?I?ve been watching this guy and I know how he breathes, I know how he sits down, I know where he sits down, what he thinks, I know everything about him??
Alien abductions happen at night. Abductees are teleported to a glistening mother ship?and their lives are never the same.
But alien abductions come in all shapes and sizes. Some don?t involve little green men with big heads and bug eyes. Some don?t involve medical experiments. Some don?t include sexual depravity.
Some abductions concern boxers and writers.
On Nov. 8, 2014, at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, IBF light heavyweight champion Bernard ?The Alien? Hopkins (55-6-2, 32 KOs), from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, fights WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey ?Krusher? Kovalev (25-0-1, 23 KOs), from Chelyabinsk, Russia.
In anticipation of the rare unification bout, the fighters recently met with the press via teleconference call. Kovalev, it goes without saying, was less talkative than Hopkins. He also seemed light years more grounded than the man who calls himself, in all seriousness, The Alien.
?I?m very, very serious,? explained Hopkins. ?I am different than human beings that I?ve talked to and human beings that I interact with who can?t understand me. But I can understand them. So it?s not a joke. It wasn?t a joke. And it?s definitely not a joke now since they realized it?s not a joke.?
It might not be a joke, but some reporters laughed, not out loud but to themselves. In response to the laughter, which The Alien processed telepathically, he felt he had to elaborate, in syntax that was out of this world
?When The Executioner executed 20-something contenders, who some one or two became champion and the rest haven?t. So, The Alien is by age. The Alien is the difference between the average person who has a lifestyle that?s not on the radar of an alien. So when you can have that strong discipline to be able to not get involved in a sport and play of this world, whether you?re successful especially, or not successful, then you are looked upon as being strange, different or weird.
?I?m neither of those things, but I am an alien. So that?s where I came up with I have to be an alien, I was diagnosed as being an alien. If you watch 24/7 Dr. Pasternak explained as much as he can, and I don?t think he had his license taken since the 24/7 was shown.
?I really believe and understand that I am different and not a part of this world, but in the world. So that?s why people can?t understand how I can be so disciplined around all the things, recreational things to do when you?re successful, having a little cocktail or a little party, or a little celebration, or as they say, the humans, ?let your hair down.??
Having established his intergalactic bona fides, at the same time as he expressed his disdain for trifles like cocktails, The Alien?s starry-eyed analyses of human foibles ceased. His attention shifted from the stratosphere to solid ground. The subject addressed the object. The subject addressed boxing, specifically his upcoming fight with Sergey Kovalev.
?There are multiple things that will be debated,? Hopkins said, ?which were more historic in boxing, when everything is said and done. To me it?s not just another fight, because I?ve been playing it cheap, and it?s not. This is one of the significant fights of the year, if not one of the fights of the year. I just want to make sure that when there is debate about Bernard Hopkins? legacy, that people will be up all hours of the night debating arguments amongst the world of the experts on trying to figure out where we put this, or do we start this new label, where to start Bernard at the top and anybody else that comes after that underneath.
?So, it might, it might not be. There?s so many things I?ve done in my career. And in 2001 post 9/11 unification, in boxing we don?t get that a lot, but that?s why it was significant to me, to be able to do this 13 years later. You?ve been around this game a long time, and this doesn?t happen the way it is happening for me at this particular time in my life. This is nothing to sneeze at, that?s the main thing, but just being able to be around as long as I?ve been and still fresh as a daisy. I believe, and I?ll prove it November 8th, there?s no definition really behind it. Just enjoy it, understand it, and realize that you might not be alive to see it again.?
Hopkins, at 49, may or may not be fresh as a daisy, but assuming he is, how would a daisy measure up against someone known as Krusher?
?I don?t really know. I don?t really know, because The Executioner really put down a profound trail to be able to just try to compete. I?ll let the people see and debate, and this is the pleasure of being in this position. The multiple things that I achieved, the oldest fighter, breaking his own record, the first middleweight to become light heavyweight, Ray Robinson couldn?t do it because he couldn?t answer the 15-round bell. This is something that is going to be debated because there?s so many things to debate about one man?s career. And so to me that?s definitely not a negative. That?s a positive.?
Hopkins relationship with the press is prickly. He?s been dismissed so many times, called an old man, told to retire?only to rise like a phoenix from the ashes?that he no longer cares what anyone thinks, says, or writes.
?The thing is that right now if I was using the media to be motivated?which I have for many, many years?that became old after a while. You can only get so much water out of a rock before it?s dry. I?ve been to the well so many times on that particular motivation, it ran its course. The media doesn?t really help or hurt me as far as being motivated. I don?t need the media any more to be motivated.
?I must prove, and I will prove that this is not some promotional hype job. This is something that?s been said about Bernard Hopkins for years and years. He can take care of himself, he can box as long as he wants, and he ruined careers. So, I?m up to bat in a couple of weeks, I?m going to be up to bat again, and just enjoy it because you might never see it in our lifetime. I?m ready to show people in Atlantic City that Atlantic City isn?t dead, and Bernard Hopkins definitely isn?t dead.?
Many believe this bout will be The Alien?s swan song. If it?s not a stinkfest, which Hopkins with his Philly toolbox and trickster mentality can pull off without breaking a sweat, it could be a classic between an exemplary boxer and an equally exemplary puncher.
?If he can punch like everybody says he can punch, there might not be a second chance. But this is the thing; can Kovalev do what he?s been doing to 90 percent of his opponents? Can Bernard Hopkins take a punch that he took from other known big punchers in boxing? But I don?t go in there thinking that. I go in there thinking that I?ve got a game plan, and whatever gun he has I?m not going to run from the gun. I?m going to disarm him. Anybody who knows anything about military police or anything like that, or karate, or anything they might want to say, they will understand what I mean by that. You have a big punch?I?ll disarm you. That?s the game plan that?s not even a secret. It?s just common sense to me. And I?m hoping it?s common sense to anybody that?s listening. Whatever he has, I?ve done many, many times. He?s a human, I?m not, I will disarm him and now let?s fight, let?s see your skills.?
Kovalev says he has no strategy for fighting Hopkins. He says he doesn?t need a strategy. He says he?ll let his hands go and send The Alien into orbit, back to the distant civilization from which he emerged.
?Well,? said Hopkins, ?that is the strategy. He gave it to you already. Having no strategy is a strategy. Kovalev feeds off of what you do and how you react to him. If you?re scared he?s going to get brave. If you?re not he?s got to sharpen up and get his stuff together. Some fighters are like that. I?m not. So I can understand that comment. I?ve been around so long I can read these guys without even them speaking their mind. I understand just by their fighting style or how they fight how they think and what they?re thinking about. Your reaction is how he reacts. He feeds off the energy of the fighters he has fought. I?ve been watching this guy and I know how he breathes, I know how he sits down, I know where he sits down, what he thinks, I know everything about him.?
Love him or hate him, and both are reasonable depending on the weather, few can dispute without forsaking credibility that Hopkins is a legendary fighter. But is he the best ever? Even Hopkins won?t buy into that trope.
?The best fighter ever is Sugar Ray Robinson,? he said. ?To me the best fighter after that is Muhammad Ali, and then the debate starts from on and on from there. My job is to go out and set a profound legacy that will be debated amongst generations where Bernard Hopkins sits in history. Maybe it needed to be a different title, or will be a different title started because of what I?m doing. Maybe I will be the first, and anybody else that accomplished that as years go and I?m dead in my grave will be after that. But right now I?m going to stack that deck so high that every reporter, every historian, everybody that studies boxing and analyzes boxing from the past to now is going to have a difficult time, and that?s the fun part about it, because I want them to have a difficult time. But I definitely would never say I?m the best. I would not brand myself that. That?s up for debate amongst history.
?But you notice I?m not on anybody?s pound-for-pound list. I don?t want to be on it after this fight is over when I win it, because to me that would be making me human. I?d be human if I?m amongst other humans on a pound-for-pound list. I?m saying that because I?m setting a different bar, and it?s going to be so high I don?t think anybody is going to reach it in my lifetime, or yours.?
There?s no arguing with that.
