RSSBernard Hopkins
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Hopkins Wins Decision Over Wright
Bernard Hopkins retained his title with a unanimous decision over Winky Wright Saturday night. It was Wright’s first loss in seven years.
Related
ESPN 360 video recap
Hopkins keeps title with entertaining win over Wright
Hopkins wins in unanimous decision vs. Wright
Hopkins wins, but not with style points
Ruthless Hopkins outpoints Wright
Hopkins says he wants to fight Joe Calzaghe next.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Countdown To Hopkins-Wright Airs July 14
HBO Sports is presenting a thirty- minute special analyzing the upcoming HBO Pay-Per-View showdown between Bernard Hopkins and Winky Wright. The highly anticipated bout is set for Saturday, July 21 in Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay. The fight is an intriguing match-up between two of the sport’s elite fighters, who will meet at 170 pounds.
The special “Countdown To Hopkins-Wright, ” which will feature fighter profiles, expert analysis and forecasts for the showdown in Las Vegas, will premiere on Saturday, July 14 immediately after the HBO World Championship Boxing tripleheader telecast that begins at 9:00 p.m. ET/ 6:00 p.m. PT.
Destined for the Hall of Fame, Hopkins brings a record of 47-4-1 32 KOs into the showdown with Wright, who sports a prolific mark of 51-3-1, 25 KOs in his polished career. Neither has ever back down from a challenge and have engineered some of the biggest surprises in the past five years.
The countdown special will also be available to HBO On Demand subscribers 24 hours a day from July 16 thru July 30.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Hopkins-Wright Undercard Announced
LOS ANGELES - The undercard of Hopkins vs. Wright “Coming to Fight” will showcase two exciting World Championship bouts featuring the United States debut of two of boxing’s most exciting rising stars. Veteran featherweight star and former WBC Super Bantamweight Champion Oscar “Chololo” Larios will have the opportunity to add another title to his extensive resume. However, he will have to get past the undefeated Venezuelan Jorge Linares as they battle for the vacant WBC Interim Featherweight Championship in a bout that will mark the U.S. debut for the young, powerful Linares.
The other explosive bout set to hit the airwaves that night includes the American debut of undefeated WBO Interim World Lightweight Champion Michael Katsidis, of Australia, when he takes on the aggressive Filipino Czar Amonsot. Both bouts make up the featured televised undercard for Hopkins vs. Wright to be held Saturday, July 21st from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas and will be broadcast live on HBO Pay-Per-View.
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Thursday, June 14, 2007
Hopkins Begins Training With Roach
LOS ANGELES - Light Heavyweight Champion Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins arrived in Los Angeles on Sunday and began training with new trainer Freddie Roach at the Wild Card Gym. Hopkins is already entrenched in a vigorous regimen in preparation for his summer blockbuster fight against Winky Wright in “Coming to Fight,” on July 21st at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas , Nevada live on HBO Pay-Per-View.
“I’m thrilled to be training with Freddie Roach in Los Angeles,” said Hopkins. “It’s a complete change of scenery for me and the new surroundings are a great motivation at this stage of my career.”
Hopkins is training in Los Angeles for the first time in his long and illustrious career. Previous sites and regular favorites for the veteran pugilist have included Miami, Philadelphia, Big Bear and most recently New Orleans. A major influence in his decision to train in the City of Angels was the addition of Roach to his team, who owns the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood.
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Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Calzaghe Wants Kessler, Taylor, and Hopkins Before Retiring
Joe Calzaghe revealed in a recent interview with Sportinglife that he would like three more fights, possibly against Mikkel Kessler, Jermain Taylor, and Bernard Hopkins, to round out his storied career.
When it comes to Kessler, Calzaghe made it known that he certainly wasn’t his top choice for a future opponent. However Calzaghe didn’t close the door on a possible opportunity of meeting Kessler down the road at some point before he hangs them up:
“Kessler is a good fighter. Frank has been talking to his promoter over the last few days, trying to do something with him.
But I think that fight may be six months or more down the road. Kessler is not a big name in America.
He’s had a couple of good wins but in his last fight he beat Markus Bayer, who was shot. We can go down the Kessler road but Taylor is the one for me.”
So if Kessler isn’t tops then who is? That would be Jermain Taylor as of right now. I say as of right now because we all know how Calzaghe loves to change his mind constantly.
Mega-promoter Frank Warren is desperately trying to get a deal done between Calzaghe and Taylor’s camps for a September bout. Talks have been ongoing for months now but may pick up speed now that both fighters are coming off recent victories and are taking time off.
Calzaghe also expressed interest in Hopkins as always, stating that he would love to take on the winner of the July fight between Hopkins and Winky Wright.
“Hopkins would interest me. Hopkins won his last fight against Antonio Tarver so he’s still a formidable opponent. He looked good against Tarver but he’s 42 and he can’t go on forever. The winner of Winky Wright and Hopkins could be my opponent for January.
They’re fighting in July and I think they’ll put on a good show, but Hopkins will be too big for Winky Wright.”
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Thursday, April 05, 2007
EEC - April 5, 2007
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- Last Friday I reminded everyone about the strong possibility of Roy Jones Jr. pulling out of his rumored bout with Tony Hanshaw because of past occurences. Guess what happened?
The fight has been scrapped according to ESPN’s Dan Rafael because of Jones unwillingness to agree to terms on a contract. Jones reportedly gave promoter Lou DiBella the go ahead to create a contract and then dodged DiBella when contacted. Days passed until DiBella received a text message from Jones saying that he would not agree to the fight unless he received triple the original amount of money that was already agreed for the fight.
Let’s just say that DiBella didn’t say yes…
- If Joe Calzaghe wants to fight Bernard Hopkins, he has to come to the USA:
“I’m not going to give Joe Calzaghe a forum to promote himself off Bernard Hopkins’ back,” Hopkins said. “I’m not about to say, ‘I want him.’ Legends don’t call out other fighters. I’m not being big-headed. That’s just how it is. And I wouldn’t go across the water to fight Calzaghe in any case. If he wants superstardom in America, let him come here. They got TVs in England. The money’s in pay-per-view, anyway.
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Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Hopkins Not Against Fighting Holyfield
Bernard Fernandez of the Philadelphia Daily News interviewed Bernard Hopkins at a recent awards dinner and asked him about the possibility of taking on Evander Holyfield later this year. Hopkins gave an interesting answer:
“You just put a fight together. It’d be two legends going up against one another. It would be a chance for Bernard Hopkins to prove he can hang with a bona fide heavyweight, and one of the greatest of my era,” Hopkins said.
Fernandez also spoke with Main Events’ Kathy Duva who is currently serving as Holyfield’s promoter. Duva seemed to have no doubts about putting the two together and stated that if Holyfield wanted the fight then it would happen. She also stated that Holyfield has a lot more to lose in taking the fight than Hopkins does…
“Oh, my God, I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work,” Duva said. “It would certainly be a moneymaker. Both of them are brands. You put brands together, it’s called pay-per-view. I can’t speak for Evander, but if he said, ‘Let’s do it,’ I’ll be there with bells on. Frankly, I think it’d be worth more than a lot of heavyweight title fights. From a marketing standpoint, it’s beautiful.”
“Evander would have a lot more to lose than Hopkins,” Duva said. “That is something that would have to be taken into consideration. If you look back, Evander’s always had a harder time with small heavyweights. Some of his worst nights came against guys like Chris Byrd and Bert Cooper, who weren’t that big. But seeing how mobile and quick he was against Maddalone . . . it was like watching the Evander of 15 years ago. I couldn’t believe it.”
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Wednesday, March 07, 2007
EEC - March 7, 2007
I can’t think of any more one-liners to put up here, I may have to stop soon…
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- The Philadelphia Daily News is reporting that Anthony Thompson will be helping Floyd Mayweather Jr. train for his upcoming fight on May 5th against Oscar De La Hoya. Honestly, I think I’ve said that 50 times in the last two months.
What makes this interesting is that there seems to be a backstory behind it…
Thompson will be part of the camp for six weeks. Several years ago, Thompson was one of the fighters that helped prepare Oscar De La Hoya for his his September 04 bout with then middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins. Thompson spent three weeks helping De La Hoya get ready for Hopkins.
Additionally, the report noted that Hopkins was also in contact with Thompson, making him an offer to join De La Hoya’s camp. Thompson would have joined, if Hopkins would have contacted him earlier, but there was already an agreement to join Mayweather’s camp and he wanted to honor that agreement.
- Despite originally stating that he was going to consider retirement after his win over Scott Gammer last week, Danny Williams has now said that he will not retire and instead will continue on with his career in hopes of facing some of the top heavyweights in the division in the near future
“I have had so much positive feedback from people who said I showed glimpses of world class,” said Williams. My main goal is to get back to the top. I believe I can still compete with champions like (WBC king) Oleg Maskaev. I won the British Title again after coming off two loses against Audley Harrison and Matt Skelton and so I think I can do better next time coming off a decent performance.”
- Jim Lampley has issued a public apology to Candice Sanders in hopes of ending the whole damn thing:
“It is with considerable regret and deep embarrassment that I acknowledge having overreacted to a household dispute with Candice Sanders on New Year’s Eve. As a result of my anger, our dispute has become a matter of public discussion and speculation and I accept responsibility for that. To bring closure to this process, I am offering my full and unconditional apology to Miss Sanders and her family, as well as to all my friends, family and professional colleagues who have been unwarrantedly damaged by the events of that night. Miss Sanders feels very deeply and sincerely, as do I, about the rights of women and children. She will be a powerful symbol on their behalf, and I will thoroughly support and encourage her organized efforts in this regard. At the same time, I would encourage all to look favorably on Candice’s efforts and contribute wholeheartedly to the advancement of this cause.”
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Monday, February 12, 2007
EEC - February 12, 2007
Not a lot on the whole news front today but there’s still some interesting notes…
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- One of Shane Mosley’s next opponents may very well be Miguel Cotto. Cotto’s scheduled June bout against Antonio Margarito is now all but officially cancelled since Margarito signed a contract to face WBO mandatory challenger Paul Williams.
- It seems that Bernard Hopkins is picking his fellow Golden Boy Promotions associate, Oscar De La Hoya to defeat Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May…
“Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather will be the first time in history that a fighter’s name gets changed after the fight, from Pretty Boy to Ugly Boy. I’m just telling you how I feel. The opposite of pretty is ugly. There ain’t no in-between. I’m just telling what’s going to happen,” Hopkins said.
- Hasim Rahman has pledged to donate a percentage of the rest of his career earnings to the family of an injured Baltimore detective who was struck by a vehicle driven by Rahman’s brother Karim during a chase from police in which Karim also robbed a convenience store.
Some Good Reads:
The Sweet Science: This Day in History (February 12, 1974)
MaxBoxing: Still Sweet
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Monday, February 05, 2007
Chad Dawson Calls Out Hopkins, Jones, Tarver
Undefeated “Bad” Chad Dawson, the newly-minted World Boxing Council light heavyweight champion, and his trainer Floyd Mayweather, Sr., established themselves as the ticket to beat for “Fighter of the Year” and “Trainer of the Year,” respectively, and we are just four weeks into 2007. Dawson (23-0, 15 KOs), from New Haven, CT, put a cold blooded beatdown on Tomasz Adamek (31-1, 21 KOs), last Saturday, ending the previously undefeated champion’s 21-month reign. The world title fight was broadcast live last Saturday on Showtime Championship Boxing from the Silver Spurs Arena at Osceola Park in Kissimmee, Fla.
“It was a Conn job!” exclaimed trainer Mayweather. “A Billy Conn job. I have polished the roughest diamond in boxing and transformed, “Bad” Chad Dawson into the crown jewel of the light heavyweight division. He’s Conn, Archie Moore and Bobby Foster all rolled up in one. All he needed was the right jeweler to bring out his brilliance and that jeweler was ME! If I had him a year sooner, he would have been world champion a year sooner.”
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