FOR HOPKINS, THINGS JUST DIDN’T ADD UP
By Boxing News July 17th, 2005
On this day, Bernard Hopkins is the former middleweight champion of the world, not because the judges bungled it. Not because the entire world is against him. Not necessarily because he came up against an unbeatable fighting machine.
No, Bernard Hopkins is the former middleweight champion today because he made some serious miscalculations. He miscalculated about where he stood in the fight. He miscalculated about his ability to knock out an opponent. He miscalculated about what he had left, which in the end, just wasn’t enough.
And he couldn’t bring himself to admit it.
There’s probably a good reason for that. Veteran champions with twenty “title defenses” under their belt and all the “experience” and “savvy” that are expected to come with it aren’t supposed to be making those kinds of miscalculations.
Unless, of course, the guy with all that experience was experiencing something entirely different.
In this case, it was a real, live legitimate middleweight on his way to the top of the ladder and completely unwilling to be intimidated, before or after the opening bell. That was something Hopkins hadn’t seen in over a decade.
Don’t kid yourself; in what was not the most eventful fight ever contested, Taylor clearly won, and deserved to win. Or to put it more accurately, Hopkins didn’t. Just because you’re the world champion, it doesn’t mean you’re automatically going to win the rounds. Whatever Hopkins’ strategy was, throwing a few punches per stanza wasn’t going to successfully carry it out. That wasn’t any secret; Harold Lederman of the HBO crew made reference to it as the seventh round began.
“I can’t see how you can win a fight by standing straight up and making funny faces at your opponent,” Lederman said as he had given five of the first six rounds to Taylor.
Undoubtedly that reflected what much of the audience had been thinking.
A matchmaker friend of mine said, “Hopkins has always had a little bit of dog in him. If you notice, he didn’t start fighting until Taylor stopped fighting.”
That might be subject to debate, but from my vantage point, if Hopkins won five rounds, that would be a gift. No, I didn’t give him the ninth round, nor did I give him any of the first four. He simply didn’t deserve them. And frankly, this guy had a lot of nerve complaining about the scoring after the fight. It kind of reminded me of the way Pernell Whitaker was talking after being beaten by Felix Trinidad. That is to say, it was the sound of someone in complete denial.
It’s been a common misconception that Hopkins is a guy who’s always operated with a considerable degree of class outside the ring. He’s been seen as someone who fought a quixotic battle against a system that was so grossly unfair to him. I praised him for it, in fact, before the fight with Trinidad. But as far as his problems with promoters are concerned, I’ve since come to the realization that he’s brought a lot of them on himself.
Before the Trinidad fight, I asked Hopkins about his relationship with Lou DiBella during a media teleconference. I remember it so well because I think it’s the only time I’ve ever asked anybody anything during one of those calls. Hopkins told me he was overjoyed with DiBella and wanted to work with DiBella Entertainment after his fighting days were over. Then a couple of months later he made the accusatory statements that led to the defamation lawsuit he eventually lost.
Hopkins hasn’t cooled his jets; if anything, he’s gotten worse. If the quote, “I’m going to make him (DiBella) commit suicide, just like his brother” actually came out of his mouth, well, that would be a real scumbag thing to say.
As for the rematch, I don’t see it bringing a much better result for him. While many insiders figured the time may have been just right for Taylor to unseat this champion, this was also Hopkins’ best shot to beat Taylor. It was an opportunity for the man apparently considered by many to be “one of the five best middleweights of all time” to take advantage of an opponent who had never seen action against a world-class middleweight at the top of his form. Of course, upon reflection, one might be tagging Hopkins with that designation as well, at least as far as the last ten years of his career is concerned.
And though one could see the rudiments of someone who is going to ultimately blow a lot of people away, Taylor was far from perfect. He lost some steam in the later rounds, and after being implored to throw the jab by trainer Pat Burns, he stood there all too often, as if waiting for Hopkins to come with the right lead. Now he knows what Hopkins has in his arsenal. He knows he can go twelve rounds with a world champion. He will view the tape and see what benefits came from sticking a jab in Hopkins’ face. He probably learned more from this fight than he had from his previous twenty-three.
His mind and body can only get stronger from this point forward, which means Hopkins would be in for some trouble. Next time, Taylor might start throwing punches from the outset, and not let up, and if my friend was right, “one of the five best middleweights of all time” may never get untracked.
July 17th, 2005 at 4:21 pm
It was a draw regardless
One of the Judges gave the final round in
which jermaine was just buying time to Taylor.
You forgot to put the associated press scored
the fight for hopkins in your clearly biased
writings. But that would contradict what you
wrote and is based on actual scoring.
July 17th, 2005 at 5:45 pm
I totaly agree with you. Jermaine Taylor win that fight clearly. In my opinion and im a former boxing amateur champion from Puerto Rico he won the ninth round. My sore card was 116-112 J.T. winning by unanimus decition.
thanks,
Kenneth Marrero
July 17th, 2005 at 6:36 pm
I couldn’t agree more… Hopkin’s act has grown old… and he isn’t the nice guy they play him up to be his comment about Lou Dibella expose him. And although I respect his reign it does get tiring to listen to the “World is against me” mantra.. Next time will only be worse……
July 17th, 2005 at 6:38 pm
Hopkins won.
In a championship fight the challenger needs to come out and take the belt, not simply muddle through rounds and survive. Taylor didn’t come close to asserting himself or controlling the fight. He never hurt Hopkins and barely landed clean punches. Sure, he was busier in the early rounds but he didn’t actually accomplish anything. Even though Bernard didn’t throw many punches early on he absolutely succeeded in neutralizing Taylor’s much lauded jab and he dictated the pace of the fight.
When the final bell sounded it was pretty clear to me that Hopkins landed more power punches, confused Taylor, hurt Taylor badly and dominated him in the last 4 rounds with lead overhand-rights and precise counter-punching. All you can say about Taylor is that he was a little busier and slightly more aggressive in the first half of the fight. Rounds 1-8 were close and there wasn’t much action, but Hopkins made Taylor fight his fight. Just the fact that Hopkins took Taylor out of his game was enough for me to give him at least 3 out of the first 8 rounds.
I like Taylor. I’ve watched most of his fights and I think he will have a great career. But he did not earn the Middleweight crown last night and he knows it. In the post-fight interview he hung his head in disappointment and talked about fighting better in the rematch. Quite frankly, Taylor should return the belts to Hopkins and admit the decision was wrong. He simply didn’t give a performance worthy of dethroning the champion.
July 17th, 2005 at 8:29 pm
I heard bernard say he has a lot of love and respect for Roy Jones. I just want to say, that statement is very professional and encouraging to up and coming athletes and young men looking up to world class athletes like bernard hopkins. Just because you have a fight in the ring doesnt mean that you hate that person. they kept the fight in the ring and continued the love outside the ring. It reminded me of what mike tyson did for clifford “the black rhino” ettiene. the man needed money and is also a fellow muslim brother of mike”s so mike gave him a fight, knocked him out,pick him up off the canvas, gave him a hug , clifford said “I love you ,and thank you for giving me this fight when you could have fought someone else for much more money. mike said “your welcome and if you ever need me again you have my # just call me. ( that is business and love) thanks guys for the excellent example for our kids. I explained that to my son (5 years old)and now he has the ultimate respect for the sport and wants to be a professionl athlete himself. always thinking about the kids is very important. That”s where we all got our start from. no matter who you are always repent , ask forgivenes of your sins, be thankful for your blesssings, and pray (on behalf) for others.
July 18th, 2005 at 2:12 am
Mr. Jay,
I fear that your apparent dislike of Hopkins may be clouding your judgement of the fight. I also thought of a Pernell Whitaker fight after watching Hopkins-Taylor, but it was Whitaker-De La Hoya, another match where the superior boxer was denied victory by judges who preferred ineffective ‘aggression’. It was telling that the most expert members of the HBO broadcast team, Emmanuel Steward, Roy Jones Jr. and yes, Max Kellerman actually saw the fight that took place, as opposed to the other cheerleaders, who instead saw the fight that they wanted to take place. Hey, I don’t enjoy Hopkins’ recent style either; it’s negative and boring. But serously, did Taylor land ten solid punches the entire fight? Sure, several of the early rounds were close but how could anyone possibly justify giving the 12th round to Taylor? Hopkins did immense damage in the last four rounds and two of them could have been scored 10-8. Even if Taylor did eke out a close and controversial points win, the fact is he backed into the title. The TV call of this fight was extremely one-sided in my opinion and that usually influences public opinion but I would still guess that less than 50% of people who saw the fight would say that Taylor won it. (Please do a poll asking who people think deserved to win the fight.) Taylor might get the decision again in a rematch but he’d better do it more definitively if he wants to be regarded as the next true middleweight champion by anyone other than HBO, Lou DiBella and the very suggestible.
July 18th, 2005 at 5:50 am
I’M A BOXING HISTORIAN, PLUS VERY “OLD SCHOOL” I BELIVE TO BEAT A CHAMPION YOU HAVE TO KO OR TOTALY DICTATE THE ACTION OF THE FIGHT WINNING EARLY ON INTHE BOUT AN THEN FISNIHING STRONG AT THE END. I DIDN’T SEE THAT COMMING OUT OF TAYLOR AN AT THE TIME OF THE VERDICT HE LOOKED VERY VERY UNSURE IF HE EVEN DESERVED TO GET THE WIN. PEACE ALWAYS ……JUNEBUG?
July 18th, 2005 at 9:56 am
This is the clearest and most accurate commentary on the fight that I’ve seen. I don’t think it can be said better than this. As to what happened and what will happen in the rematch you hit the nail right on the head. Bernard Hopkins was a great champion but like all good things, his reign has now come to an end and I don’t think he will beat Taylor in the rematch. I think he will lose decisively and overwhelmingly the second time around. Bernard believed too much in his own mystique and gave the fight away if anything. I also believe it was not just a case of starting late because of bad judgment but of getting hit with some leather lather that made him more apprehensive about getting hit by Taylor versus smaller less powerful opponents like De LaHoya and Trinidad who were still really welterweights moving up. His run is done and we have a new era in boxing.
The changing of the guard has been happening to all the older champions for 2 years now so this shouldn’t be a surprise. We have a new exciting young crop of fighters in the lower divisions to help keep boxing interesting and hopefully someone can pump some young blood into the heavyweight division. The only fights left for Hopkins to make money off of before he bows out that makes sense is a rematch with Roy Jones, Jr. and perhaps Felix Trinidad. He won’t beat Taylor, he can’t beat Winky, would lose to Tarver, and would possibly be knocked out by Lacy. His best bet is to fight Jones, make his money and ride off into the sunset.
July 18th, 2005 at 11:18 am
hi jay,im with you on most of your comments about hopkins, but i still think he will beat taylor next time out because as you said he was checking taylor out and also waiting for him to slow down some and settle in but he definetly waited to long before he got started. hopkins has alot of animosity towards alot of folks in the game but he dosent have dog in him ,no way,not with what he has accomplished.thats from someone who dosent like him much. he handled the last half of the bout pretty easy and i know he could have done alot more .he is a strong willed guy and i think he will go for all 12 rounds in the rematch and knock out jermain taylor.
taylor can only get better but in this case, so can hopkins because he didnt give it his “do or die” best and all this miscalculation talk from pressrow only tells me that he wont do that again. 6thanks jay
respectfully bill major
July 19th, 2005 at 10:32 am
Mr. Jay, I am no expert on boxing, neither do I gain my livliehood from it, but I did watch the fight on Saturday. The single most important miscalculation Hopkins may have made would be that he started on Taylor too late. If he starts on Taylor in the 7th, then I think we would have a different ending. From my perch, Hopkins started on Taylor in the 8th, and from the 9th through 12th rounds, landed the hook and lead rights quite often. It used to be that the champ had to be defeated decisively to lose, but not in this case. When Ali or Leonard(beloved by the boxing establishment) fought a strategic/tactical fight like Hopkins did, they were praised for using their smarts and whatnot. Based on commentary from Merchant, Lampley and now you, it is clear to me that Hopkins is not the boxing establishement’s guy, so I was not totally surprised by a close fight going to the challenger. Remember Taylor’s dazed I-can’t-believed-I-dodged-a-bullet apologetic post-fight interview. He knew that he had taken a whipping for at least four rounds straight. Not to mention, the marketability of the good-looking kid(Vogue photo layout), that played a part as well. Cutting to the chase: I disagree with your prediction for the next fight. The next time Hopkins kayos the kid.
July 19th, 2005 at 2:27 pm
I agree 100%!
The name of the game in amateur and pro is points! I can’t believe how Bernard’s corner kept telling him to stay outside, your doing good your up.
There wasn’t any since of desperation in the former champs corner!
Yes Bernard probably could have knocked out Taylor out if there was 15 rounds, but it was to little to late! Bernard used the same game plan against is now partner Oscar de lahoya, he woke up in the last two rounds and put Oscar down with that big body shot!
He just couldn’t repeat that performance against a younger, bigger, faster opponent like Jermaine Taylor!
July 20th, 2005 at 6:05 pm
The fight was close, definitely close, but I wouldn’t have been any more surprised by the decision if it were Hopkins winning or a draw. That fight was extremely close. You make it sound like Hopkins was dominted but he landed more punches. He dominated the later rounds because he has Taylor figured out. It took him time to get off, but when he did, Taylor had no answer. That’s why he stopped fighting. He was being taken apart. Hopkings will win a decision in the next fight.
July 21st, 2005 at 12:54 pm
Charles,
Couldn’t agree with you more. Hopkins only has himself to blame for starting way too late. I thought Taylor looked abysmal. I don’t know what Bernard was waiting on quite honestly. When he opened up, Taylor didn’t have much of an answer - but for some wide, roundhouse punches that looked like they were coming from a novice. Both guys were a little tight in this one. Neither man fought anywhere near their best and I think that this would be the rare case where the rematch would far exceed the first match. Hopkins had the better skills, he just didn’t (or couldn’t) use them.
Cheers,
Kurt Emhoff
PS - loved your article on the WBA being up to their old tricks a few weeks back. You and I both have seen that before.
August 25th, 2005 at 6:53 pm
dsimon writes:
With all due respect I think your insights are intelligent, well reasoned and wrong. Hopkins dominated the fight in the later stages and he is the champ. He also hurt his opponent and definitely won the twelfth round.
The champ is given a certain amount of leeway, it is tradition and was not respected in this fight. In the final analysis in a fight where the rounds were about even Hopkins did damage Taylor did not. And Hopkins only did a funny face once. The judge in this case made a very bad decision that should be reversed. The judge should be ashamed of himself for calling that twelfth round the way he did, regardless of whom one thinks won the fight.
Taylor is smart enough to know he didn’t win that fight. His comments and demeanor after the fight reflect somoene who knew he was on the losing end of a close decision.
October 4th, 2005 at 5:33 pm
i am a bernard hopkins fan. i am also from arkansas and like jermaine. i agree with you that bernard may have himself to blame for some of his own problems, but isnt’ that true of every one of us. that said, i believe bernard should have got the decision against taylor. the next time there will be no doubt - jermaime will win clearly. after all, hopkins isn’t getting any younger, but then who is?
October 12th, 2005 at 10:14 pm
being from arkansas i have seen jermaine taylor fight as a novice amateur many years ago. i would like to know if the light-middleweight who beat him in the olympics ever turned pro and if he did how did he do? i beleive that his name was yarkhan ibragiov… i hope i’ve spelt it right. if he has turned pro is he good enough to fight jermain after taylor beats hopkins again?
November 17th, 2005 at 10:17 pm
I think J.T. did win the fight, but i also know that B.H. let him win so he could make more $ in another fight. You watch this next fight and you will see. I lost $ on the last fight because i did’nt think B.H. would want to lose any fight ,but he is smart man and does’nt want to fight after he turns 41 years young. So this will be another big payday for him, and he will retire a champion!!!!!!! watch and see.