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LAS VEGAS - Bernard Hopkins doesn't mind giving away a secret. He's got plenty more stored up for Jermain Taylor. The undisputed middleweight champion tipped off Taylor's camp to a defect in the challenger's style, something Hopkins insists is one of just 10 flaws he discovered while studying the 26-year-old Taylor. So Hopkins figured he could afford to offer advice to Taylor's camp.
"I corrected a problem because I didn't want nobody to say, 'He wasn't ready' about Jermain Taylor," Hopkins said. "And I love the idea they want to get into mental warfare with me."
Hopkins enjoys the mental battle as much as the physical nature of boxing. At 40, he's that very rare specimen: better now than ever. While most middle-age boxers are either hanging on or in the midst of some sort of comeback, Hopkins will be making his 21st straight title defense Saturday night at the MGM Grand. He hasn't lost since Roy Jones beat him 12 years ago.
"I've heard it all," he said of the doubters. "When you got 20 defenses, a record, and you are undefeated since '93, it's hard to convince me of anything at a press conference. You've heard 20 other people's coaches and managers and guys carrying bags saying, 'We'll do this and that.'
"Jermain Taylor should realize that when the bell rings ... he is in there alone."
And, according to Hopkins, Taylor, despite a 23-0 record since winning a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympics, will bring many weaknesses into the ring.
Hopkins, who has seen just about everything an opponent can offer, claims Taylor has been taught to move his right hand toward his chest instead of keeping it up to protect the right side of his face. That leaves the 26-year-old Taylor vulnerable to a left hook when he jabs with his own left.
"I exposed it and they said, `He's right,' " Hopkins said with a wide smile before winking at his audience. "I'm the fighter telling his team from afar: `Hey, dummies, why don't you correct that problem?'
"I gave them a tip on what they need to work on — one of the things they need to work on. He's ****ing that right hand by four or five inches."
Even if Taylor corrects that trait, Hopkins says it won't matter, because of all the other holes he sees in Taylor's style. Yet no opponent has been able to damage Taylor, who hasn't lost any confidence in his own skills despite Prof. Hopkins' criticism.
"I'll just stay aggressive," he said. "If you stop one thing, I'll come back with another."
Taylor did have a bad habit when he was an amateur of not using his jab, which since has developed into one of the best in the business.
"I was right-hand crazy," he said with a chuckle. "I wasn't using the left at all, driving my coaches crazy.
"So my coach tied up my right hand so I couldn't throw it. All I could do was jab, jab, jab. It got to the point in my fights when I was whipping guys with one hand. I had to."
Taylor estimates he was 16 or 17 at the time, and he remembers that the lesson worked too well.
"They had to get me back to using my right hand, because I started using only the left," he recalled. "It was, like, every day for a month — left, left, left. It took me a while to get back to throwing my right. It wasn't automatic."
Hopkins has been automatic for a dozen years. He says he has only two more fights left after Taylor, so the boxing world will see only the best of Bernard on Saturday and beyond.
"A fighter is judged by the quality of the fights he fights, by longevity, being a champion," he said. "I don't duck nobody."
"I corrected a problem because I didn't want nobody to say, 'He wasn't ready' about Jermain Taylor," Hopkins said. "And I love the idea they want to get into mental warfare with me."
Hopkins enjoys the mental battle as much as the physical nature of boxing. At 40, he's that very rare specimen: better now than ever. While most middle-age boxers are either hanging on or in the midst of some sort of comeback, Hopkins will be making his 21st straight title defense Saturday night at the MGM Grand. He hasn't lost since Roy Jones beat him 12 years ago.
"I've heard it all," he said of the doubters. "When you got 20 defenses, a record, and you are undefeated since '93, it's hard to convince me of anything at a press conference. You've heard 20 other people's coaches and managers and guys carrying bags saying, 'We'll do this and that.'
"Jermain Taylor should realize that when the bell rings ... he is in there alone."
And, according to Hopkins, Taylor, despite a 23-0 record since winning a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympics, will bring many weaknesses into the ring.
Hopkins, who has seen just about everything an opponent can offer, claims Taylor has been taught to move his right hand toward his chest instead of keeping it up to protect the right side of his face. That leaves the 26-year-old Taylor vulnerable to a left hook when he jabs with his own left.
"I exposed it and they said, `He's right,' " Hopkins said with a wide smile before winking at his audience. "I'm the fighter telling his team from afar: `Hey, dummies, why don't you correct that problem?'
"I gave them a tip on what they need to work on — one of the things they need to work on. He's ****ing that right hand by four or five inches."
Even if Taylor corrects that trait, Hopkins says it won't matter, because of all the other holes he sees in Taylor's style. Yet no opponent has been able to damage Taylor, who hasn't lost any confidence in his own skills despite Prof. Hopkins' criticism.
"I'll just stay aggressive," he said. "If you stop one thing, I'll come back with another."
Taylor did have a bad habit when he was an amateur of not using his jab, which since has developed into one of the best in the business.
"I was right-hand crazy," he said with a chuckle. "I wasn't using the left at all, driving my coaches crazy.
"So my coach tied up my right hand so I couldn't throw it. All I could do was jab, jab, jab. It got to the point in my fights when I was whipping guys with one hand. I had to."
Taylor estimates he was 16 or 17 at the time, and he remembers that the lesson worked too well.
"They had to get me back to using my right hand, because I started using only the left," he recalled. "It was, like, every day for a month — left, left, left. It took me a while to get back to throwing my right. It wasn't automatic."
Hopkins has been automatic for a dozen years. He says he has only two more fights left after Taylor, so the boxing world will see only the best of Bernard on Saturday and beyond.
"A fighter is judged by the quality of the fights he fights, by longevity, being a champion," he said. "I don't duck nobody."
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