BERNARD HOPKINS: "THE MASK IS BACK...I'M NOT GOLDEN BOY RIGHT NOW!"

"April 19th, Bernard Hopkins will destroy another undefeated fighter. I'm going to make him look ordinary and I'm going to send him home on a long flight back to London," stated light heavyweight king Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins as he shared his thoughts on his upcoming clash with super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe. You don't want to miss what he had to say in this in-depth interview as he talks more about Calzaghe and the politics of the sport, how his partnership with Golden Boy Promotions started and his relationship with Oscar De La Hoya as well as Shane Mosley, who he confirms he'll be helping train for his May 31st clash with Zab Judah.

read more

http://www.fighthype.com/pages/content2353.html

Solid 2-part interview.

Would have been great to get some more direct, pertinent questions in, but that ain't Percy's fault. Bernard just runs on and on and on. You just kind of gotta take what you get, which is a lot.

Good Interview, though.

Saw another pretty good article on Hopkins (at a UK site, of all places).

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...in_page_id=1781

^ Just read the entire article. Great read.

All I know is Calzaghe is in for a rough rough night.

he brought the mask back for the taylor rematch too. didn't help much.

mask or no mask, I cant wait....

With all that he's been through, how is that gonna help him overcome Joe's speed and activity rate. Believe it or not, I want to see Hopkins win this one by KO. I just dont see how he can do it...

I'm hope to hell Bernard whips Joe's ass, please shut his whiny mouth...

Good interview...

Same here.

Calzaghe looked great and threw 1000 punches in the Lacy & Kessler fights..but Hopkins gives him a totally new look. Hes a way better counter-puncher then Kessler for sure and is more intelligent then either of them. He is simply in another level. Jeff just followed Calzaghe around and got outboxed and overwhelmed. Kessler did good the first 7 rounds but he got tired and his defensive flaws showed.

I just don't think Calzaghe will have an easy time getting off because of B-Hops counterpunching and defense. I think Hopkins will seriously make this an ugly fight for Calzaghe.

Best fight of the year so far. I can't wait.

Logic would favor Joe in this fight...but Joe seems to think that he'll be able to fire on all cylinders when he wants, and that his punch output will win this for him.
He seems to forget that Hopkins is a master of taking peoples' games away from them.
He took Tito's left hook and he took Winky's turtle shell...he's going to at least try to take Joe's output and neutralize his handspeed.

He'll throw his short lead rights, tie Joe up, and drop some body shots, elbows and low-blows on the inside before Cortez breaks them up. He isn't going to just stand there and let Joe throw punches while he waits for him to get tired.

The more I think about it, the more I see Hopkins using the first 5-6 rounds to frustrate the hell out of Joe. Slowing down his pace, taking his output, making him miss and guess.
Once Joe has to actually have a game-plan (something he admittedly doesn't go into fights with), and can't figure Hops out, I see Hops starting to take control.

However, I also see Joe winning the fight on activity, a la Jermain Taylor. Hops will emerge the more skilled/crafty and better fighter, but Joe will get the W.

I wonder how Joe will endure the Vegas atmosphere? He will not have his roaring fans like in the Mille Stadium in Cardiff. So we shall see how focus and prepared he comes in?
The first round will be the most boring round ever...LOL

Hopkins need to keep close and just break him down..

What Hopkins and his team NEED to, and what will GREATLY affect (and limit) Hopkins IF HE/HIS TEAM DON'T DO is get Joe Cortez the fuck out of there RIGHT NOW. As long as Joe Cortez is involved in this fight, there is a crucial aspect of Hopkins game against South Paws (in fighting) that is going to be taken out of the equation by Cortez.

How they let Cortez in, and why they continue to have him involved is ANYBODY's fucking guess, but it needs to be remedied. I wish someone would mention this to Hopkins and/or his team directly.

Perhaps on the media call (which may even be today), or perhaps if Percy gets another crack at him or Naazim.

They need Joe Cortez the fuck out of the mix.


That much I agree with.

I like B-Hop....but I think he's simply too damn old to win this fight. At some point...I don't care how well you take care of yourself, your skills are going to fade and slow down. IMHO....Benard's skills have already done so, most of his recent fights are slower paced counter punching matches on his part....I don't think this opponent is going to slow down for one second of this fight.

As much as I hate to say it....I think this is the night where Hopkins really looks his age.

I'm really surprised that Hopkins camp has not made a move to get Cortez out of there. Unless of B-Hop has assurances of some sort that Cortez will allow him to fight his fight, I can't see B-Hop being happy with this. Another thing that sort surprised me is the quickness by which a ref was named. Usually isn't it the week of the fight that a referee gets the assignment??...


All that aside, B-Hop is definitely hungry. Not that I don't think that was every a real problem, but the whole USA vs Great Britain angle I think appeals to him very much so he'll be very keyed up for this one and motivated to win.


Will be interesting to see how Calzaghe adapts to 175 even though it shouldn't be too much of a problem considering he walks around at 190 plus pounds. One thing for sure is that he'll need his hand speed and all around quickness. Thats his big weapon against Hopkins I think.

Here's a little preview of Bernard Hopkin's tactics in the ring.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JXzjj7f5Yno

Nice video. I had to lay some in the comments section. one guy cited Joe as being more "gentlemanly" as a reason he'll win. WTF is that?

Yeah I read that, I don't usually read Youtube comments, too dumb and badly written. If you are going to post a dumb opinion at least make it readable.

Hopkins is a great fighter but a blockhead as well. "Wales is not London" No shit sherlock. Who had 50,000 fans at their last fight? Certainly not Nard.

I suppose we will see come fight time who has the more vocal crowd support.

Great interview! The mask is only fitting since it will be a massacre without question! Calzaghe gets whipped and folds in the late rounds!

I really hope snagglepuss get his ass handed to him by Joe C.

If I hear the Brits booing the national anthem again, I'm egging my neighbor's house!

Hope he can see out that mask coz he wont see Joe hands,there just 2 quick.

His hands are quick against stationary targets.