It?s a safe bet that Bernard Hopkins will be talking come Sunday morning.
What happens on Saturday night, however, could go a long way to determining how much the 47-year-old light heavyweight champion actually speaks.
In a rare pre-fight move, the always-loquacious Hopkins (52-5-2, 32 KOs) has been largely mum ahead of his rematch Saturday night against Chad Dawson (HBO will televise at 10:15 PM ET). Hopkins has been known to fill a writer?s notebook and kill the battery on more than one tape-recorder.
But getting him to talk this time has been quite the ordeal.
?At the end of the day, I really don?t have too much to say but this is protocol,? Hopkins said last week during a teleconference meant to promote the bout. ?You have to do things to bring peoples interest,? he continued. ?So I understand that. But right now it?s too much for me to say. The only thing I want to do is this show. Whoever can make it, make it. Whoever don?t, don?t. It?ll be on TV.?
?April 28th is the only thing I want to say, the only thing I want to show and you?re going to see it,? promised the living legend. ?You?re going to want to come up and shake my hand and tell me how great I am. And that?s when I?m going to say, ?Thank you,? and go home and sleep in my bed that I haven?t been in for nine weeks.?
The reserved demeanor of Hopkins isn?t one many fans or media are accustomed to, but it?s understandable.
After earning a considerable measure of goodwill last spring when he beat Jean Pascal to become the oldest fighter to ever win a championship, Hopkins seemingly lost much of it after the abbreviated affair with Dawson in October. Hopkins was tossed to the mat in the second round, said he hurt his shoulder and after originally ruling the bout a TKO win for Dawson, the fight was changed to a no-contest.
The fight was both a commercial and aesthetic failure. Dawson and his promoter Gary Shaw claimed the injury was a fluke. Hopkins claimed it wasn?t and neither fighters stock improved.
And now Hopkins, a Hall of Famer the minute he becomes eligible, feels that he has something to prove.
?I will see a rabbit out of a hat,? pledged Hopkins. ?I will say I?ll just continue to kick the naysayer?s ass in and out of the ring, because that?s the task that I?ve always been up against. And I don?t mind that. It?s not anger. It?s a challenge! You all have been my biggest motivator. Without that, it wouldn?t be me where I?ve been.?
?I believe I?m the most underrated fighter that ever walked on the planet Earth that reached this level,? he continued. ?When it comes to speed, when it comes to talent, when it comes to hit and not get hit without running, when it comes to the basic fundamentals of boxing, I believe that I?m the most underrated fighter that ever laced a pair of gloves on, that reached a level that I?ve reached in my 24 years. And that?s a motivation for me to keep pushing, to prove that I?ve been and who I am.?
At his age and level of accomplishment, it would be easy to understand a lack of motivation on Hopkins? behalf. He has won more fights against more favorites more times than arguably any other fighter in the game today. Hopkins has been beating guys younger than him for years now. So this is just another day at the office for the champion.
But it?s not easy to get excited about the talented but insipid Dawson.
So Hopkins has stopped talking, built up an old motivation for himself and has trained to prove the critics wrong once again.
Silently or loudly, Hopkins moves goes into Saturday?s fight the only way he ever has ? by doing it his way.
