The world changes, but Hopkins remains the same

By Paul Upham: It has been said that the world was changed forever after last week’s terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. For those people who were in New York during the attack, the feeling of terror and helplessness will linger for many years to come.
The world may be a very different place now, but the mood of Bernard Hopkins has not changed. The WBC and IBF middleweight champion feels compassion for those who lost loved ones in the tragedy, but he is preparing for his own war at Madison Square Garden on September 29. A war he declares that he will win.

“My tone is going to be like it has always been. Mentally and physically I am prepared to do what I said I was going to do three or four weeks ago,” said Hopkins. “I warn him that he better be in the same frame of mind that I’m going to be in because I’m going for blood man.

“I have no control over what happened around the world. I am remorseful for people who lost loved ones, but I know that I have a war that I have to take care which is a personal war that I have to deal with for me and my family and my struggles.”

Hopkins, 39-2-1-1 (28), and his team drove out of New York after the horrendous attack and the long reigning middleweight champion visited his family in Delaware before setting up camp in downtown Philadelphia, while WBA champion Felix Trinidad, 40-0 (33), was stuck in New York with the airports closed.

Only one win away from tying Carlos Monzon’s record of 14 middleweight world title defences, Hopkins believes that determination and hard work will take him to the undisputed middleweight championship crown. A delay in the scheduling of this fight is not going to stop Hopkins from achieving his goal.

“It has always been a delay in my career. My success leading up to this point has been a struggle and has been a delay,” said Hopkins.

“I will not have any love for Trinidad. I put Trinidad in the same bag as America putting the terrorists that bombed the World Trade Center. That’s the level of thinking I’ve got to have. That’s the level of play I’ve got to have. I don’t have no sympathy because of what happened. I have no control over that.

“I’m not reluctant to go at him and do what I have to do to seek and destroy and show that I am angry because they never give me respect. The world of boxing never gave me respect and this is my opportunity to go in and kick some ass and to show that I have been that diamond in the rough for so many years. It’s unfortunate that it took you all this long to see the true talents of Bernard Hopkins. The better people I fight, the better I’ll be.”

While Felix Trinidad has expressed a desire to face Roy Jones at super-middleweight should he win, Hopkins is looking at another super-fight for himself.

“Bernard Hopkins’ plan is not running after Roy Jones Jr,” said Hopkins.

“Roy Jones Jr is going to have to prove that he deserves to fight me. He is going to have to fight someone. He is not going to go to heavyweight, I think he has dangled that carrot in front of your faces for two or three years, so I don’t think that is going to happen.

“I think the fight out there for Bernard Hopkins at this stage of my career, I am an old man, I can’t do this I can’t do that so I want to play into that. Come on Oscar De La Hoya. Come on Oscar De La Hoya, you deserve to have a shot because I thought you got robbed. I thought Trinidad got beaten by Oscar De La Hoya. Oscar De La Hoya boxed his brains out, even though he gave two or three rounds away.”

Hopkins is prepared to face De La Hoya in the “Golden Boy’s” hometown of Los Angeles in a fight that he sees as a huge pay-per-view attraction.

“I would like to give the man who beat the man an opportunity because he said he wanted to win six belts in six weight divisions. Oscar De La Hoya-Bernard Hopkins, we can do that at the Staples Center in a Latin-Mexican community,” said Hopkins.

“That is bigger than Roy Jones Jr. Oscar De La Hoya does great on pay-per-view. That’s my second fight after the Trinidad fight, Roy Jones Jr is not on my radar screen.”

One of the most outgoing and confident individuals in the sport, Hopkins’ determination is evident and it is hard to imagine him ever being intimidated in any way.

“In the environment of boxing, you cannot afford to be a lamb around a bunch of wolves. Weakness is always being magnified to see if there is weakness there and I have been taught that from day one through my struggles and in my personal struggles in my life,” said Hopkins.

“Nobody’s giving me anything in this boxing world. They are not giving me this tournament because I’ve been a good boy. I fought to get here.”


Paul Upham
Contributing Editor