Hopkins says W. Klitschko "Not boring, he's a B+, C- fighter."

[Boxing Scene]

I think he meant to say B+, A- fighter.

I think he meant exactly what he said LOL.

[Tiozzo]

there is not enough info here
I would have liked to know why he rates Wlad the way he does

[Boxing Scene]

there is not enough info here
I would have liked to know why he rates Wlad the way he does

How about clicking the link and listening to the radio show?

[Southpaw Great]

Who cares what Hopkins says........

[Boxing Scene]

Bernard Hopkins transcript:

JENNA J: Anyway guys, it's time or our second guest of this week’s show. He is a former middleweight and light heavyweight champion, and he is making his third appearance on our air. We have Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins! How is everything going today Bernard?

BERNARD HOPKINS: Everything is fine here in hot Las Vegas.

JENNA: Alright, well the question that’s been on a lot of boxing fan’s minds, they haven’t heard much from you of late, they’re wondering if you’re going to continue your boxing career and if you are against who?

HOPKINS: Yes, I am continuing my boxing career and hopefully it will be for the heavyweight championship of the world with David Haye who was formerly a cruiserweight champion about two years ago and he won the heavyweight championship last summer, I believe. I’m looking to capture that and make history with another feather in my cap and go to the Hall of Fame within five or six years.

JENNA: David Haye’s last bout obviously was against John Ruiz. He looked pretty impressive. You say that you want to move up to heavyweight. Do you think you will be a little bit too outsized for that weight division?

HOPKINS: Not from a David Haye type of guy because he is not really a natural heavyweight. Klitschko, yes, that’s a different story. When you’re dealing with heavyweights you’re dealing with size, but we know from history that size in the heavyweight division has not been a major factor with who becomes champion and who doesn’t. I think when you look at the experience from one guy who’s six feet tall, who’s always been a big middleweight, who jumped up two weight classes and became the light heavyweight champion of the world by beating Antonio Tarver, which people thought was unheard of. They don’t understand that if I wasn’t as disciplined as I was I could have easily been 190 four years ago, but on a six foot frame and maybe a quarter, I can eat now and I can do the right things to get the weight but not the bulk and become a force for that one particular fight.

I remember Michael Spinks, and you know that name—Michael Spinks. He wasn’t a big guy. He was a real awkward guy, but not a big guy. As a matter of fact he was the same height as me. He beat Larry Holmes. Larry Holmes is a big guy, even at sixty-something years old. I was in Easton about two months ago and he’s got a bigger stomach but he’s pretty big. I think it comes down to the athlete and the person and also the strategy and also the cross your fingers every now and then inside that fight. Look, I could hit David Haye a lot of times but if he hits me one or two times it’s over. I think that’s the risk and that’s also the anticipation of what can, and what won’t, and what will happen. That sells and that curiosity that most of the time kills the cat is all about what people come out to see. A train wreck or they come out to see history.

JENNA: Now we actually got the chance to speak to your trainer, Naazim Richardson, after you beat Roy Jones Junior and he said that he didn’t really agree with the idea of you going up to heavyweight. Have you talked to him since then and has he changed his stance at all?

HOPKINS: Yeah, he still thinks I’m crazy but I think that Naazim understands that if Bernard Hopkins wants to do something, if Bernard Hopkins wants something he gets it. It might be a year from now. It might be six months from now. I won’t stalk him or her, but I will be in their presence every time to let them know I am there. It won’t be an ignorant way. It will be in a way of this guy’s still standing around, and guess what? Who else is he going to fight? Look, even if he gets somebody tomorrow it is what it is. I want to, but I’m not in a situation where this defines my legacy, and you know it doesn’t. What it will do is just have people say, ‘Wait a minute, this guy is forty-five years old, he hired Mackie Shilstone who made history with him twice. We got to take this guy seriously. I mean David Haye can have a bad day. He’s human. We know he has losses, but Bernard’s been the underdog and he always came through 99.9% of the time’. That’s what the record says.

I know that being a heavyweight I’ll probably be a ten to one underdog and I’ll know that people could be wrong that night. A lot of nights in my career they had to eat crow. They had to eat crow. Listen, to go on this stage at this part of my life and my career, it has to be something where the risk is going to be so huge for Bernard Hopkins to even be taking it seriously. They might not agree I’ll win, but they’ll come to see if it’s the first time Bernard Hopkins is going to be knocked out and beat up. Is this the first time Bernard Hopkins bit off more than he can chew?

How many athletes do you know in any sport that’s willing to take that risk to fail, to win. That separates the goods from the greats, man and woman. This is something man. I’m this guy who’s willing to do that. I’m willing to do what I have to do and history will show that Bernard Hopkins was somebody that doesn’t come along all the time. When you name the Jordans, they can say anything they want about Lebron. I love him. I watch him play and I’m going to continue to watch him, but at the end of the day he’s no Jordan. He’s no Jordan. He has the potential to walk on the side of history with him.

JENNA: When you look at David Haye and you see him as a heavyweight, what is your analysis of him? What do you think of him and what do you think of the move that he’s made so far?

[Boxing Scene]

Continued:

HOPKINS: I think he made a great move. I know David Haye. I’ve met David Haye. We trained in the same gym in Florida before he became the cruiserweight champ. So we have some kind of history. He came to my fight when I fought Joe Calzaghe to give me blessings and he was rooting for me. He came in the dressing room and stood beside me, but at the end of the day it’s a business. He made a business move that I think was excellent in his career and one of them was coming to Golden Boy Promotion. Another one is that he has an opportunity to at least bring some sanity into the heavyweight division, whether I’m there or not. Why? Because he has a personality.

He talks that you-know-what just like I do. He’s not a bad looking guy, he’s strong, and if Haye cracks you you’re going to sleep most people, and he has vulnerability there. People look for that. That sells, because he can be cracked, too. So when you have that type of personality, he can talk, he can hold a press conference. Could you imagine? Just the press conference alone with B-Hop and David Haye, can you imagine his personality and my personality? I mean you will really have to take a vote on who won these. I mean every tour would be exciting. You won’t have a boring tour. Forget eating the bagels and drinking the coffee.

This is the type of personality that doesn’t come along all the time in boxing. So when you have personalities that clash like that, Antonio Tarver-Bernard Hopkins, Roy Jones-Bernard Hopkins, I mean it’s good stuff for you all. We’re serious most of the time, most of the time we’re serious. Yeah, we’re funny every now and then but most of the time we are serious. The fans and the media eat it up and they promote it the way it deserved to be promoted without overhyping it or under-hyping it. It is what it is. Can Bernard Hopkins pull another rabbit out of the hat? Question mark, two of them.

JENNA: Now Bernard as was mentioned before, your last bout was a rematch with Roy Jones Junior. It was a fight that some criticized you for taking after Jones had lost his last fight to Danny Green in just one round. You received a lot of bad press after the match due to the way the fight unfolded even though you won. Do you at all regret pursuing the rematch with Roy?

HOPKINS: No, I don’t regret taking the match with Roy Jones Junior because I could go on in life and say I had done something that I never have to worry about if I were to have the chance to do it again. I know so many people. I don’t you personally and I don’t know the fellow beside you on the phone or in the office personally, either. But I’ve run into too many damn people that say they wish they would have done this when they were 20 or they wish they would have done that when they were 30. You know what? You can’t do everything in life but the things that I have control to do, while I have it I’m going to do it because I’m one of those guys that shouldn’t have made it. I’m one of those guys that shouldn’t have made it and when I have the opportunity to say this is what I want to do no matter what the public opinion of the media is. I’ve given my all to this game. I gave every damn time and it’s time to close the door and shut the curtains, but until they fall I want to have a chance to take care of an old debt seventeen plus years later. A little slower here, a little slower there, it happened. It happened. It wasn’t pretty, but the old quote “a win is a win is a win”.

At the end of the day I think that I can go without fighting David Haye or anybody and I will say a job well done. I have nothing, and not even suggested by you or anybody else, I don’t have any regrets as I talk to you on this phone right now. No regrets, because there aren’t too many people who can come out on any song who can say that they did it their way when the politics guided them through and gave them things that they really didn’t win. I’ve done it my way, and when you do it your way you don’t have to kiss ass when you’re nobody any more in boxing. When you did it your way you don’t have to come in and hope they interview you. When you did your way you ain’t got to hope that they give you a ticket. When you did it your way and you have your money still, you don’t have to do the things that are accustomed to what’s been done.

That is power. But I’m not drunk with it. But I’m aware of it.

JENNA: Bernard, we’re also joined by my co-host Geoff.

GEOFFREY CIANI: Hi Bernard. It’s a pleasure to have you back on the show.

HOPKINS: Thank you.

CIANI: Bernard, sticking with the heavyweight theme, I know you said you’d never fight a Klitschko. I never thought this of you personally, but a lot of fans have accused you of having a boring style and a lot of fans say the same thing about heavyweight champion, Wladimir Klitschko, and I was wondering how you personally view Wladimir? Whether you view him as boring or what your thoughts were of him as a fighter?

HOPKINS: First of all, I think he’s a B+ maybe a C- fighter. I don’t think he’s boring. I think he uses his attributes to put pain on the other guy and it doesn’t look too good when he’s not getting hit, either. I think that my style could be boring to some people. I agree that they could have that assessment of me, but I also think that I have a choice. Is the boxing about winning? The boxing that I was taught was to hit and not get hit. I have a choice to not be boring and punch drunk or a winner and not punch drunk.

See, the styles that people have grown accustomed to see and love and want to spend their money on, they want to see blood. They want to see two guys slug it out like Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward, who I love, but when you deal with guys that were taught from the old school that the name of the game is to hit and not get. I am so proud when people say to me, ‘You talk so well’. I’m not offended because they say that. If I was ignorant, I would try to justify why you said that, because I’m this, or because I’m that. That is a paranoid person, but when you understand that being boring means that I’m going to use my shoulder as a turtle uses his shell for a defense.

With Bouie Fisher, with Naazim Richardson, with the other old school trainers that came across my path, why do I have to be out of character to prove that I’m tough when I can win without showing that I have to give up me. If it’s me, I will bite down. I’ve shown that, but just to do because I can or I want to or I want to be macho. This is a thinking man’s sport and we lost that in this game and that’s why the UFC, because of the mentality of this great country. There are more crowds at a tightrope 1,000 feet in the year with no safety net than the one that has the same rope with a safety net underneath. They want to come to see a train wreck. They want to come to see him survive or die, but the net that’s underneath the rope that’s high like the other one, that’s not crowded. Why? Because there’s a net underneath there. If he falls, he’s got safety but the one down the street is packed because the net, it’s not there. I take that philosophy.

You'll have to listen for the rest.

[Boxing Scene]

If you think Hopkins is boring, wait until you listen to his interview and him talking about himself for 20 minutes straight about how awesome he is.

[ИATAS]

The ironic thing is Hopkins won't talk about fighting Wlad, yet he calls him a C- fighter. So he's saying he won't fight Wlad at C-, does that mean he's rating Haye a D- to an F? I don't get it at all.

are you an idiot? Seriously think about what you're typing.

[Walker Smiff]

Smartest thing he's said in years.

[Dynamite Kid]

Source: On The Ropes Radio Episode 84

Hopkins is right, if Wlad had a chin, then he would most probably be elite, particularly with his power and skills, but he dont, therefore, he has to be a notch below, which is B class, C class is far too low for a reigning HW champ with how many successful defense, dont agree that he is c class, he is B class though imo