Why does everyone try to rewrite history when it comes to Hopkins?

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Is Thread starter an idiot or just trolling?

Hopkins and RJJ were both nororious in not letting the bout happen. Moreso RJJ because he wanted a 60-40 Split.

As for Toney ? Toney was at CW then HW..

What's the matter with this forum. Bunch of idiots.

Roy more than deserved a 60/40 split.

[Brother Jay]

I agree about what you said regarding Hopkins. But George Foreman? Are you kidding me? You think his early career record was "dismal" like Hopkins?

By his 28th birthday, George Foreman had already won and lost the World Heavyweight Championship and had faced Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier (twice), Ken Norton, Ron Lyle, George Chuvalo and Jimmy Young. Foreman faced the top heavyweights of the early and mid 70s. Then he quit the ring for 10 years. If he'd never come back, he'd still be in the Hall of Fame.

Don't compare him to Hopkins. It took Hopkins three tries just to win the Vacant IBF Middleweight belt.

Dude, I was talking about Foreman's career at 40. There was nothing for him to lose. i never referenced George's career prior to his career at 40.

Nice to see that you are actually a fan, but that was completely unnecessary.

[Brother Jay]

neither hopkins nor jones bent over backwards to make that fight happen (when it mattered). It's like floyd vs pac on a smaller scale - neither guy is doing everything it takes to make it happen. So the blame goes on both, imo.

hopkins legacy is cemented. Regardless if he lost to roy or whatever else happened, he's a first ballot hall of famer, etc.

That's crap.

Like Body Movin's avatar says:

"60/40 I kick your ass!"

That was Roy Jones telling that to Hopkins. Hopkins was sitting right next to him when he said it right on an HBO telecast.

Hopkins has never been worth a 50/50 fight with Jones after 1993. Well, maybe after Jones was shot. That's why the fight happened.

Hopkins has NEVER been a star quality fighter. He's dirty. He's boring, and the first 12 years of his career were even more boring than his style!

Like I said, he made play for legacy when he finally grew the balls to step up his level of competition when he faced Jermain Taylor. Before then, his legacy would have been predicated on the Trinidad and DLH fights.

[Brother Jay]

Roy more than deserved a 60/40 split.

Was that fact even in contention?

When you compare what Jones had done throughout his career, who he faced and where he was ranked, there was absolutely no comparison.

You are absolutely correct Dirk.

There are always going to be idiots that think they understand the sport, but they are operating under palyground rules. They don't understand that the bigger draw and the more accomplished champion will always command the lion's share.

That's why this site is riddled with idiots that think Mayweather is ducking for having his own set of demands. They need to stick to MMA.

[Brother Jay]

Roy more than deserved a 60/40 split.

Was that fact even in contention?

When you compare what Jones had done throughout his career, who he faced and where he was ranked, there was absolutely no comparison.

You are absolutely correct Dirk.

There are always going to be idiots that think they understand the sport, but they are operating under playground rules. They don't understand that the bigger draw and the more accomplished champion will always command the lion's share.

That's why this site is riddled with idiots that think Mayweather is ducking for having his own set of demands. They need to stick to MMA.

[Dubblechin]

Dude, I was talking about Foreman's career at 40. There was nothing for him to lose. i never referenced George's career prior to his career at 40.

Nice to see that you are actually a fan, but that was completely unnecessary.

You said Hopkins didn't step up his competition until he was so old he had nothing left to lose, and that Foreman had done the same thing. That's what I was commenting on. Foreman fought better competition when he was younger than he did when he was old. He had plenty to lose coming back. In fact, he was considered a complete joke when he came back and everyone said he was hurting his reputation ... until he beat Cooney and warred with Holyfield.

That's why I said don't compare him to Hopkins, because, like you said, Hopkins didn't take risks until he got older. He didn't become a Hall of Fame possibility until he stepped up whe he approached 40 and took more risks.

[djtmal]

Not really. Because Roy was P4P no1. Roy was the draw. And Roy had already beat Bernard with 1 hand. So in what universe was Roy supposed to bend to fight Hopkins?

hopkins fanboys are without a doubt the most excuse ridden, delusional people on earth...

after fighting for years at the blue horizon for years to a capacity crowd of 20 people and a few stray animals, all of a sudden hopkins thinks he deserves a 50/50 fight with jones in 2001 because he beat trinidad? lol...did somebody bother to tell hopkins that trinidad was the cash cow in that middleweight tournament...

[E-Thug]

hopkins fanboys are without a doubt the most excuse ridden, delusional people on earth...

after fighting for years at the blue horizon for years to a capacity crowd of 20 people and a few stray animals, all of a sudden hopkins thinks he deserves a 50/50 fight with jones in 2001 because he beat trinidad? lol...did somebody bother to tell hopkins that trinidad was the cash cow in that middleweight tournament...

*******s and *****s say hi

[Brother Jay]

You said Hopkins didn't step up his competition until he was so old he had nothing left to lose, and that Foreman had done the same thing. That's what I was commenting on. Foreman fought better competition when he was younger than he did when he was old. He had plenty to lose coming back. In fact, he was considered a complete joke when he came back and everyone said he was hurting his reputation ... until he beat Cooney and warred with Holyfield.

That's why I said don't compare him to Hopkins, because, like you said, Hopkins didn't take risks until he got older. He didn't become a Hall of Fame possibility until he stepped up whe he approached 40 and took more risks.

I know what you were commenting on. I was happy to see your well written reply. But that wasn't the point I was making, my man. Not about Foreman anyway.

[Dubblechin]

Is Thread starter an idiot or just trolling?

Hopkins and RJJ were both nororious in not letting the bout happen. Moreso RJJ because he wanted a 60-40 Split.

As for Toney ? Toney was at CW then HW..

What's the matter with this forum. Bunch of idiots.

Bernard Hopkins called out James Toney in 2003 after Toney defeated Vasili Jirov. Hopkins wanted to move up to light heavyweight and he wanted Toney to move down from cruiserweight.

HBO offered them $4 million to fight. Toney said fine. Hopkins turned it down. So Hopkins ended up defending against William Joppy and Toney moved up to heavyweight and knocked out Holyfield.

Hopkins Insulted By HBO's Offer

Hopkins: "The Toney fight probably won't happen!"

May 08, 2003; Undisputed middleweight champ, Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins informed **********.com that talks of a potential fight against IBF cruiserweight king, James "Lights-Out" Toney have taken a sudden turn for the worse.

This comes following HBO's offer for the fight, which according to Hopkins, is between $3-4 million for both combatants to split.

Hopkins feels this offer is an insult, and a blatant slap in the face, but it doesn't surprise him one bit.

The middleweight champ and his promoter Don King feel that HBO is passing on an opportunity to drag themselves out of the mud, obviously referring to the mismatches that the "heart and soul of boxing" has been punishing us with.

Read on to see how Hopkins feels about the Toney fight, HBO's offer, and more.

Bernard Hopkins: The fight probably won't happen. When they're (HBO) offering $2-3 million for Bernard Hopkins to fight a guy 30 lbs heavier, which I think is something that the world needs to know right away. I wanted to deal with this through the public to express what they say, so everyone could be abreast on it, and so Bernard Hopkins, the fighter, won't be the grass on the ground when two elephants get to fighting. Because when two elephants fight, the only thing that gets hurt is the grass. Since I'm the grass, the powers that be are trying to go at each other's wallets, pockets or throats. I don't want to be the guy that caused the fight not to happen, so as I sit here not with Don King, listening to me doing this interview with you, I'm telling you right now that the numbers that are being given to Don King are not even in the ballpark, I could tell you right now that I'm not an ass-kisser and I'm not a gopher, but this ain't Don King's fault. I heard the phone calls, and I listened, and I've been here (Florida). Forget all the things you might hear as days go on, and I'm not saying forget like that ain't true or not true, but that's why I wanted to have an open forum, through the media and through everybody, so I won't suffer the consequences of media bashing.

GL: HBO made that offer?

BH: Yes. HBO made the offer that there's no more than $3-4 million to split up between me and Toney. My thing is this, I'm going to go back home to my wife. Our daughter got asthma and she's sick. I want to get back as quickly as possible. And again, Don is doing what he has to do and I sat here and witnessed it. I'm saying right now that it's not going to get done. Do negotiations go through this? Yes. Could it be different tomorrow? Yes. But I'm not going to go through this and continue to fly out here and cut in to Don's time. I gotta life. I got things to do, but I don't know if I could take a vacation with my wife, who desperately needs one, because it's not easy dealing with Bernard Hopkins all the time.

I'm not dealing with this ****, I want to know where I'm going, and I want to know what my summers going to be. I'm willing to make the fight. I first put the challenge out with you, you went with the story. Don loves it, he's getting many feedbacks from it. With me and Toney, you got two of the toughest guys in the sport, both guys from inner cities, James Toney pulls out guns at press conferences, could you imagine what the press conferences would be like?

GL: Based on the fact that HBO has been broadcasting so many mismatches.

BH: (cutting me off) I know where you're getting at. Is it a slap in the face? Yes, Don brought that up. I'll repeat what Don told Mark (Taffet) and all of the guys at HBO. He told them that lately, they've not been putting good fights on PPV. And this is a chance to sort of drag themselves out of the mud, by giving the fans something they should've been getting a long time ago. They have a chance to redeem themselves and this how you do that without paying a ransom.

This isn't a ransom offer or proposal Don is giving these guys. I think it's personal, Kery (Davis) says it's not to my attorney. But I don't want to be left as the grass under the two elephants fighting. I don't want to be left as a scapegoat, and have the puppets sitting back saying, 'you see, he did it again." There are puppet reporters who will still come out and write that. But Greg, I'm glad your honest. I feel that it's a slap in my face, but what do I expect? I expected this.

GL: Since the Toney fight is not looking good, have you and Don discussed the Joppy fight?

BH: We didn't even get to the Joppy fight. I wanted to move right with this (Toney) fight, but we're gonna get to the Joppy fight now, because I think that should be most important right now because that's my mandatory. I want to get that done, and if they have offered this money to fight James Toney, I could imagine what they're gonna offer to fight William Joppy. What are they gonna do? Offer me $300,000?