Artwork by Richard T. Slone
"Bitch, I'm going to make you cry," said Bernard Hopkins to the man who confronted and challenged him, Joe Calzaghe. Replied the undefeated Super Middleweight champ from Wales with a hint of diplomacy, "You're getting fucked up on fight night."
Hopkins is usually the one doing the intimidating but this time Calzaghe seems to have the upper hand. He seems utterly certain that he will dismantle and destroy the ancient warrior from Philadelphia. "Hopkins is a bully, simple as that," said Calzaghe. "I'm not intimidated by him, I just find it funny that a grown man like him carries on the way he does. Let's see who's doing the talk after the fight."
Hopkins and Calzaghe supposedly had an agreement to battle back in 2002 but, according to Joe's promoter Frank Warren, Hopkins broke that agreement. Rewind to last summer after Hopkins defeated Winky Wright, Hopkins called out Joe for a fight. You knew Joe wanted it but he had to get by the big unification battle with Mikkel Kessler first, which he did, in very impressive style. After disposing of the previously unbeaten Kessler on November 4, Calzaghe turned his attention on Hopkins, insisting he'd fight The Executioner in the U.S. Calzaghe kept the pressure on Hopkins with a relentless barrage of press releases and interviews where he continually disparaged "old man Popkins." It almost seemed Hopkins might have been
hesitating, as he would not totally commit to accepting the challenge. Then the bad blood showed in Las Vegas during Mayweather-Hatton week in December where the two had a couple of confrontations.
The two gladiators crossed paths twice and verbally got into it. Sporting an unbreakable confidence, Joe held his ground. Then Hopkins seemed to resort to desperation and issued the infamous threat heard 'round the world, "I ain't losing to a white boy." I believe that was a desperate maneuver by Hopkins. He is seeing and feeling the tremendous confidence of Joe, a self-belief he has not had to deal with in quite some time, if ever. It appears to be like this: Hopkins knows Calzaghe believes he has the better hand. Hopkins must do something, anything to shake Joe, put a little doubt in Joe before he goes all in and lays all his cards. Hopkins is not quite content with his cards at the moment. So he
pulls out the race card. It remains to be seen if Calzaghe's self-belief is affected.
In the meantime, Hopkins continues to talk. "Everybody knows what I’m going to do. I've been on this road before. Give me my last bit of credit. Ya’ll going to see something special." Then, he seemed to rehash some old lines from the Trinidad fight hype. "I’m going to punish him slowly. I'll ask that his father is merciful to him and pulls him out when he is getting hurt.” Hopkins used to be mesmerizing to listen to, the outsider on a mission to beat the system, doing it his way. Now he's talking but not with nearly the same effect.
Perhaps Hopkins is running out of new material because it seems like we've heard it all before. “I’m going to prove that the sand hasn’t run out of the glass yet and I’m going to retire on my terms, my way. April 19th I’m going to show you what a man is.”
Calzaghe, on the other hand, seems like the man with a hunger, with something to prove, as opposed to fighting just for the money or for whatever motives. There is a freshness to this new challenge, the long-awaited opportunity to conquer a great American at a U.S. venue. "The ring is my home, and if Hopkins wants a war then I will give him one on April 19th and meet him toe to toe,” says Calzaghe. “If he wants a chess match I'll give him a chess match and out-box him. All I'm going to say is that I will remain unbeaten.”
Words are just words but the war of words are sometimes foretelling. So far, Calzaghe sounds the more confident champion. “At the end of the day you just have two fighters in the ring. I see nothing Bernard Hopkins can do to beat me. I would’ve beaten him in his prime and I’ll beat him now.”
“(Fighting in Las Vegas is) going to be extra motivation for me. I wouldn’t go to America if I didn’t believe 100% that I can win this fight. I believe I’ll win every round.”
When Hopkins faced Trinidad at the first press conference to announce the fight in New York, he scored an enormous psychological blow on Tito when he astonishingly threw down the Puerto Rican flag. Hopkins learned that Tito, despite the incredible insult right in his face, could not summon any kind of retaliation except to stand there frozen in inaction. That indecision and caution would, of course, transfer later into the fight itself. Hopkins later explained the flag incident was motivated because he felt slighted as the Middleweight champion, that the popular Trinidad was receiving the majority of the media
attention. And this bold act by Bernard successfully upset the tone of the pre-fight hype and put all the focus right where he wanted it - squarely back on him.
With Calzaghe, Hopkins has been unable to establish the mental edge from Calzaghe in my opinion. During the traditional stare-down for photographers, Hopkins, wearing a black Executioner-style hooded sweatshirt, told his rival that he'd “better train hard” and he should be “willing to die.” But it was Joe who seemed to be oozing with confidence and certainty. Joe clenched his fist and nodded as if there is not a milligram of doubt inside his body. 'I know it, just you all wait and see, I will destroy Hopkins.' Hopkins wearing the black hood, seemed to come off like a failed attempt at intimidation.
Calzaghe addressed the "I won't lose to a whiteboy" too and basically called the legendary Middleweight king an idiot. “That’s a stupid comment by Bernard,” Calzaghe said. “I won’t lose to any colored guy. I won’t lose to a white guy, black guy, green guy. I won’t lose to any colored guy. Was I offended? No, I laughed. He’s in trouble. I didn’t think it was a racist comment. He’s going to try to get under my skin. That’s his best chance – if I lose
my calm and composure...He can be the bad guy (now) but I’m going to be the bad guy come April 19th.”
Calzaghe most definitely has a beast inside him. But he only infrequently shows it. Jeff Lacy saw it at their New York press conference stare-down at Gallagher's Steakhouse. Calzaghe, polite and a gentleman all afternoon, suddenly put on a monsterous, snarling face to Lacy. He did it again at the weigh-in stare-down with Kessler. The look on his face seems to communicate a message like, "**** you. I am going to **** you up, kick your ass,
bash your face and you can't do nothing about it." Calzaghe in that mode is quite a sight.
I don't think Bernard has ever faced a champion like Joe Calzaghe before. Calzaghe is someone who will look him in the face and say, "**** you, I will smash and destroy you."
Mark my words, Joe is going to show Bernard that face in Las Vegas at the weigh-in or press conference. And how Hopkins responds might reveal a lot about the outcome of this fascinating battle.
Will Calzaghe be able to hold his nerve in Las Vegas or will he become inhibited? Will Hopkins somehow be able to gain the mental edge by some kind of psychological ploy which remains to be seen? We are talking about Bernard Hopkins, one of the all-time masters of psychological warfare.
Until there's a change in the undercurrent, it seems this is Joe's fight, Joe's moment to shine in the crowning achievement of his remarkable career. A victory over Hopkins will affirm Joe as a legend, and as the pound-for-pound best fighter on earth. I believe he already is on the merit of his two magnificently dominant wins over his two biggest threats at 168 - Lacy and Kessler. Keep in mind, Floyd Mayweather refused to face his two most dangerous rivals at 147 - Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto. So how can Floyd be considered the best when he has not proven he is the world's best in his own weightclass?
Bernard Hopkins is a living legend but his career now seems to lack a definitive purpose. He betrayed his word to his deceased mom about retiring at 40 and fights on apparently for the money and glory. Or out of habit. Or maybe he just still feels physically and mentally capable of besting any man out there. But with all he's accomplished, there certainly is nothing for Bernard, now 43, to have to prove to anyone anymore. It just seems inevitable, that in one of these fights, Bernard is suddenly going to lose that fraction of reflexive reaction time, that fraction of speed and power. And that he will run into a younger, stronger man who overwhelms him. Could it be that fool's pride has forced Hopkins into accepting the awesome challenge of Joe Calzaghe? Or could it be Bernard still has another trick up his sleeve, and there still is at least one or two more surges of greatness remaining in the body and soul of one of the all-time greats in boxing history Bernard Hopkins?
(This article appears in the April issue of The Fist magazine in Australia.)
