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By Jake Donovan - Admit it. You swore, moments after the conclusion of his grappling match with Winky Wright, that you'd never again watch Bernard Hopkins in a prizefight.
You also swore before the Felix Trinidad fight and again before both fights with Jermain Taylor that you'd never again root for him.
But there you were, awed by his performance against Trinidad, to where with each passing round you rose higher and higher out of your chair, until you could do no less than give him a standing ovation by nights end.
Fast forward to 2006. After all of the bitterness he spewed prior to each Taylor fight, and after breaking a lifelong promise to his mother that he'd never fight past his 41st birthday, you were right there rooting for him to pull off the upset against Antonio Tarver.
You were so impressed, that you were still intrigued to see how much he had left 13 months later. You knew deep down that a Hopkins-Wright fight couldn't be anything but a stinker, but one shove at the weigh-in changed all of that. All it took was Bernard to get in – and eventually mush – Wink's face for your stance on the fight to change from "thanks, I'll pass" to "Click OK to order this event for the asking price of 49.95."
Then they fought, or so it was said. Mauling, grappling, butting… anything but the prize fighting we know and love, and most importantly prefer when we're the ones paying.
You laughed at yourself when you received the cable/satellite bill the following month. "That son of a ***** got me good, but this is the last time I'll ever watch him fight." [details]
You also swore before the Felix Trinidad fight and again before both fights with Jermain Taylor that you'd never again root for him.
But there you were, awed by his performance against Trinidad, to where with each passing round you rose higher and higher out of your chair, until you could do no less than give him a standing ovation by nights end.
Fast forward to 2006. After all of the bitterness he spewed prior to each Taylor fight, and after breaking a lifelong promise to his mother that he'd never fight past his 41st birthday, you were right there rooting for him to pull off the upset against Antonio Tarver.
You were so impressed, that you were still intrigued to see how much he had left 13 months later. You knew deep down that a Hopkins-Wright fight couldn't be anything but a stinker, but one shove at the weigh-in changed all of that. All it took was Bernard to get in – and eventually mush – Wink's face for your stance on the fight to change from "thanks, I'll pass" to "Click OK to order this event for the asking price of 49.95."
Then they fought, or so it was said. Mauling, grappling, butting… anything but the prize fighting we know and love, and most importantly prefer when we're the ones paying.
You laughed at yourself when you received the cable/satellite bill the following month. "That son of a ***** got me good, but this is the last time I'll ever watch him fight." [details]
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