"Hey, listen, at the end of the day, when I look at guys, and some rappers that I ain't going to mention, that talk about gangsta, talk about street, talk about going to jail, talk about being hard on the street, that remind of Floyd Mayweather. Floyd Mayweather is no tough guy. And Floyd Mayweather can tell you about, and Ellerbe can tell you about when a couple of guys came up in Top Rank's gym and they was taking two to three weeks to scrub blood out of the stains of the carpet that was in there. Where was the gangsta then? See, they know I know...What happened in that ring after the fight was over, see, Shane Mosley's personality is a little different than mine. I went street and I went gangsta and I threw a little corporate in there and I did what a promoter's supposed to do. I shoved Shane in the middle and said, 'Come on dawg," stated future Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins as he spoke about Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s reluctance to fight Shane Mosley. Hopkins was a guest on the OnTheGrind Boxing podcast yesterday and shared his thoughts on a number of subjects, including the Floyd Mayweather, Shane Mosley, Roy Jones Jr., James Toney and much more.
On his own reputation of ruining careers...
"How many fighters that fought Bernard Hopkins and after...was the same fighter? And I can tell you one that's not the same fighter, and I warned everybody, Jermain Taylor. And they paid a major price. Listen, this ain't no 'kick the man while he's down.' I'm just giving everybody a point of what Bernard Hopkins do. My friend Al Haymon, who represents Floyd, who represents Paul Williams, who represents most of the top fighters right now, he said, 'Bernard Hopkins will never fight Paul Williams because he don't beat fighters, he destroys them.'"
On Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s reluctance to fight the best competition...
"You mentioned Floyd Mayweather. Yes, he could go down as one of the pound-for-pound greats of this era, yet, he hasn't fought guys that I would love to see him fight. I would love to see him fight Shane. I would love to seen him fight Margarito when he didn't want to fight Margarito. You remember that. I would like to see him fight Paul Williams. Hey, listen, at the end of the day, when I look at guys, and some rappers that I ain't going to mention, that talk about gangsta, talk about street, talk about going to jail, talk about being hard on the street, that remind of Floyd Mayweather. Floyd Mayweather is no tough guy. And Floyd Mayweather can tell you about, and Ellerbe can tell you about when a couple of guys came up in Top Rank's gym and they was taking two to three weeks to scrub blood out of the stains of the carpet that was in there. Where was the gangsta then? See, they know I know."
"I made that happen in that ring with Shane Mosley. Everybody knew it and it was no big deal...when I see something that's not right, dawg, I will speak about it no matter who it hurts. I get their attention. I know how to get the peoples attention. I will say things that people will never think about saying."
"At the end of the day, Floyd didn't fight a lot of people and one of them is Margarito. And you know that was well-published. They knew he was too big. They knew he was punching. And Floyd, listen, who knows? He might have beat him, but we'll never know. Is Floyd a fraud? No! He is cut from a cloth of uncles that made their legacy in boxing. We know he can fight, but at the end of the day, beating Marquez doesn't give me an erection. I'm keeping it real."
On what prompted Shane Mosley to confront Mayweather after his fight with Marquez...
"What happened in that ring after the fight was over, see, Shane Mosley's personality is a little different than mine. I went street and I went gangsta and I threw a little corporate in there and I did what a promoter's supposed to do. I shoved Shane in the middle and said, 'Come on dawg!' See, when you take those guys light, because that's what they want, the attention, as soon as you interfere...at the end of the day, Shane has his personality, I have my personality. I know when to be the promoter. How many times has Don King put a battery in everybody's back? How many times you seen Bob Arum, with his own style, instigate a fight? This is what I do."
For much more with the legendary Bernard Hopkins and his unique perspective on a number of subjects, be sure to check out OnThEGRiND BOXiNG Podcast #115 and tune in every Thursday and Sunday for your opportunity to speak live to more guest fighters, trainers and the entire OnThEGRiND BOXiNG Team.
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