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April 1999
Each month we bring you a selection of articles from the current and past issues of BOXING MONTHLY. To buy the magazine, see our subscription or back issues pages, or use our world distribution map to find a news-stand copy. Why not use our Interactive Forum to express your own boxing comments and opinions!
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MR. MALCONTENT
Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins has re-established himself as the world's leading middleweight, but he is attracting more attention for his criticism of the way the sport is run. STEVE FARHOOD reports |
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TOP-CASH: Hopkins's best payday from current promoters, America
Presents, was only $250,000 for beating Brown
- Get Big Pic Bernard Hopkins's emphatic rematch victory over mandatory challenger Robert Allen,
which was reported in last month's issue of Boxing Monthly, opened more ears than eyes.
After re-establishing his status as the best middleweight in the world, "The
Executioner" launched a lengthy tirade that will be remembered long after the
seventh-round TKO fades from memory. During a post-fight interview conducted by Showtime's Jim Gray, Hopkins spoke faster
than he had punched. He addressed a variety of boxing's ills and referred to his purse of
$225,000 as "a disgrace". Hopkins occasionally rambled, and his speech drew some
quizzical looks. But just because he's paranoid doesn't mean someone isn't sneaking up on
him. "When you speak with sincerity," Hopkins told me during a lively and
passionate 90-minute interview, "you become a cancer to those who want you to be
ignorant. You're considered a threat. When businessmen feel they have no leverage to hold
over your head like a carrot, when the control is not there, they become not just
intimidated, but they instil a form of mental slavery. If I should continue to ask the
questions I still have, I'm told I should concentrate on hitting the heavybag." It
was all enough to make me want to stand up and shout, "U-N-I-O-N!" Hopkins
understands that as long as he's a world champion, he'll have a forum. "You win,
you're a hero, you lose, you're a zero," he said. At age 34, he's going to talk while
people are still listening. Two weeks before the Allen fight, Hopkins broke camp and travelled to New York City to
address a committee of state attorneys general that is examining boxing. During his
presentation, he called for further regulation, including life insurance for all fighters.
At one point, he told the assemblage that U.S. fighters have been issued mandatory
identification cards not to prevent them from getting KO'd in Maryland on Wednesday and
fighting in Mississippi on Thursday, but rather so the government can monitor their
taxable income. "I had everyone clapping with that one," he reported. While Hopkins happily embraces the role of poster boy for the downtrodden boxer, much
of his dissatisfaction stems from his own financial situation. During the early stages of
his title reign, which began in April 1995, he was bound to a contract with promoter Butch
Lewis. The deal limited his earnings potential, and when he sued, the courts ruled in his
favour, largely based on his take from his 1993 middleweight title fight vs. Roy Jones.
(HBO paid $1.4 million for the bout, and Hopkins, who had every reason to expect parity,
received only $150,000.) But in his mind, things haven't improved all that much. "There's something wrong," he said, "when Roy Jones makes three or four
million [dollars] to fight a guy like Richard Frazier and I get $225,000 to fight a
mandatory against the fighter [Allen] deemed the most dangerous in the IBF ratings." The highest purse of Hopkins's career came in the first Allen fight. Don King won the
purse bid, and according to the standard percentages, the champion was paid $560,000, or
approximately 150% more than he earned for the mandated rematch. Hopkins, who is
self-managed, currently has a promotional contract with America Presents that expires on
30 June. His highest purse with America Presents, he said, was $250,000 for his defence
against Simon Brown in January '98. When I asked Hopkins if he'd consider signing with King, who promotes world
middleweight champions William Joppy and Hassine Cherifi, his answer surprised me.
"I'm 6-0 against King," he said. "Two fights with Allen [actually, the
first Allen fight was a no-contest], two with Segundo Mercado, and Steve Frank and Joe
Lipsey. Without King paying me so he could try and get me and get the title, I wouldn't be
living in [a home in] Delaware. I'd still be in North Philadelphia. "There are a lot of wannabe Dons out there, and they're not all of colour. I have
to go to the highest bidder. I'm not 24 years old. At 34, I gotta be protected. I need
someone, some network, who's gonna invest in Bernard Hopkins, and not take from me. When I
go into negotiations, I'm gonna need 20 lawyers." In July, Hopkins and his wife Jeanette are expecting their first child, and that has
altered his perspective. "The baby is on the way and it's gonna change my life," he said. "Now
I'm fighting for college funds. It's not about Bernard Hopkins anymore. Everything I do
now is for him or her. If you don't like me, fine. But pay me. You gotta win in the
bankbook. To get a moral victory and keep the belt doesn't keep the lights on and feed the
baby." If Hopkins's case were presented in court, the Allen rematch would be telling evidence
that he deserves the type of purses today's pound-for-pound leaders command. Given what
had happened the first time around, many insiders were predicting an upset. But the
champion boxed strongly, proving physically and psychologically superior. The performance,
Hopkins's ninth defence, all but erased the freakish first fight from his ledger. Recent bouts like Holyfield-Tyson II and Norris-Santana I and II have provided us with
some "did-you-see-that?" finishes, but Hopkins-Allen I, fought last August in
Las Vegas, deserves its own chapter in The Book Of Boxing's Bizarre. Inactive for seven months, Hopkins needed a few rounds to find his timing, and Allen, a
quick southpaw, proved an awkward and chippy foe; in round two, for instance, he threw the
champion to the floor and seconds later applied a headlock during a clinch. Still, what
transpired in the final seconds of round four was borderline unbelievable. With the
fighters wrestling in a clinch, referee Mills Lane tried mightily to separate them. As the
third man pushed hard, Hopkins lost his balance and fell through the ropes and onto the
arena floor. While flying through mid-air, his left ankle hit the ring apron. "I
could hear the crack when he went down," said Lane. Hopkins was unable to continue,
and the bout was declared a no-contest. "It was diagnosed as a badly strained ligament," explained Hopkins. "The
ankle swelled to twice its size, and I sent the pictures to the IBF because I didn't
appreciate that they had made Allen the interim champion [after Allen KO'd Abdula Ramadan
one month after the Hopkins fight]." As if the circumstances of the first fight weren't enough to pump Hopkins into a
frenzy, Allen exacerbated the emotions by calling the champion "an old man" and
suggesting he had quit. ("He could've gotten up and fought.") As a former
Marine, Allen insinuated that he was tougher than Hopkins, and that would be the
difference in the rematch. "I had to let Allen know everything that had happened in
the first fight had been unfortunate," said Hopkins. "I was more pumped up than
in all my previous 37 fights. During the seven rounds, his face changed into the faces of
all the people I wanted to physically abuse. He didn't even look like Robert Allen. It
wasn't that I had such animosity toward him. I had to make Allen the villain, and I
did." According to Hopkins, the fight was won at the final press conference, when he
announced that if he lost, he'd donate $25,000 to the charity of Allen's choice.
"Allen didn't respond," he said. "There were about 50 people in the room,
and everyone got real quiet when I said that. When I saw the response, I knew the fight
was over." Allen wasn't particularly responsive in the ring, either. While both champion and
challenger frequently fouled in a bout that was far dirtier than the original, only
Hopkins remembered to fight, too. After he dropped Allen with a counter right 40 seconds
into the second round, the challenger seemed to lose focus and heart. In the fourth, Allen
collapsed from a subtle right to the groin ("That punch wouldn't have hurt a
kid," said Hopkins), and later in the round, a punch to the thigh sent him down
again. Referee Rudy Battle penalised Hopkins a point after the second infraction. "None of it was intentional," Hopkins said after I told him I had presumed
the opposite. "My whole thing," he said, "was if he wanted to play rough,
we'd play rough. As for him flopping down all the time, he was a poor actor." Hopkins scored his second knockdown in the sixth, again from a straight right, and in
the seventh, a few well-placed hooks to the body brought Battle's intervention, even as
Allen was rearing back to throw a punch. Pepe Correa, Allen's trainer, protested the
stoppage, but Allen did not. "You know," said Hopkins, "[the local commission] tried to put a
stipulation in the contract at the last-minute. Because the first fight was so
foul-filled, they wanted to say that if the rematch should end in a no-contest or
no-decision because of a foul, the purse would be held. Mike Tyson bit an ear off and had
to pay $3 million, but not his whole purse! I wouldn't sign the stipulation. Then I get in
the ring and this guy is falling all over the place, trying to get me disqualified. You
put two and two together and it makes you say, 'hmmm . . .' The people out of the ring
want the title more than the fighters I'm matched against." By the time the TV microphones arrived, Hopkins had a lot-maybe too much-to say. But
the best line came during Showtime analyst Ferdie Pacheco's talk with the loser. Allen:
"He hit me in the balls. You ever been hit in the balls?" Pacheco: "Oh,
yeah, by two wives." So is Hopkins, 35-2-1 (27 KOs) with one no-contest, destined to remain boxing's most
vocal malcontent? Or can he find peace, happiness, and seven-figure purses, not
necessarily in that order? An examination of his title reign reveals one inescapable conclusion: Just because he's
the best middleweight in the world doesn't mean he's one of the best fighters. Hopkins is
highly skilled, and he possesses chin, heart, and power in abundance. But in the last half
of the '90s, the middleweight division has ranked somewhere been dreadful and
embarrassing. As a result, Hopkins is nowhere to be found in the various pound-for-pound
Top 10s. Since Hopkins won the vacant IBF title in '95, there have been seven different WBA and
WBC champions. Most have been forgettable (Julio Cesar Green, Shinji Takehara, Quincy
Taylor), and with the arguable exception of current WBA titlist William Joppy, not one has
enjoyed a distinguished reign. Moreover, if Hopkins were cast as a leading man, his
title-fight victims would be lucky to make it onto the set as extras. Simon Brown and John
David Jackson were well past their primes; Steve Frank lasted all of 24 seconds and
suffered a KO to an unrated fighter in his next bout; Glen Johnson was undefeated, but
also untested; and Bo James was nothing more than a tough clubfighter. Only southpaw Joe
Lipsey, who was 25-0, was a stern test. It's not as if Hopkins has ducked anybody. Hell, he even went to Ecuador to fight
Mercado and was lucky to escape with his life, much less a draw. There just hasn't been
anybody to fight. Even a partial unification bout against the King-promoted Joppy, which
has been talked about for years, wouldn't mean much. From the fighters' perspectives, the
purses certainly wouldn't justify the risk. "Joppy?" said Hopkins. "I don't think so. Not unless Don King is
involved, and I'm not his fighter." As for the immediate future, there's an abundance of talent at junior middleweight,
including Fernando Vargas and David Reid. But those young stars are likely to wait for the
welterweight wonders (Oscar De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad, Ike Quartey) to move up before
moving up themselves. It's anticipated that in the wake of Allen's loss, the newly placed
IBF mandatory challenger will be powerpuncher Antwun Echols, exactly the type of
high-risk, low-reward fight Hopkins doesn't need. I asked Hopkins whom he'd like to fight.
He mentioned unifying the middleweight title, challenging IBF light-heavyweight champion
Reggie Johnson, meeting Roy Jones in a rematch at a catchweight, defending against Reid
and the other name junior middles and welters, and squaring off against the
forever-marketable Vinny Pazienza. There are many directions to consider, but few avenues
open for travel. "I'm gonna be plugging away and I'll do what I have to do," Hopkins said.
"I thought knocking out Robert Allen impressively would open doors, but I thought the
same thing after I knocked out Lipsey [in 1996]. There's prejudice out there." Maybe so. But for now, at least, it appears Hopkins is destined to tilt at windmills. "I was always told I'd never be anything," he said, "and from ages 17 to
25, I believed it and lived that way. But eventually, my boxing skills made people respect
me. I've already been blessed; my life is a storybook. "But I'll tell you this: I'm a fighter. I'm still a fighter." |
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