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Hopkins : ''The HW division is in coma. Cruiserweight is the cure.''
HOPKINS: Yeah, around the time my daughter gets married and she’s 12—and I told her she can’t get married until she’s 30. The heavyweight division is in a coma right now. We don’t know when it’s going to wake up. We just hope and pray that it does. It’s in a coma right now, a massive coma! It doesn’t look good. The big name that I wanted to do was beat the guy that beat a Klitschko and David Haye didn’t do that, so I have no interest in fighting at heavyweight. I think they should just cut the heavyweight division out of the 20-something plus divisions there are, until it gets a life again. Seriously.
I mean we don’t need the heavyweight division right now, do we? It’s doing just fine with the little guys and hopefully the junior middleweights, the light heavyweights, and the cruiserweights will start getting light, the Cunninghams of the world and guys like that. Tarver just won a title. I mean there is some cruiserweight action that could happen! You know what I mean. There are a lot of small heavyweights and a lot of big light heavyweights.
Maybe that cruiserweight division should be the next heavyweight division? You can make more fights down there with light heavyweights going to cruiserweight and smaller heavyweights coming down! Hey! This might be breaking news right here! Let’s just cut the heavyweight division out until it comes out of the coma, and let’s focus on the light heavyweights! So anybody out there that’s weighing a little bit less than a big heavyweight would be and you’re not that tall then think about the cruiserweights! Anybody that’s a light heavyweight that wants to go up that’s struggling, you know Chad Dawson after he loses this fight here, he’s 6’2”. He can pack on another twenty pounds like our friend Adamek did who he went up and fought a Klitschko. It’s been done before. Michael Spinks! He went from one weight class to another from light heavy. He wasn’t a huge light heavyweight. Yes, when he fought Mike Tyson it was a different story. But he did beat two or three old legends and that was Larry Holmes and I believe one more person.
So hey! That’s breaking news. The big light heavyweights and the small heavyweights migrate to the 190 pound cruiserweight, oh it’s 200 pounds! I just had a flash through my memory bank. It ain’t 190 no more, it’s 200 pounds. So that’s it! I fixed the boxing problem now! Breaking news, I just fixed boxing right now! You heard it here on East Side Boxing—the cruiserweight division is the new heavyweight division! Let’s make it happen! (laughs)
JENNA: (laughs) So if you are victorious, would you consider going to the new heavyweight division of cruiserweight and maybe taking on Tarver, or James Toney who’s been calling you out of late?
HOPKINS: No man! Tarver is delusional, man! Listen, Tarver needs to beat Cunningham and if he beats Cunningham he is the legitimate guy. Cunningham is the guy you need to beat, seriously. Everybody will tell you that Cunningham is the guy he should beat, and once that division becomes something there are two or three fighters that it could happen if you come down from heavyweight. Those small heavyweights that are trying to fight heavyweights that know they really ain’t got a shot, and those big light heavyweights that are only a door knock away from being a cruiserweight. Then you know, there can be a lot of rhythm down there. That division could be hot right now with the younger guys! Because the younger guys need the older guys’ names, right? It’s the concept of the young taking over the old and they become the new era. So there is an opportunity for everybody to stand up and be accounted for, and also to make a name for themselves!
JENNA: Bernard, a lot of people have stated that boxing has been on a slow decline. With stars like Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Junior, and yourself getting a little bit older, you can’t box forever. Who do you think will be the next stars of boxing and where do you think boxing will be in the next few years?
I mean we don’t need the heavyweight division right now, do we? It’s doing just fine with the little guys and hopefully the junior middleweights, the light heavyweights, and the cruiserweights will start getting light, the Cunninghams of the world and guys like that. Tarver just won a title. I mean there is some cruiserweight action that could happen! You know what I mean. There are a lot of small heavyweights and a lot of big light heavyweights.
Maybe that cruiserweight division should be the next heavyweight division? You can make more fights down there with light heavyweights going to cruiserweight and smaller heavyweights coming down! Hey! This might be breaking news right here! Let’s just cut the heavyweight division out until it comes out of the coma, and let’s focus on the light heavyweights! So anybody out there that’s weighing a little bit less than a big heavyweight would be and you’re not that tall then think about the cruiserweights! Anybody that’s a light heavyweight that wants to go up that’s struggling, you know Chad Dawson after he loses this fight here, he’s 6’2”. He can pack on another twenty pounds like our friend Adamek did who he went up and fought a Klitschko. It’s been done before. Michael Spinks! He went from one weight class to another from light heavy. He wasn’t a huge light heavyweight. Yes, when he fought Mike Tyson it was a different story. But he did beat two or three old legends and that was Larry Holmes and I believe one more person.
So hey! That’s breaking news. The big light heavyweights and the small heavyweights migrate to the 190 pound cruiserweight, oh it’s 200 pounds! I just had a flash through my memory bank. It ain’t 190 no more, it’s 200 pounds. So that’s it! I fixed the boxing problem now! Breaking news, I just fixed boxing right now! You heard it here on East Side Boxing—the cruiserweight division is the new heavyweight division! Let’s make it happen! (laughs)
JENNA: (laughs) So if you are victorious, would you consider going to the new heavyweight division of cruiserweight and maybe taking on Tarver, or James Toney who’s been calling you out of late?
HOPKINS: No man! Tarver is delusional, man! Listen, Tarver needs to beat Cunningham and if he beats Cunningham he is the legitimate guy. Cunningham is the guy you need to beat, seriously. Everybody will tell you that Cunningham is the guy he should beat, and once that division becomes something there are two or three fighters that it could happen if you come down from heavyweight. Those small heavyweights that are trying to fight heavyweights that know they really ain’t got a shot, and those big light heavyweights that are only a door knock away from being a cruiserweight. Then you know, there can be a lot of rhythm down there. That division could be hot right now with the younger guys! Because the younger guys need the older guys’ names, right? It’s the concept of the young taking over the old and they become the new era. So there is an opportunity for everybody to stand up and be accounted for, and also to make a name for themselves!
JENNA: Bernard, a lot of people have stated that boxing has been on a slow decline. With stars like Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Junior, and yourself getting a little bit older, you can’t box forever. Who do you think will be the next stars of boxing and where do you think boxing will be in the next few years?
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