Sssh, don?t tell a living soul. Remember, this is Boxingconfidential.com after all. But, if you promise to be quiet, hush-hush and mum?s the word, I can tell you that boxing legend Bernard Hopkins has come up with a way any opponent can stop Manny Pacquiao.
?Just send out a goon squad and kidnap him,? Hopkins told me, laughingly at Wednesday?s Joan Guzman-Humberto Soto WBO super featherweight title bout press conference at the Old Homestead Steakhouse in Manhattan. ?That may be the only way to stop Manny.?
More seriously, Hopkins said he ranks himself as one of the world?s top three active boxers, putting undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the top slot, Megamanny second and himself third. But, going into 2008, Hopkins believes the pressure is on Pretty Boy Floyd to maintain the #1 slot.
?Pac is on Mayweather?s heels, no doubt,? BHop said. ?The pressure is on Floyd in this fight with Ricky Hatton. Floyd can?t just go out there and nip the win. He can?t just go out there and milk the pony, Floyd has the pressure on him to win it spectacularly. I feel the burden, the burden of proof, is on Floyd to really show he?s the top guy as we go into 2008.?
BHop that his old rival and conqueror Roy Jones Jr. would defeat and probably stop the Puerto Rican hero who he beat, Tito Trinidad. Hopkins said that if Jones wins he would be keen on discussing a rematch with His Royness.
?Roy beat me in May of 1993 at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.,? Hopkins said. ?Riddick Bowe-Jesse Ferguson was the main event. But, something like what happened to Mikkel Kessler against Joe Calzaghe, that loss helped me overall. That allowed me to go to the next level mentally and physically. I think Roy TKO?s Tito because of Tito?s inactivity and the fact that Roy has never taken a prolonged beating. Roy has been knocked out, yes, but never beat up.
?I?d be interested in fighting Roy if he wins there, yes, because you always have to be interested in fighting a guy who got the W when you got the L.?
BHop then put in a pitch for his nephew, DHop, Demetrius Hopkins, and said he?d like to see him challenge world champion Paulie Malignaggi next year. Malignaggi is promoted by Hopkins? former nemesis, Lou DiBella.
?I?d like to see Demetrius challenge Paulie,? Hopkins said. ?I?ve got all that history with DiBella, over Jermain Taylor and all the other (legal) stuff. Also it would be a Brooklyn guy against a Philly guy. You could put the fight in New York, Atlantic City or in Philly. Demetrius has no losses and Malignaggi?s only loss is no shame, his loss to unbeaten Miguel Cotto. That Cotto fight gave Malignaggi some great experience.?
Hopkins, always a smooth operator, is becoming as loquacious as the man with the fright wig, Donald King
