Comments Thread For: Over 20 Years Later, Hopkins Still Finds Reasons To Excel

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

By Jake Donovan - It’s almost as if Bernard Hopkins looks for excuses to justify his still hanging around at the top level of the sport.

Five years ago, he sought a fight with – and easily handled – then-top light heavyweight Antonio Tarver just because he didn’t like the way his record-breaking middleweight title reign ended.

Three years ago, he claimed that back pay was his motivation. He still had enough left in the tank and wasn’t leaving until he collected on all of the paydays he believed he was cheated out of during his heyday.

Late last year and again this year, the history books were what he sought – and once again found his way into after capturing the lineal light heavyweight championship six years into the middle-aged portion of his life.

The only reason he comes up with answers to why he’s still here is because people keep asking.

The truth is that he still fights just because he can.

“I love boxing. I love the sport – and this guy (Hopkins) is boxing,” insists Naazim Richardson of the boxing student that has helped catapult the Philly-based instructor to one of the most sought-after trainers in the game today.

Richardson’s word alone is good enough for most, but Hopkins still chooses to back it up with his own actions. The career-long gym rat and fitness freak of nature is still going strong deep into the heart of life at middle age, mainly because he doesn’t feel like a middle-aged man.

"I chose to continue to fight and defend what I worked so hard to get,” Hopkins (52-5-2, 32KO) explained during a media workout Tuesday afternoon in Philadelphia. “So why not get all of the benefits of what I've been doing for 20-something years and then walk away when it's time?” [Click Here To Read More]

[Mzembe]

Jake Donovan the unknowledgable

Here are FACTS that even you can't dispute Jake but if you choose to then I challenge you to research it, after all your job as a writer is to research material before spewing them out to make sure you have your facts straight.

Here we go:-
Before Hopkins fought Trinidad, he was a virtual unknown ex-con with a dubious record of guys people have NEVER heard of. Let's analyze his record since then:
1) Tito Trinidad: A Welter Weight who went up to 160Ibs to fight B-Hop and obviously lost
2) After that Hopkins fights more unknowns for 3 years (ducking Roy Jones all along) until ...
3) Oscar De La Hoya: Another WW (who started his career at 130Ibs). Did anyone really think Oscar could win?
After that, Hopkins thinks he is the best ever when we all know he is at this point famous for beating famous names in Tito and Oscar
4) Jermain Taylor: Hopkins loses twice to Jermain who is now considered a shot fighter and not HOF worthy.
5) Winky Wright: Another small fighter that Hopkins selectively chooses to enhance his record since Winky at that time was considered unbeatable.
6) Tarver: A guy who will be recognized for only one thing, his KO of Roy Jones but then proceeds to lose to Glen Johnson. Hopkins picks him knowing he can win which he does while avoiding Chad Dawson
7) Kelly Pavlik: Hopkins picks him for obvious reason. Pavlik is a one-dimensional fighter and Hopkins knew he would beat. Yet he is more famous than Hopkins so clearly Hopkins is riding that boat just like he did with Tito and Oscar.
8) Roy Jones): Need I even say anything about this. Roy was done in 2004. Why did Hopkins refuse the biggest payday of his career in 2001, 2002 and 2003 to fight Jones? Duh!!
9)Enrique Ornalas: Who the phuck is this guy? Jeez!
10) Calzaghe: The only reason Hopkins fought him was because he figured Calzaghe can't punch and he is white. A typical notion that black people have about white fighters (that they are just white-hype) and Hopkins said so himself but lost anyway.
11) Pascal: Again, look at Pascal's record. Even his win against Chad was based on a cut. Chad was going to stop him. Hopkins knew that he could beat this guy and is the only reason he fought him.

12) Chad Dawson: This is the only credible guy Hopkins is fighting (he avoided him like the plague for 4 years) and now the idiot thinks he is a PPV star. If Hopkins beats Dawson (assuming Golden Boy does not pay him to take a fall) then yes we can say he's beaten someone his size and credible.

Other than that, Hopkins is an ex-con thug and we all know what happens in prison. A guy like Hopkins used to **** young men that got incarcerated and I can bet you he probably ****d 1 a week. That's what people like him do in prison so 5 years he probably ****d more than 200 young men.

Hopkins is a joke, a racist, an imbecile and a bottom feeder who knows how to selectively pick his opponents and now the media (I am talking about you Jake) is trying to tell us that he is a legend. I challenge you to name on fighter on Hopkins record before he fought Trinidad who is a Hall of Famer and you can't name a single one!!!

Do us a favor and research your writings before you come here post rubbish like this about an ex con rapist like Bernard Hopkins. The only thing you should talk about is his athleticism when considering his AGE. That's all there is to that fake.

[Shogunofharlem1]

Here are FACTS that even you can't dispute Jake but if you choose to then I challenge you to research it, after all your job as a writer is to research material before spewing them out to make sure you have your facts straight.

Here we go:-
Before Hopkins fought Trinidad, he was a virtual unknown ex-con with a dubious record of guys people have NEVER heard of. Let's analyze his record since then:
1) Tito Trinidad: A Welter Weight who went up to 160Ibs to fight B-Hop and obviously lost
2) After that Hopkins fights more unknowns for 3 years (ducking Roy Jones all along) until ...
3) Oscar De La Hoya: Another WW (who started his career at 130Ibs). Did anyone really think Oscar could win?
After that, Hopkins thinks he is the best ever when we all know he is at this point famous for beating famous names in Tito and Oscar
4) Jermain Taylor: Hopkins loses twice to Jermain who is now considered a shot fighter and not HOF worthy.
5) Winky Wright: Another small fighter that Hopkins selectively chooses to enhance his record since Winky at that time was considered unbeatable.
6) Tarver: A guy who will be recognized for only one thing, his KO of Roy Jones but then proceeds to lose to Glen Johnson. Hopkins picks him knowing he can win which he does while avoiding Chad Dawson
7) Kelly Pavlik: Hopkins picks him for obvious reason. Pavlik is a one-dimensional fighter and Hopkins knew he would beat. Yet he is more famous than Hopkins so clearly Hopkins is riding that boat just like he did with Tito and Oscar.
8) Roy Jones): Need I even say anything about this. Roy was done in 2004. Why did Hopkins refuse the biggest payday of his career in 2001, 2002 and 2003 to fight Jones? Duh!!
9)Enrique Ornalas: Who the phuck is this guy? Jeez!
10) Calzaghe: The only reason Hopkins fought him was because he figured Calzaghe can't punch and he is white. A typical notion that black people have about white fighters (that they are just white-hype) and Hopkins said so himself but lost anyway.
11) Pascal: Again, look at Pascal's record. Even his win against Chad was based on a cut. Chad was going to stop him. Hopkins knew that he could beat this guy and is the only reason he fought him.

12) Chad Dawson: This is the only credible guy Hopkins is fighting (he avoided him like the plague for 4 years) and now the idiot thinks he is a PPV star. If Hopkins beats Dawson (assuming Golden Boy does not pay him to take a fall) then yes we can say he's beaten someone his size and credible.

Other than that, Hopkins is an ex-con thug and we all know what happens in prison. A guy like Hopkins used to **** young men that got incarcerated and I can bet you he probably ****d 1 a week. That's what people like him do in prison so 5 years he probably ****d more than 200 young men.

Hopkins is a joke, a racist, an imbecile and a bottom feeder who knows how to selectively pick his opponents and now the media (I am talking about you Jake) is trying to tell us that he is a legend. I challenge you to name on fighter on Hopkins record before he fought Trinidad who is a Hall of Famer and you can't name a single one!!!

Do us a favor and research your writings before you come here post rubbish like this about an ex con rapist like Bernard Hopkins. The only thing you should talk about is his athleticism when considering his AGE. That's all there is to that fake.

You do know Hopkins spent years trying to get a rematch with Jones right? Roy only fought him once he ran out of options.

[Mzembe]

That is not true. I attached a link to a video Roy and Hopkins discussing a possible fight with Hopkins completely refusing to budge on his demand of a 50-50 split based on his win over Tito.
Roy just laughed at him and said that BHop thinks he is worth more because of his win over Tito for which he got paid $1.5 million.
Fighting Roy would have gotten him at least $4 million even with 60-40 split in Roy's favor. BHop did not want Roy. He only picks fighters he knows he can beat.

Don't tell me it's about money because BHop was looking for money and was always complaining about being under paid!!! This was his chance to make real money!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJbOw_5DPiE&feature=related

[ИATAS]

Here we go:-
Before Hopkins fought Trinidad, he was a virtual unknown ex-con with a dubious record of guys people have NEVER heard of. Let's analyze his record since then:

Hopkins fought everyone there was to fight at MW, was the first person to unify the division since Hagler and had a record breaking 20 title defenses. He fought all of the #1 challengers and all of his mandatory.

1) Tito Trinidad: A Welter Weight who went up to 160Ibs to fight B-Hop and obviously lost

Trinidad did not go up to 160 to fight hopkins, if you knew your history you would know Trinidad was a MW title holder at the time Hopkins beat him, thus unifying all the belts. Trinidad was also a 7-1 favorite to beat hopkins and undefeated at 40-0. He previously destroy Joppy in 5 rounds, something hopkins was not able to do (he won by decision).

2) After that Hopkins fights more unknowns for 3 years (ducking Roy Jones all along) until ...

Jones wasn't a middleweight at the time and the fact is both are to blame for that fight not happening. If hopkins really wanted the fight, he could have taken a lesser cut. If jones really wanted the fight, he could have made it 50/50. Bottom line is neither guy bent over backwards to make the fight happen.

3) Oscar De La Hoya: Another WW (who started his career at 130Ibs). Did anyone really think Oscar could win?
After that, Hopkins thinks he is the best ever when we all know he is at this point famous for beating famous names in Tito and Oscar

Oscar didn't look good at 160 against Sturm, so Hopkins doesn't get a ton of credit for this fight. But it was his money fight. Oscar challenged Hopkins, remember that. Do you think Oscar is Mayweather's best win? Or Pacquiao's best win? Absolutely not but in all three cases they were the biggest money fights they ever got in their careers. You would have to be an absolute fool to turn down a shot at Oscar. You fight him, you become a star and you get paid. Smart business move.

4) Jermain Taylor: Hopkins loses twice to Jermain who is now considered a shot fighter and not HOF worthy.

Taylor was a good fighter at that time and lets not forget those two controversial losses came at a time when hopkins was 40 years old and after 20 title defenses. No shame in that at all, especially considering many people had hopkins winning at least one of those fights if not both.

5) Winky Wright: Another small fighter that Hopkins selectively chooses to enhance his record since Winky at that time was considered unbeatable.

Winky was a pound 4 pound fighter at the time. They had history as they were close to fighting at the time Hopkins fought Taylor. If hopkins would have beat Taylor, Winky and Hopkins would have fought, but of course we know what happened. After hopkins dominated Tarver, there weren't many options available. Being that they had the history and that Winky wanted the fight, it was made.

6) Tarver: A guy who will be recognized for only one thing, his KO of Roy Jones but then proceeds to lose to Glen Johnson. Hopkins picks him knowing he can win which he does

lol Tarver was THE MAN at 175 at the time. He beat the man who beat the man etc. He was a pound 4 pound fighter and recognized as the best light heavyweight champ in the world. For hopkins to move up in weight, from 160 to 175 at the age of 41 coming off of two losses, and challenge the top guy was pretty amazing. And he completely dominated Tarver like no one had ever done in his career. Not Jones, not Johnson not anyone. the very fact you don't give hopkins any credit for such an accomplishment pretty much shows you're just hatin on hopkins.

while avoiding Chad Dawson

And who the hell was Dawson at the time? In 2006 Dawson was fighting guys like Jason Naugler & Ian Gardner.

7) Kelly Pavlik: Hopkins picks him for obvious reason.

Coming off a loss to Calzaghe at age 43, Hopkins challenged the undefeated Kelly Pavlik, who Joe Calzaghe himself ducked in order to fight a shot roy jones. That's why Hopkins took the fight. Pavlik was a 4-1 favorite and a lot of people actually thought not only would hopkins lose, he would get knocked out for the first time in his career. Again, for a 43 year old man to take out an undefeated 26 year old pound 4 pound fighter is remarkable.

8) Roy Jones): Need I even say anything about this.

it was his "revenge" fight, nothing more nothing less. Meant nothing.

9)Enrique Ornalas: Who the phuck is this guy? Jeez!

It's called a tune up fight after not fighting for 18 months or whatever it was. You know what a tune up is right? Like Cotto fighting Michael Jennings, Pavlik fighting Gary Locket, nearly all of Calzaghe's career....

10) Calzaghe: The only reason Hopkins fought him was because he figured Calzaghe can't punch and he is white. A typical notion that black people have about white fighters (that they are just white-hype) and Hopkins said so himself but lost anyway.

The truth is revealed!

Calzaghe was what? 44-0? Again you give no credit to a 43 year old challenging yet another undefeated fighter?

11) Pascal: Again, look at Pascal's record. Even his win against Chad was based on a cut. Chad was going to stop him. Hopkins knew that he could beat this guy and is the only reason he fought him.

lol so no credit for a 46 year old man beating the #1 LHW in the world and setting a new record? You're pretty pathetic man

12) Chad Dawson: This is the only credible guy Hopkins is fighting (he avoided him like the plague for 4 years) and now the idiot thinks he is a PPV star. If Hopkins beats Dawson (assuming Golden Boy does not pay him to take a fall) then yes we can say he's beaten someone his size and credible.

So Dawson is the only credible opponent he's faced in his career?

And actually it's HBO's fault it's on PPV, not Hopkins. Both Hopkins & Dawson wanted this on regular HBO, but since the morons at HBO wasted all their money (a huge chunk went to alexander & bradley) the only way this fight can happen this year is on PPV. So you can't blame bhop for that (as much as you'd like to try).

Other than that, Hopkins is an ex-con thug

He was a troubled youth and went to prison at age 16-17 and turned his life around for the better. He's certainly accomplished more than you ever will in your lifetime and he's a great role model, especially to troubled youth that can relate to hopkins. They can look at him and see how he turned it all around for the better.

and we all know what happens in prison. A guy like Hopkins used to **** young men that got incarcerated and I can bet you he probably ****d 1 a week. That's what people like him do in prison so 5 years he probably ****d more than 200 young men.

More truth revealed! Sexual fantasies of yours being exposed. It's ok man, if you're gay, just let it out. Come out the closet bro.

I'm a joke, a racist, an imbecile and a bottom feeder who knows how jack **** about boxing

I agree with you on that 100%

[Bombs]

Hopefully, he finds all the reasons to retire in his fight against Dawson. Tired of this dirty overrated grandpa.

[djtmal]

That is not true. I attached a link to a video Roy and Hopkins discussing a possible fight with Hopkins completely refusing to budge on his demand of a 50-50 split based on his win over Tito.
Roy just laughed at him and said that BHop thinks he is worth more because of his win over Tito for which he got paid $1.5 million.
Fighting Roy would have gotten him at least $4 million even with 60-40 split in Roy's favor. BHop did not want Roy. He only picks fighters he knows he can beat.

Don't tell me it's about money because BHop was looking for money and was always complaining about being under paid!!! This was his chance to make real money!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJbOw...eature=related

its true...nobody cared about hopkins until he beat tito, and really nobody cared much about him after he beat tito...he called out jones on hbo with that 50/50 mess, jones was holding all the cards at that time, pretty much told him to shove it, and hopkins went back to fighting a who's who of nobodies until oscar bailed him out...

hopkins is the best at making low-risk/high reward fights against name fighters who are either two divisions smaller, just got finished doing a movie, or shot...

[Pin Galarga]

Money motivates and Steroids make it possible, no doubt.

[Pugilistic™]

Here are FACTS that even you can't dispute Jake but if you choose to then I challenge you to research it, after all your job as a writer is to research material before spewing them out to make sure you have your facts straight.

Here we go:-
Before Hopkins fought Trinidad, he was a virtual unknown ex-con with a dubious record of guys people have NEVER heard of. Let's analyze his record since then:
1) Tito Trinidad: A Welter Weight who went up to 160Ibs to fight B-Hop and obviously lost
2) After that Hopkins fights more unknowns for 3 years (ducking Roy Jones all along) until ...
3) Oscar De La Hoya: Another WW (who started his career at 130Ibs). Did anyone really think Oscar could win?
After that, Hopkins thinks he is the best ever when we all know he is at this point famous for beating famous names in Tito and Oscar
4) Jermain Taylor: Hopkins loses twice to Jermain who is now considered a shot fighter and not HOF worthy.
5) Winky Wright: Another small fighter that Hopkins selectively chooses to enhance his record since Winky at that time was considered unbeatable.
6) Tarver: A guy who will be recognized for only one thing, his KO of Roy Jones but then proceeds to lose to Glen Johnson. Hopkins picks him knowing he can win which he does while avoiding Chad Dawson
7) Kelly Pavlik: Hopkins picks him for obvious reason. Pavlik is a one-dimensional fighter and Hopkins knew he would beat. Yet he is more famous than Hopkins so clearly Hopkins is riding that boat just like he did with Tito and Oscar.
8) Roy Jones): Need I even say anything about this. Roy was done in 2004. Why did Hopkins refuse the biggest payday of his career in 2001, 2002 and 2003 to fight Jones? Duh!!
9)Enrique Ornalas: Who the phuck is this guy? Jeez!
10) Calzaghe: The only reason Hopkins fought him was because he figured Calzaghe can't punch and he is white. A typical notion that black people have about white fighters (that they are just white-hype) and Hopkins said so himself but lost anyway.
11) Pascal: Again, look at Pascal's record. Even his win against Chad was based on a cut. Chad was going to stop him. Hopkins knew that he could beat this guy and is the only reason he fought him.

12) Chad Dawson: This is the only credible guy Hopkins is fighting (he avoided him like the plague for 4 years) and now the idiot thinks he is a PPV star. If Hopkins beats Dawson (assuming Golden Boy does not pay him to take a fall) then yes we can say he's beaten someone his size and credible.

Other than that, Hopkins is an ex-con thug and we all know what happens in prison. A guy like Hopkins used to **** young men that got incarcerated and I can bet you he probably ****d 1 a week. That's what people like him do in prison so 5 years he probably ****d more than 200 young men.

Hopkins is a joke, a racist, an imbecile and a bottom feeder who knows how to selectively pick his opponents and now the media (I am talking about you Jake) is trying to tell us that he is a legend. I challenge you to name on fighter on Hopkins record before he fought Trinidad who is a Hall of Famer and you can't name a single one!!!

Do us a favor and research your writings before you come here post rubbish like this about an ex con rapist like Bernard Hopkins. The only thing you should talk about is his athleticism when considering his AGE. That's all there is to that fake.

Thanks Natas for breaking down that mess of a post.

[kbpoetree]

Hopkins fought everyone there was to fight at MW, was the first person to unify the division since Hagler and had a record breaking 20 title defenses. He fought all of the #1 challengers and all of his mandatory.



Trinidad did not go up to 160 to fight hopkins, if you knew your history you would know Trinidad was a MW title holder at the time Hopkins beat him, thus unifying all the belts. Trinidad was also a 7-1 favorite to beat hopkins and undefeated at 40-0. He previously destroy Joppy in 5 rounds, something hopkins was not able to do (he won by decision).



Jones wasn't a middleweight at the time and the fact is both are to blame for that fight not happening. If hopkins really wanted the fight, he could have taken a lesser cut. If jones really wanted the fight, he could have made it 50/50. Bottom line is neither guy bent over backwards to make the fight happen.



Oscar didn't look good at 160 against Sturm, so Hopkins doesn't get a ton of credit for this fight. But it was his money fight. Oscar challenged Hopkins, remember that. Do you think Oscar is Mayweather's best win? Or Pacquiao's best win? Absolutely not but in all three cases they were the biggest money fights they ever got in their careers. You would have to be an absolute fool to turn down a shot at Oscar. You fight him, you become a star and you get paid. Smart business move.




Taylor was a good fighter at that time and lets not forget those two controversial losses came at a time when hopkins was 40 years old and after 20 title defenses. No shame in that at all, especially considering many people had hopkins winning at least one of those fights if not both.




Winky was a pound 4 pound fighter at the time. They had history as they were close to fighting at the time Hopkins fought Taylor. If hopkins would have beat Taylor, Winky and Hopkins would have fought, but of course we know what happened. After hopkins dominated Tarver, there weren't many options available. Being that they had the history and that Winky wanted the fight, it was made.




lol Tarver was THE MAN at 175 at the time. He beat the man who beat the man etc. He was a pound 4 pound fighter and recognized as the best light heavyweight champ in the world. For hopkins to move up in weight, from 160 to 175 at the age of 41 coming off of two losses, and challenge the top guy was pretty amazing. And he completely dominated Tarver like no one had ever done in his career. Not Jones, not Johnson not anyone. the very fact you don't give hopkins any credit for such an accomplishment pretty much shows you're just hatin on hopkins.




And who the hell was Dawson at the time? In 2006 Dawson was fighting guys like Jason Naugler & Ian Gardner.



Coming off a loss to Calzaghe at age 43, Hopkins challenged the undefeated Kelly Pavlik, who Joe Calzaghe himself ducked in order to fight a shot roy jones. That's why Hopkins took the fight. Pavlik was a 4-1 favorite and a lot of people actually thought not only would hopkins lose, he would get knocked out for the first time in his career. Again, for a 43 year old man to take out an undefeated 26 year old pound 4 pound fighter is remarkable.



it was his "revenge" fight, nothing more nothing less. Meant nothing.



It's called a tune up fight after not fighting for 18 months or whatever it was. You know what a tune up is right? Like Cotto fighting Michael Jennings, Pavlik fighting Gary Locket, nearly all of Calzaghe's career....




The truth is revealed!

Calzaghe was what? 44-0? Again you give no credit to a 43 year old challenging yet another undefeated fighter?



lol so no credit for a 46 year old man beating the #1 LHW in the world and setting a new record? You're pretty pathetic man



So Dawson is the only credible opponent he's faced in his career?

And actually it's HBO's fault it's on PPV, not Hopkins. Both Hopkins & Dawson wanted this on regular HBO, but since the morons at HBO wasted all their money (a huge chunk went to alexander & bradley) the only way this fight can happen this year is on PPV. So you can't blame bhop for that (as much as you'd like to try).



He was a troubled youth and went to prison at age 16-17 and turned his life around for the better. He's certainly accomplished more than you ever will in your lifetime and he's a great role model, especially to troubled youth that can relate to hopkins. They can look at him and see how he turned it all around for the better.



More truth revealed! Sexual fantasies of yours being exposed. It's ok man, if you're gay, just let it out. Come out the closet bro.



I agree with you on that 100%

LMAO...ouch this one had to hurt him...and i agree with u fully...not to mention the only people whom had Calzaghe winnen that fight were Calzaghe fans..and two judges one of whom wich is known for horrible judging wich basicly means known for taken money to score "certain ways"