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BERNARD HOPKINS TALKS MAYWEATHER VS. PACQUIAO: "BETTER LATE THAN NEVER...I JUST WANT THE ATTENTION TO BE ON BOXING"

By Percy Crawford | February 25, 2015
BERNARD HOPKINS TALKS MAYWEATHER VS. PACQUIAO:

"This fight is the most important thing not only in boxing right now, but in sports. Hey man, better late than never and I think it's a great thing. People are still buzzing and talking about it heavy over here on the east coast. I remember people asking me not too long ago was it actually going to happen and now, to be honest with you, I don't have to worry about explaining the theories that people expect, and people expect that I should know something, but I don't really know the main stuff that goes on in somebody else'S camp and world. But I'm glad (laughing) that I don't have to defend or complain about the big topic anymore," stated future Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins, who gave his in-depth analysis of the long-awaited May 2 showdown between undefeated pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather and 8-division world champion Manny Pacquiao. Check out what else he had to say!

BERNARD HOPKINS ON MAYWEATHER VS. PACQUIAO:

I think if the fight would have happened earlier, less educated people about boxing or even more educated people, no matter how much you know about the actual skills of both fighters or any fighter, there is something about age and youth, or lack of, that people are quick to put a judgment on, good or bad; when it was better, when it wasn't, when you looked better as opposed to you looking better 10 years from now. I mean, this even happens in households. My thing is, is this fight more talked about or exciting than when we talked about it say 4 to 5 years ago? I say we lost that because of the time that has past. One year is a long time for a boxer in terms of aging, let alone five. So obviously I believe yes, people are thinking different now and the excitement 4 to 5 years ago compared to now has changed. Did we miss that boat? Absolutely! Now the skillful businessmen that allowed the situation have to be extremely creative now. It ain't just based on the fighters signing. That's happened and the job is done, but now you have to, within the time frame between now and then, if my math is right, we talking 8 or 9 weeks, so there has to be some serious hustling going on. I think it will get done, but I think this is the old way of promoting in the new world that normally waits for TV or other outlets that make the promoters job easier promoting by what we call licensing fee.

And anyone out there that reads this, the licensing fee is what the networks give, and stadiums and casinos and other money outlets give, so that the promoter will be able to promote. That's the new world of promoting. The old world was to flat out hustle. That means before TV was in boxing and you had to go out and put the posters up, you had to go out and sell the tickets and go out and do all you can to generate sponsors. You had to generate money through the grass roots of being a hustler pounding the street. You had your work team doing this and doing that, and now things have changed. And I think between the years that this fight has been talked about, it has to be the minds of the best business minds coming together and erase that length of time where the fans were thinking this thing was going to happen 4 or 5 years ago. You're gonna get the, "it should've been done at this time, it would've been better if it happened here," but it's really going to boil down to the next 8 to 9 weeks and how they pull this thing off. Trust me, it ain't one day. Even Sunday, everybody gotta work. No days off to get this thing where it needs to be and I think it will happen and the numbers will show that.

The fight promotes itself, but I don't think that anybody should take the chance based on some of the hardcore fans and people I deal with, whether they are with Mayweather or not with Mayweather, whether they are with Pacquiao or not with Pacquiao, you shouldn't be under the assumption that the fight just sells itself based on the hype and the controversy and people's curiosity of why the fight wasn't done a month ago or two months ago. All of that is irrelevant and water under the bridge when the fight gets signed because then you gotta say, "What's next?" From what I understand, being in the business for many years, you quiet the hype down right about now. And then, like anything, Super Bowl or NBA Finals, once things level back off, you get people excited. But usually right now, the fire doesn't have to be put out, but simmered down a little while these guys go off and train and do their business. They haven't allowed a lot of time for that for this one. But you always gotta keep that pilot lit; that way you can always get back to where it was when it was first announced. And that's going to take a great effort in between now and the next 8 ½ to 9 weeks. It's been done and I don't see it being a problem, I just see it being a situation where you can't underestimate the dollar that's coming from the fans. Like I said it will show in the numbers and it will speak in other ways.

Also, something you can factor in is 5 years ago, you didn't have Twitter and Instagram to help promote fights. Listen, speaking from my personal experience about the sport that played a part in rebuilding my life today, and that is the sweet science of boxing, to have in any weight class a Super Bowl fight...that's what I said, in any era, it's good for the sport that I respect personally, athletically, my work habits and the way that I came to the ring and how I prepared myself in the ring, that's part of the respect I have to the sport. When I put all of that together, I look at it like this, this is the fight that don't save boxing, because I never thought boxing was in a position to need to be saved, but it brings the mainstream people, media, business people back into this sport. It hits every nick and cranny in the sports world and that, to me, says boxing now is just like the Super Bowl and just like the NBA Finals. These moments are in every sport to where boxing somehow, for many years, didn't have that signature fight. Even if it's once a year, I prefer to have two or three, but I'm not gonna be greedy. I'm going to say to you that fights like this bring mainstream casual people back to the game. They get to talking about it, their friends get to talking about it, and they introduce new fans to the sport who don't have a clue who Pacquiao is or who Floyd is. That, to me, because of the respect that I have for the sport, I don't give a damn who promoting who, at the end of the day, I can sit back and say, "Yeah, they talking about my sport that I feel we are the red light district as far as respect wise of the top 3 to 4 sports, at least in America!" I have a personal reason why I like big fights like this happening. No matter what side of the table you are on, I just want the attention to be on boxing and that's where I think it should stay. Let the people that's in it get the respect and get they just due, whether people want to give it to them or not. I think that's what it comes down to. That's my opinion.

BE SURE TO CHECK BACK FOR MUCH MORE WITH FUTURE HALL OF FAMER BERNARD HOPKINS



[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]

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