Published by on December 22nd, 2008
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A collection of some of the best quotes of one of modern America’s greatest sporting champions Bernard ‘The Executioner’ Hopkins (compiled by Scoop Malinowski)
“Smokey Wilson was like my Gandhi. If I had run into somebody else in prison, with a different set of values, the world might have never known one of the greatest boxing talents ever to come out of Philadelphia.”
“Prison is a bad, bad place. But the discipline that I have today – that is where it was developed. Smokey showed me that just because you start out doing wrong, it doesn’t have to be like that forever.”
“When you leave prison, the odds are so stacked against you. People figure that if you were a criminal, you’re always a criminal. And the fact is, 80% of the people who get locked up and get out, come home (to prison) eventually. 80%! But what else can they do? You got to have some reason to believe in something better.”
“I want show people on the inside and on the outside, that it don’t have to be that way. I mean, look at me now. I know the mayor, the district attorney, and the governor. They tell me how much they support me, how much of an inspiration I am to kids who could go the right way or the wrong way.”
“Unfortunately, in the past, I’ve been crucified for having my own American opinion.”
“One thing (William Joppy) didn’t say is that I’m a bad mother****** in that ring. That I kick ass and I don’t take no hostages. He can’t say that. Did you hear him say that? So he’s bearing witness to that. His insurance policy better be upgraded by December 13. You just signed your death warrant. I know my boxing history. And this is going to be Emile Griffith and Benny Paret. I want his life. That’s what you’re gonna see. I want his life. Quote me on that.”
“We all in this room got jobs, got things that we have to do to show our superiors that we’re doing a great job. Whether you work for HBO, the newspapers, hey, whether you clean up these tables or whatever, I respect your job. But you must deliver what you do. Your credibility is judged by what you do. If you’re an athlete, it’s in your performance and winning. And I continue to deliver every time I say I will win. That is proof that Bernard Hopkins, when it comes to delivering in the ring – we can debate outside the ring for life, till I retire – but in the ring I am not a liar.”
“I would not underestimate Robert Allen. But I will beat Robert Allen. I don’t have any problem getting up for any fights. I train just as hard if I’m fighting Felix Trinidad or William Joppy. I have a game-plan, Robert Allen has a game-plan – but my game-plan will prevail.”
“There’s no great person that lived that didn’t go through scrutiny or ridicule and prosecution in all types of ways, to be who they are in history.”
“When I talk to young contenders, guys who are looking to make a name for themselves in boxing, I tell them two things. One, if you want to be champion, you have to be willing to sacrifice everything. Anything that interferes with your goals, and that includes sex, has to go. Or, number two, you can have your testicles out. Have your nuts removed. You’ll have to learn that there are going to be women around, women who, before a fight, will say, “Oh, wow, look at your big muscles.” I tell them the same thing: Just say no.”
“I saw fear in Trinidad’s eyes when I took the flag out of his hand in New York. Maybe for the first time ever he’s not sure if he can win. Trinidad hasn’t had to go to a Plan B in his entire career. When it’s time to get down in the trenches, he’ll go back to what he always does, which is to charge in and throw bombs. And that’s when he’ll play into my hands.”
The hardest part of boxing? “It’s not even tough – for me. I’m only speaking for me. Once you sign the dotted line – I’m just a strange animal, man – there’s nothing tough. I like training. I like workin’ out. Hey, I told everybody I retired. But I’ve been in the gym just about every day since the Tarver fight.”
“I still shop at Costco. I just started tipping two years ago [laughter].”
“I’m doing all I can now so when you mention my name 15-20 years from now, God forbid, I’m living, it’s going to be more than he was just a great boxer. It’s going to be more than just he was feared as middleweight champion. It’s going to be more than he had 20 defenses and he successfully did it his way. No, there’s going to be little story books for the young athletes because boxing will never die.”
“I must destroy everybody that comes in front of me. I must execute them and I must do it in grand style. I must slay Robert Allen like I must slay De La Hoya or anybody else that steps in that ring.”
“Mistakenly, the Sugar Ray Robinson trophy had Felix Trinidad’s name on there. So the gods of this boxing world realized they wasn’t god that night. And while I’m in boxing I’m going to continue to show the powers-that-be that just because they might be gods to others, they not god to me.”
“What keeps Bernard Hopkins motivated because I know where I came from, I know what I’ve accomplished, and I know that I’m an overachiever not only in the boxing ring but in life. So what keeps me going – I don’t have to hit nobody over the head to make a buck now. I don’t have to go out and do something criminal to anybody to make a dollar now. So I realized that my mom and my father have never seen $100,000 in they’re whole lifetime. And I get a chance to go in the ring and make millions of dollars. I realize that Bernard Hopkins has came a long way from being a city guy on the street, boxing in the street, and re-evaluated my life to become one of the premier fighters and probably a future Hall of Famer. I already won. The rest is all gravy.”
“We all have our own politics. It’s just that the politics that I’m against is the politics of a freelance or corporate writer who boldly writes what he’s been dictated to write by people who have an axe to grind with Bernard Hopkins.”
“I’ll use an old proverb that says, when you got the chickens you don’t have to look for the fox. Because the last time I heard, when you got the chickens the fox is nearby. So I got a barn with three chickens in there – the WBC, WBA and IBF – and I’m holding them hostage until the ransom comes up and that ransom will be like you said, whoever is on that hit list. When they come, they got to have that ransom to get these belts. Because after me, you’ll miss me, because there’ll be no more. Like we miss Ali, Leonard, Robinson, love me or hate me, there is no other boxer in the world that can speak, can talk, that can be just as animated about going in the ring and doing his job just like executing his interviews across the media world of boxing. I don’t care who steps up to the plate as long as they’re not a cruiserweight or heavyweight. I called out James Toney because I know James Toney is fat and I know James Toney is a guy who is not actually a full-blown heavyweight even though his skills could get past most heavyweights because we know what the division is now. The division is nobody. This is one of the only times when I wish had 50 pounds to play with so I could put it on myself and go up and dominate the heavyweight world.”
“One thing reporters can’t say about me and my abilities is that I’m flawless in the ring. When I get into the Hall of Fame it’s based on my achievements and my goals and my status as an athlete and as a fighter. It doesn’t have anything to do with whether I fight De La Hoya or not. It don’t have nothing to do whether I should have took the James Toney fight – even if they took a million dollars off the purse or not – when I’m judged in the boxing world as an athlete, I’m going to be judged on my ability alone and my accomplishments alone.”
“What I noticed about Tarver – not only does he speak just as well as I do – and he do back it up sometimes. But he’s only good the second time around. His record shows – and he will agree – that if he gets another chance – that means after he loses the first one [laughter] – that he’s great the second time around. Well, that’s what I told my wife when I first met her but she didn’t believe me [laughter]. I said ten minutes but I didn’t guarantee ten minutes [laughter]. I don’t want no excuses because I won’t have any.”
