http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/02/10/soboxx110.xml
Bernard Hopkins stands by 'white boy' jibe
If Bernard Hopkins fights anything like he talks when he takes on Joe Calzaghe in Las Vegas on April 19 then their light-heavyweight contest is certain to go the distance. Asked last week to explain his controversial remark that he would "never lose to a white boy", the veteran Philadelphian held forth for a full 15 minutes with an answer that ranged from sporting history, to boxing gyms in inner-city ghettos to the United States presidential campaign. But not once during his monologue did Hopkins admit that he was wrong to play the race card.
Hopkins, who served five years for robbery in the 1980s before turning his life around through boxing, may regret some things in his colourful life but calling the world super-middleweight champion a white boy is certainly not one of them.
While he sought to play down the race issue when he appeared alongside Wales's favourite son at Planet Hollywood, he was not quite so reticent in the more rarefied surroundings of the tea room of the Lanesborough Hotel.
His point was that he was a product of his harsh and racially segregated background and that racial division was embedded in American society, and particularly in American sport.
"People who deny that racism is everywhere are the dangerous ones because they just can't see it," he said. "If race doesn't play a role in sport then I can bring up sport's history.
I can go back to Jesse Owens going over and competing against the Germans. I can go back to Bill Russell who played at Boston Garden and was called '******' every time he ran down the court even though he had a Boston jersey on.
I can go back to Muhammad Ali in 1966 when he said that the Viet Cong never called him a ****** and that he couldn't even eat and drink coffee in a New York City coffee shop."You might say that times have changed since then, but have they? Only the camouflage has changed. There are taboos now and it's not the done thing to talk about race, but it is still there underneath. People just don't have the courage to talk about it."
Hopkins' reasoning may explain his white boy jibe rather than justify it but you can't knock the sophistication of his argument. The 43-year-old fighter, who ruled the middleweight division for almost 11 years and who has just four defeats and one draw on his 54-fight record, educated himself during his time in jail and is as good at mental sparring as he is at trading punches.
On the race for the White House, Hopkins believes his country is not ready to elect an African American and even predicts that Barack Obama could be assassinated if he wins "the championship".
"I think that his life would be in dear jeopardy," said Hopkins. "To have that much power in that position, the country is not ready for that. Historically, they weren't ready for John F Kennedy because his views and his values about certain things riled a lot of people."
Just to prove that he is no racist, he is hoping Hillary Clinton will become the next president.
Having Bill and Hillary is like having two for one. You already have eight years of credibility with one. When Clinton was president there wasn't a war, poor people were getting their cheques and the economy wasn't like it is now."And I'm pretty sure that Bill Clinton got a lot of advice from Hillary. History always teaches us that a strong man must have a strong woman."
And what does history teach us about the outcome of his clash with Calzaghe? "I destroy fighters," he said. "I destroy their spirit and I destroy their soul because they never recover."
:cripwalk:
If Bernard Hopkins fights anything like he talks when he takes on Joe Calzaghe in Las Vegas on April 19 then their light-heavyweight contest is certain to go the distance. Asked last week to explain his controversial remark that he would "never lose to a white boy", the veteran Philadelphian held forth for a full 15 minutes with an answer that ranged from sporting history, to boxing gyms in inner-city ghettos to the United States presidential campaign. But not once during his monologue did Hopkins admit that he was wrong to play the race card.
Hopkins, who served five years for robbery in the 1980s before turning his life around through boxing, may regret some things in his colourful life but calling the world super-middleweight champion a white boy is certainly not one of them.
While he sought to play down the race issue when he appeared alongside Wales's favourite son at Planet Hollywood, he was not quite so reticent in the more rarefied surroundings of the tea room of the Lanesborough Hotel.
His point was that he was a product of his harsh and racially segregated background and that racial division was embedded in American society, and particularly in American sport.
"People who deny that racism is everywhere are the dangerous ones because they just can't see it," he said. "If race doesn't play a role in sport then I can bring up sport's history.
I can go back to Jesse Owens going over and competing against the Germans. I can go back to Bill Russell who played at Boston Garden and was called '******' every time he ran down the court even though he had a Boston jersey on.
I can go back to Muhammad Ali in 1966 when he said that the Viet Cong never called him a ****** and that he couldn't even eat and drink coffee in a New York City coffee shop."You might say that times have changed since then, but have they? Only the camouflage has changed. There are taboos now and it's not the done thing to talk about race, but it is still there underneath. People just don't have the courage to talk about it."
Hopkins' reasoning may explain his white boy jibe rather than justify it but you can't knock the sophistication of his argument. The 43-year-old fighter, who ruled the middleweight division for almost 11 years and who has just four defeats and one draw on his 54-fight record, educated himself during his time in jail and is as good at mental sparring as he is at trading punches.
On the race for the White House, Hopkins believes his country is not ready to elect an African American and even predicts that Barack Obama could be assassinated if he wins "the championship".
"I think that his life would be in dear jeopardy," said Hopkins. "To have that much power in that position, the country is not ready for that. Historically, they weren't ready for John F Kennedy because his views and his values about certain things riled a lot of people."
Just to prove that he is no racist, he is hoping Hillary Clinton will become the next president.
Having Bill and Hillary is like having two for one. You already have eight years of credibility with one. When Clinton was president there wasn't a war, poor people were getting their cheques and the economy wasn't like it is now."And I'm pretty sure that Bill Clinton got a lot of advice from Hillary. History always teaches us that a strong man must have a strong woman."
And what does history teach us about the outcome of his clash with Calzaghe? "I destroy fighters," he said. "I destroy their spirit and I destroy their soul because they never recover."
:cripwalk:
.....
He's not slow at all. he looked so so tonight because the guy he was fighting ran and held a lot. You don't get to be 45-0 beating some of the comp that Calzaghe beat by being "not good". he's not pretty in the ring but he is effective.
BTW-I bet Hopkins BIG, but though Calzaghe won clearly.
He's not slow at all. he looked so so tonight because the guy he was fighting ran and held a lot. You don't get to be 45-0 beating some of the comp that Calzaghe beat by being "not good". he's not pretty in the ring but he is effective.
BTW-I bet Hopkins BIG, but though Calzaghe won clearly.
