No conflict of interest commentating Golden Boy show, says Hopkins
Washington, D.C. — Bernard Hopkins doesn’t see any conflict of interest with him serving as an HBO commentator for Saturday’s card at the DC Armory in Washington, D.C., even though he is a partner in Golden Boy Promotions, the lead promoter of the show.
Hopkins said that play-by-play announcer Jim Lampley plans on explaining Hopkins’ relationship with Golden Boy and his dual responsibilities at the outset of the telecast, which features heavyweight Luis Ortiz and Tony Thompson in the main event and Sadam Ali and Jessie Vargas for a vacant WBO welterweight title.
“Even though I’m partners in the company, they have a thing called waving the confidentiality,” Hopkins said on Thursday following a press conference to hype Saturday’s show. “And once they do wave, Jim Lampley [will inform the] audience, letting them know like he skillfully does that I am partners with Golden Boy and I am working as an expert color commentator with HBO. Once he makes that clear to TV land, that automatically puts me at the mercy of my credibility. So my credibility is on the line.”
Hopkins said he will be handling more telecasts this year, sharing duties with Roy Jones Jr., who remains the network’s lead color commentator. Hopkins is also a contributor to HBO’s “The Fight Game with Jim Lampley.”
“I’m going to do a lot of fights this year, based on last year’s internship,” Hopkins said.