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Dougie’s Monday mailbag

Fighters Network
16
May

HOPKINS’ COMMENTS ABOUT MCNABB

Doug,

I guess this is only a semi-boxing question. I must preface that I am not black and can't say I know much about being black. So, while I really don't understand what Bernard Hopkins even meant when he says Donovan McNabb isn't a real black person, I certainly don't think he was being nice. If I am correct, it seems like he is upset that McNabb didn't grow up poor, that he lived a privileged life. Well, Bernard is a multi-millionaire. His kids will grow up with a lot more privilege than my white, Irish-American ass did. Would he tell his own kids they are just "tan"?

It seems to me that young black men have enough to worry about without trying to figure out how they can "act black enough" to avoid having their heritage questioned by their peers. As I said, I am not black so maybe there is something to this that I'm not getting. — Drew



Regardless of what color your skin is, there’s not much to really “get” with Hopkins. As far as I’m concerned the McNabb comments was just Nard being Nard. He likes to make people uncomfortable, he likes to be mean and he loves to stir things up — especially before a fight.

You make a good point about his current bank account and how his children are growing up privileged. I’m going to play psychologist, which I really shouldn’t do — especially with Hopkins because I’ve tried it numerous times (admittedly without much success) beginning with the Puerto Rican flag tossing incident prior to the Felix Trinidad fight 10 years ago — but my guess is that Nard is not entirely comfortable with being well off and respected/revered by the industry and the establishment, at least not when he’s preparing for a fight.

Hopkins was on the outside looking in during most of his physical prime. He was a maverick at odds with the industry, his own management (Butch Lewis) and various promoters (Dan Goossen, Don King) throughout the 1990s and even into the beginning of the previous decade. Prior to King and HBO’s middleweight title unification tournament in 2001 Hopkins was constantly lobbying the generally indifferent cable networks and boxing media to give him his due, or to at least help create the opportunity for him to prove his mettle and ring genius.

Even when Hopkins was undisputed middleweight champ and on top of most P4P lists midway through the last decade he kept his competitive edge by holding onto his “me-against-the-world” mentality.

I don’t think he wants to let go of his resentment going into a potential history-making fight. I don’t think he wants to be everybody’s favorite, either. I think he wants to be the bad guy. Or maybe he thinks he needs to be at odds with the world going into a pivotal fight.

Prior to his McNabb statements it was almost like everyone was already congratulating him on becoming the oldest boxing champ in history, as if a rematch victory over Pascal was a forgone conclusion.

Most of the media thought he won the first fight and most boxing writers are picking him to win the rematch. Maybe all the media support made Hopkins uneasy. He likes proving us wrong, not making us look like we know what we’re talking about. (LOL.)

I honestly don’t think he likes being the favorite. Remember, he was a 3-to-1 underdog going into some of his most satisfying victories (vs. Trinidad, Antonio Tarver, Kelly Pavlik and, of course, the first Pascal fight).

Anyway, that’s my two cents on why B-Hop had to lash out at someone, make himself into a bad guy and create controversy. It’s pure conjecture.

Maybe he just felt like being a d__k that day.

PBF, SSM & B-HOP

In regards to PBF, man f*ck him until he decides to fight, he is irrelevant.

In regards to Mosley. He has done pretty well for himself in building his bank account after the divorce. He probably made his two career best paydays against PBF/Pac. Yeah, his girlfriend is incredible, if she stays with him after his (I hate to say this and you have never heard me say it before) cowardice display, he will be just fine! Yes, he better have a prenup, I got one and I'm not in his tax bracket!

In regards to the fight, it was shocking to see him act that way, you saw utter fear on his face. That is why he kept touching gloves twenty times a round. Did you notice the huge manhug at the start of the twelfth? Don't think that was not a mercy hug begging Pac not to KTFO. Remember Teddy Atlas' silent contract…

Lastly, once again, I really don't like the fact that B-HOP trained himself for the biggest fight of his career at this stage of his life. Even though, as you know, I think he won the first fight and would pull off the rematch because Pascal won't get smarter and B-HOP won't go down and will dominate with ring intelligence. I don't like his chances as much without having a proper camp. It cannot increase his chances of success. I just can't see how B-HOP could allow Naz to leave him for this huge rematch? I mean, Shane could have come to Philly, he probably would have gotten better sparing.

B-HOP went to the Wild Card for Roach, so he could have traveled too. They could have/should have been in camp together. How does B-HOP allow his long time trainer to leave him? — JCB

I’m sure Hopkins had no problem letting Richardson focus 100 percent on Mosley because he wanted his friend to make a very good payday and possibly history if Shane somehow beat Pacquiao. Yes, he could have relocated to Big Bear, Calif., but maybe he didn’t want to divide Richardson’s attention. This is probably why Hopkins ripped Mosley on a recent media conference call. He’s pissed that he sacrificed his head trainer to a guy who gave no effort.

Who knows? Mosley’s weak showing against Pacquiao may have sparked B-Hop’s McNabb statements. Hopkins knows that Mosley grew up middleweight class.

Anyway, just because Richardson wasn’t in camp doesn’t mean he and Hopkins were not in contact. And just because Naazim was away doesn’t mean that Hopkins didn’t have a “proper” camp. I don’t think it’s possible for Hopkins not to have a proper camp. Bouie Fisher instilled the old-school rules of the game into Hopkins over a 16-year period (1988-2004). B-Hop will never forget or go soft.

There’s not much more to say about Mosley that hasn’t already been written. I hope he invests his money well and I wish him luck in all of his endeavors, which hopefully won’t include boxing for much longer.

You’re absolutely right about Floyd. He’s simply not a factor or a topic worth discussing until he signs to fight someone.

OUR MAN JORGE

Remember at the Gaylord Texan when we were hanging out with Arce till 2 am? I remember he said he wanted to win one more championship and he did. The man knew he had it in him. Unbelievable!

Now he also said one more and he would be done. Hopefully, he sticks to that and goes on one of those 20 hour drives of joy on the highway he told us about. — Fausto Chavez

I remember that night well. It was the night before the Pacquiao-Clottey fight last March. Arce did all the talking and I did all the drinking (I guess you did all the listening — LOL).

I do recall his saying that he wanted one more title and then he would retire (he’s won two since, the WBO’s 115-pound and 122-pound belts) and it was nice to hear that he’s been taking good care of his money (I hope he wasn’t bulls__ting about that). But I took the retirement talk with a grain of salt. Few fighters — at any level — enjoy fighting as much as Arce does.

I think the main point of that long (and enjoyable) late-night rap session was to prove to a certain non-Spanish speaking ponytail-wearing gringo that he could hold a conversation in English. The last time I had interviewed him (before his fight with Chino Garcia, I think) he spoke in very basic broken English, but he vowed that it would improve. And it did! It just goes to show you that the little badass can do whatever he puts his mind to.

WHO’D HAVE GUESSED?

Hey Dougie,
I was just looking at The Ring's home page and noticed that things were heating up for Haye-Klitschko. A funny thought occurred to me: given the quality of last weekend's fight and the possibility that he'll fight JM Marquez in the fall, 2011 could see Pacquiao defined by boring, one-sided, frustrating decisions, and Wlad in an interesting fire fight that will probably end in knockout no matter who wins. I don't think it's a startling revelation or anything, but I definitely paused and chuckled for a moment when I realized how the two dominant fighters (Wlad and Pac) may swap positions at either end of the excitement spectrum, at least for the year. The cause is easy enough to trace, they've swapped the level of opposition for the year as well. I'm not a Haye fan, but here's hoping he can fight half as tough as he talks and can cash the check Manny and Shane bounced last Saturday. Take care. — Todd

Interesting observation, Todd. We’ll see if it pans out. Despite their heated words I don’t put it past the heavyweights to play it cautious once the bell rings. Haye can be a stick-and-move fighter how moves his feet more than his hands and Klitschko knows the smaller heavyweight has speed and can punch, so he might not take the fight to the Brash Brit from the opening bell. I expect the champ to work his jab from a distance and grab and hold Haye anytime he gets in close. The fight probably will end in a KO but I think fans might have to wait through some uneventful rounds before it happens. Having said that, there will be an intensity to the fight because both men will be looking for opportunities to drop bombs that they know can end the fight.

There’s nobody out there who can turn Pac’s lights out with one shot (apart from Sergio Martinez, who‘s never going to get the opportunity), so maybe you’re right. Perhaps the P4P King will lose his “most-exciting fighter” status by the end of this year.

MAYWEATHER WILL BEAT PACQUIAO

Hey Doug,
I suppose you'll have a mailbag full of this type of comment but if Pacquiao couldn't find Mosley to hit him effectively, how would he find Mayweather? Honestly if that fight happens: 1-it will be boring, and 2-Mayweather will hit Pacquiao one punch at a time and rack up another dull points win. Pacquiao needs someone willing to exchange or someone who doesn't move to much. Mayweather is neither of those people.


I almost gave in and bought the card. Having seen it today I am glad I did not give in to the pre fight hype. That is after all $55 of hard earned money…– Stephen, Montreal

I don’t agree with your logic, Stephen. For starters, Mosley wasn’t able to win rounds while he was in retreat (same as Cotto). When a fighter is in position to hit Pacquiao, the Filipino hero is usually in position to strike back, and as Mosley and Cotto learned, he strikes very hard. Mayweather likes to plant his feet when he punches and when he utilizes his defense (or block/roll and counter). Whenever he does that, my guess is that Pacquiao will land something. It only takes one shot from Pac to turn a fight. One shot from Mosley rocked Floyd’s world. What if Pac lands a similar punch?

I could be wrong, but I don’t see how any fighter can outpoint Pacquiao while constantly moving away from him (as Mosley and Cotto did after they were dropped). And I don’t see how anyone is going to hit Pacquiao more than he hits them without taking severe punishment.

MAYWEATHER & PACQUIAO’S SCORECARDS

I've looked at the official judges scorecards from both Mosley fights with both Mayweather and Pacquiao. The Mosley-Mayweather fight scores were 109-119, 110-118, and 109-119. The scores from the Pacman fight were 107-120, 108-120, and 108-119. I’ve sorted out the difference between these scores and there was a 28 point difference with the Mayweather fight and a 33 point difference with Pacquiao. (I have no life, lol.) But do you think these scores are important or anything, I don’t know. Thanks for reading. — Stanley

The scorecards indicate two things:

1) Mosley was not able to hurt Pacquiao as he was able to stun Mayweather (which is the only reason Floyd wasn’t able to secure a shutout on any one card as Manny did).

2) Both Mayweather and Pacquiao faced a faded version of Mosley. The only difference is that we weren’t sure if Mosley was a spent bullet going into Floyd’s fight; while most of us knew he was done going into last Saturday’s bout with Manny.

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