Its fight week for Bernard Hopkins-Sergey Kovalev, in what is the biggest fight left on the calendar. It’s the ageless wonder Bernard Hopkins, looking once again to unify titles against what is said to be his biggest test in his career, again in Sergey Kovalev.
Hopkins, ever the great tactician and technician has also always been a great salesman. Whether it was stomping a Puerto Rican flag in Puerto Rico against Felix Trinidad or telling Joe Calzaghe, he would never lose to a white boy, Hopkins once again made noise in the media.
Hopkins at age 49, is the oldest man to win and unify titles in boxing told ESPN.com’s Brian Campbell that race is the reason that his epic run of winning titles months shy of his 50th birthday is not a much bigger story in the main stream media.
“[It’s] because I’m black,” Hopkins told ESPN.com. “What do you think if my name was Augustine, Herzenstein, Stern, Cappello, or Marciano? Don’t you understand the conflict of interest?”
“If I was any of those names of any other background, I’d be on every billboard and every milk carton and every place to be. If we’re talking American dream, here’s a guy who almost threw his life away and he took this great country’s great attributes and used it to do for self, work hard and be a law abiding citizen. I’ve done that for 26 years.”
On one hand this could be a ploy to get more attention to his fight and on the other hand, while I don’t think race is the issue more so of the niche effect boxing has in the grand scheme of sports, especially to a network like ESPN.
Yes, ESPN does give us Friday Night Fights but when it comes to the grand commercial coverage, if it isn’t Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao, you won’t see shows like First Take, Around The Horn, or Pardon the Interruption spend any time on boxing. Had Mayweather or Pacquiao been making this run, the coverage would be grand.
Of course the boxing world with its corruption, multiple champions, epic mismatches, and just plain out bullsh*t that surrounds the sport, has played a major role in that, more than race.
But ESPN and other major outlets have conditioned the casual fan that if it’s not either one of them, then it’s not a story and again boxing bears the major blame for that. In a world where there’s no policing as well, it’s also good to note that while Hopkins does take very good care of his body (which we all think), he has never submitted to testing outside of the normal commission testing. In retrospect with the boxing world full of strength and condition coaches that have already proven that they can beat such tests, it’s a point that shouldn’t be muted. When all parties involved were questioned about the testing, neither wanted to go above and beyond to quiet some of the naysayers regarding Bernard Hopkins and his second to none run nearing 50.
With that being said given the benefit of the doubt which is all we can do, Hopkins is an example of the American Dream, from being in prison to quite possibly being the best fighter of this generation. Should he happen to again defy odds and defeat one of the most feared punchers in boxing who is 18 years his junior, the accomplishment should not be overlooked. And if he goes on to face and defeat Adonis Stevenson to become the undisputed champion at 175 lbs., well his place in history is pegged that much higher.
But is it about race? No, not when the most covered boxer in the world is an African American. The sport that gave Hopkins his American dream is the same sport that failed him. Hopkins is the last of a dying breed, taking on opposition in their prime. When guys were retired before they turned 40, Hopkins was beating Kelly Pavlik, Jean Pascal, ‘Winky’ Wright, Antonio Tarver, Tavoris Cloud, and fighting guys like Jermain Taylor, Chad Dawson, and Joe Calzaghe.
He told ESPN that beating Kovalev won’t surpass beating Kelly Pavlik in 2008 when he was a much bigger underdog.
“That was the greatest moment of my life because it was undeniably white against black,” Hopkins said. “The American story against the thug, even though he changed his life. The convicted felon. So it was me representing an entity that had changed in spite of what they say you should be able to do. But once you do it, they really don’t want you to do it.
“And so I exposed it and I beat him easily after being a 6-to-1 underdog. And, matter of fact, it even went further. I ruined his life. I ruined his career.”
In today’s game, the belt means less and unifications are less and less, but Hopkins from his epic 20 middleweight championship defenses to now 2 divisions north, wants to be undisputed at 175 lbs.
So while the connotation of Hopkins rant was about race, boxing is to blame for his run not being bigger than he is. Win or lose, Hopkins is a first ballot hall of famer and one of the best of this era. But for a guy that continues to box at 49 and has made plenty of money, I’m not sure that satisfies him and that’s why he fights Saturday, to once again defy odds of people telling him he can’t.
