There we were, a group of reporters sitting at a table during the social hour phase of Bernard Hopkins’ retirement party last September in a banquet room at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
To a man, including HBO commentator Jim Lampley, no one could remember a stronger closing statement than the one Hopkins made when he moved up from middleweight to light heavyweight and defeated Antonio Tarver in dominating fashion in June 2006. Hopkins won by three scores of 118-109, and he scored a knockdown in the fifth round when Tarver’s glove touched the canvas after he was cracked with a right cross.
There were more than a few of us experts who figured Hopkins bit off more than he could chew when he decided to take on Tarver, one of the better light heavyweights in recent times.
But Hopkins won easily. Then he retired and promised he would never come back.
Prior to beating Tarver, Hopkins’ legacy was that of one of the best middleweights in history. Beating Tarver helped that legacy grow legs, and left some shaking their heads in amazement.
However, if Hopkins loses to Winky Wright on Saturday at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, he will have taken some of the luster off what could have been the most compelling exit in boxing history.
It’s seldom that an athlete gets an opportunity to leave his or her sport in such a way.
But Hopkins is not only a rare physical breed, he’s a rare psychological specimen as well. He might have something to lose, but that doesn’t scare him.
During the promotion for Saturday’s fight, Hopkins was asked why he decided not to let the victory over Tarver stand and sail off into the sunset to the applause of so many. As Hopkins does, he embarked on one of his long, drawn-out answers. But the long and not-so-short of it was, he’s too good to go.
He said that after consulting family and friends, he asked himself three things: “How do I look, how do I feel and what do I have left?”
As tempting as it was to stay retired, Hopkins simply could not do it.
“Why tease myself and leave?” Hopkins said. “Yes, for others it (the win over Tarver) was a great outing. Yes, for others it was perfect, it was the perfect ending. But I have to feel comfortable and I have to be in the position where I say to myself, five years from now when I won’t be back, three years from now when I won’t be back … I have to be able to sit back and say to myself, well into my 40s, and say that I was satisfied completely with my career to the end.”
Hopkins is 42. He believes that people should “enjoy me while you can.” That fencing technique that he does so well, moving back and forth with the greatest of ease, his demeanor calm and collected.
“Let’s face it, he’s not your usual fighter,” Hopkins’ trainer, Freddie Roach, said.
“He’s very smart. He thinks, he sets things up.”
Roach referred to Hopkins as a “throwback,” unlike Roy Jones Jr., who, Roach said, got by on his athletic abilities alone.
“Bernard Hopkins knows the art of boxing,” Roach said. “He doesn’t make mistakes.
You should watch him shadow box. His feet are always under him. He’s always on balance. His chin’s always down. He’s just very, very well-rounded. He reminds me of just an old-school fighter. Yes, he’s a rare breed, that’s for sure.”
We did recently watch Hopkins shadow box at Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood. If Walter Payton was “Sweetness,” Hopkins is “Smoothness.”
As for Saturday, let’s face it, Hopkins will be in a tough fight with Wright. But Hopkins pointed out something very interesting that perhaps some of us never thought about. He was asked if, at his age, he has to pace himself a bit more these days. On the contrary, he said. He found that moving up to light heavyweight was just what the doctor ordered. In his fight with Tarver, he said he didn’t have to hold back to make sure he had something left at the end.
“The blueprint is June 10, 2006,” Hopkins said, referring to the Tarver fight. “I came out blazing, came out boxed and fought every round … One of the reasons I’m back is because I found a new body.”
One that now sports a waist of 30 to 31 inches instead of the 28 it was when Hopkins was at middleweight.
“It feels so great that now I can step back on a gas pedal and not have to worry about, you know, I’m going to take him to deep water, I’m going to get him here and I’ll pick my spots here. I can go full blaze.”
Wright (51-3-1, 25 KOs) and his trainer, Dan Birmingham, have said that they are going to go after Hopkins and make him fight every second of every round. With his new 42-year-old body and his always strong psyche, Hopkins wants Wright to bring it on.
“If you believe what Winky says, he’s coming right after Bernard Hopkins, then trust me, you will see come July 21 that I’ll have a high (punch count),” Hopkins said.
Hopkins has always talked a lot. But he has usually backed up his talk with a victory, as his record of 47-4-1 and 32 knockouts attests. Besides, after what Hopkins did to Tarver, it’s hard not to believe everything he says.
Regardless of what happens Saturday, Hopkins should be saluted for taking a chance at reducing the magnitude of his victory over Tarver by going after one against the 35-year-old Wright.
Interestingly, according to Oscar De La Hoya, we may be watching Hopkins fight for a couple of more years. De La Hoya promotes Hopkins under the Golden Boy Promotions banner.
“With Hopkins’ dominating performance (against Tarver), and him knowing that he can still do this, and he feels young and fresh, there’s many more fights out there for him, there’s many more big events that he can be involved in,” De La Hoya said. “I think he’s really re-motivated and really looking just to stay on top for years to come.”
Hopkins will be defending his Ring Magazine belt at a catch-weight of 170 pounds, five under the light heavyweight limit. HBO pay-per-view will televise for $49.95.
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