was also a titlist then. 1997 was not a banner year; it wasn’t a bad one either. He made the second and third defenses of the WBO’s 154 lb. title, one against an undefeated Steve Dodson, both away from the eyes of the U.S. public. Those were Wright’s nomad days, a period when, from 1993 to 1998, he fought almost exclusively overseas. England, France, Germany, Argentina, South Africa. He finished 1997 with a career mark of 38-1. [details]
In an excellent match-up, current Ring Magazine light heavyweight titlist and former middleweight emperor Bernard Hopkins (47-4-1, 32 KO) of Philadelphia knows it. So too does his opponent this Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, former World jr. middleweight king Ronald “Winky” Wright (51-3-1, 25 KO, #1 contender at middleweight) of St. Petersburg, Florida.
They know because, heading into this pay-per-view showdown, they are confronted by a sizable base of fans and pundits who don’t think much of their pending contest. Skeptics look at their age and technical competence, coming away with a single expectation: boredom. It’s the first time I can recall where two of the sports universally recognized best fighters facing off for the first time has met with negative reactions. It’s a bizarre mixed signal. In a sport criticized, falsely, for not presenting enough top tier matches, a top-tier match is being criticized.
HBO boxing head Kery Davis isn’t among the skeptics. I asked him about the criticism of the fight. “I don’t think anyone can prognosticate what is going to happen when two elite fighters get into the ring. This is a fight where two of the top five or six fighters in the world are fighting each other. That’s enough to sell it. What you want is the best fighting the best and let’s see who wins the competition. Every fight doesn’t have to be Ward-Gatti. I have no idea who’s going to win the fight. I watch fights like (Wright-Hopkins) because I want to see who wins.”
Each man can take solace that perceptions of them individually, if not as a duet, in July 2007 are pretty strong. Look around from Ring to ESPN to here at Boxing Scene and you’ll find both anywhere from top five to seven in the mythical pound-for-pound ratings. It’s a remarkable feat considering the age of each man. Hopkins is 42; Wright is just shy of 36. An observer with little knowledge of the past would look at such a thing and reasonably assume that each must have been perceived even greater a decade ago.
They’d be wrong.
Almost exactly ten years ago, on July 20, 1997, Hopkins was 32-2-1 and facing an undefeated Glenn Johnson on CBS in the fifth defense of his IBF 160 lb. strap. Seen as the best of a weak middleweight field, Hopkins was the leading contender for a then five-year's vacant lineal crown. He tortured the future light heavyweight titlist Johnson in front of that national audience, winning every round before scoring a stoppage in the 11th round. Review of the tape leaves one to ponder if it was Hopkins first truly great performance.
Hopkins was faster then, throwing more, throwing harder, all while showing the defensive prowess that allows his aged bones to still carve away at more youthful flesh today. In short, ten years ago Hopkins was even better than he is today. To the public though, he was just another good fighter with a loss to Roy Jones.
Wright was also a titlist then. 1997 was not a banner year; it wasn’t a bad one either. He made the second and third defenses of the WBO’s 154 lb. title, one against an undefeated Steve Dodson, both away from the eyes of the U.S. public. Those were Wright’s nomad days, a period when, from 1993 to 1998, he fought almost exclusively overseas. England, France, Germany, Argentina, South Africa. He finished 1997 with a career mark of 38-1. [details]
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