TIME FOR HOPKINS TO VACATE SPOTLIGHT
Kovalev Has Hopkins In First Round
San Francisco, CA– Having witnessed the militant movement of the Black Panther Party evolve in the S.F. Bay Area back in the day gives me a unique perspective on African American Americana per se. Blacks have their heros, the Mexicans blindly followed Julio Cesar Chavez, Manny Pacquiao is the Filipino God, Sweden did the same with heavyweight champ Ingemar Johannesson, you get the picture.
NEVER CAUGHT ON WITH ANYBODY PERIOD
What I find unique about the support of the legendary Hopkins by African Americans is that there really is none as last night’s fight, a stones throw from Philly in Atlantic City drew less than 7,000 paid. Nobody looks forward to watching Hopkins fight (sic), nor does he have a the fan base one would associate with a fighter whose been a professional since the late 1980s. After beating Tito Trinidad in 2001, Hopkins became a household name in boxing even though he had won the middleweight title in 1994.
LAST B-HOP KO WAS OSCAR IN 2004
Beating Oscar De La Hoya was another mega-match Bernard was able to prevail by size alone. All of Hopkins’ superfights have featured the “superstar” opponent. And while Hopkins beat these guys, sometimes beating the man doesn’t make you the man with the fans. The real significant win on Hopkins post middleweight was his ruining Kelly “The Thirsty One” Pavlik in 2008 and his besting Jean Pascal in 2011.
HOPKINS NEVER “TRIED” TO WIN
The dismal performance against Sergey Kovalev surprised some as they really expected Bernard to win, something to me that bordered on delusional. Kovalev is the hardest puncher the near 50-year old Philadeplphian had ever faced and it showed from the first bell. I was cringing watching the unbeaten Russian beat on the future Hall of Famer who was never in the fight after the ref’s instructions.
B-HOP AT 50 “AN INDICTMENT OF BOXING”
The one-sided drubbing will hopefully close the book on Bernard Hopkins the boxer. You can admire him for his accomplishments, but this is 2014, he’s 50 years of age, and most importantly, boxing is a young mans game. Now I don’t want to kick ‘Nard in the teeth but he has only delivered for himself and a minuscule amount of fans per capita. In closing, the one-liners at times were great, racist at others, while his performances have been less than palatable for most.
DAYS OF B-HOP A REAL MILITANT WAS LONG AGO
There was a time when Bernard stood up and balked loudly as the late Philly based promoter Butch Lewis was robbing him blind in the early days. That sort of launched Hopkins the ex-con into a his militant role. But the act has grown old as have the luche libre pro wrestling masks. Believe me when I say, with Bernard Hopkins enough is the appropriate word.
Pedro Fernandez