Bernard Hopkins
Bernard Hopkins
Bernard Humphrey Hopkins Jr.is an American professional boxer who has held multiple world titles at middleweight and light heavyweight. He reigned as middleweight champion from 1994 to 2005, unifying and successfully defending his title a record 20 times. He won the IBF title in 1994, later adding the WBC, WBAand The Ring magazine titles in 2001, and became the first man to simultaneously hold world titles by all four major sanctioning bodies when he won the WBO title in 2004;...
ProfessionBoxer
Date of Birth15 January 1965
CityPhiladelphia, PA
The middleweight division is one of the most exciting divisions in the sport. Fighters can punch like heavyweights and have the speed of the lightweights. You have the best of world worlds.
The powers that be don’t want athletes or boxers to become as smart as they are.
I'd rather be an adviser. I don't wanna become a trainer because I think with the knowledge and the business sense that I've accomplished through my career and have credibility, why would I reduce myself down to being in a gym with a bunch of training which is not a bad thing to give advice, but I can do that with a suit and tie on and also be there when the cheques are written. I don't wanna be there when the cheques are handed down from 3 or 4 people's hands and then it hits mine as a trainer because 9/10 times, deductions have come out of that.
The NBA has a voice that's why they have a lockout. The NFL has a voice that's why they had a lockout. Boxing is the only sport that's individually represented the individual people - Managers, Promoters and Boxers.
I was told I would be back in 90 days. If I listened to people, I would be back where I came from - the penitentiary.
I wouldn't wanna fight me, because I know it wouldn't be a good outcome for both.
If I'm in a situation where Duane Ford is one of the judges, I have to pick it up.
This fight isn't about boxing, it's something deeper than that.
I was made to be where I'm at. I just had to go through some challenges, so that I can educate others later.
I don't know what being a 48-year-old feels like. There are a lot of 48 year olds that aren't in good shape. The pharmacy is making a killing off of them.
This is a great position to be in. I don't really believe there is any fighter, in any decade that can be in my position of luxury that I've been in for many years.
I function better when my back is to the wall.
Smokey Wilson was like my Gandhi. If I had run into somebody else in prison, with a different set of values, the world might have never known one of the greatest boxing talents ever to come out of Philadelphia.
I must destroy everybody that comes in front of me. I must execute them and I must do it in grand style. I must slay Robert Allen like I must slay De La Hoya or anybody else that steps in that ring.