Quotes from the Hopkins-Dawson Press Tour

Published

14 years ago

August 11, 2011

408 Here is a collection of quotes from Bernard Hopkins, Chad Dawson and others taking part in the Oct. 15 promotion which will unfold at the Staples Center in LA. The fighters were present at press conferences in California and New York this week.

BERNARD HOPKINS, WBC & Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight World Champion

“When you get tired of making history or tired of competing, you will get exposed.

“In basketball you can call time out. In football you can call timeout. In boxing either you fight or you quit.

“In my career I have gone 12-1 against southpaws. The only loss was to Joe Calzaghe, a fight which most people say I won. It was what it was. I love fighting southpaws because I am very unorthodox. I don’t do things regularly and I am not a regular fighter.

“When you look at my resume and then you look at Chad’s resume, it is like looking at Harvard and community college. No disrespect to community college.

“Age and wisdom cannot be compromised. I have a PhD in what I do. It says that I am 46 years old on my birth certificate. It can be argued that I m 10 years younger than I actually am.

“Me and Father Time are always debating whether it is time or not. I get cramps. I get aches. I am human and I am willing to take that chance. I am willing to walk that tight rope without a safety net. That is what fighting means to me. To be daring or to be dangerous takes courage.

“The light heavyweight division is alive right now. It isn’t because of my seven or eight pushups. It is because of the activity of my last two fights.

“I don’t want Chad to be the laid back Chad. I don’t need him laid back. To be laid back on an old man is not good; you are doing me a favor. I want you to give me something to work against so I can be better. I am a good dancer, if my partner is just okay, it makes me look bad.

[To Dawson] “Lets work together to see who whoops whose ass worse.

“Chumps do exist in boxing. This sport separates the chumps from champs.

“Chad Dawson has to prove that he belongs here and I have to prove that I’m special over and over again. I’m okay with that.

“I am looking forward to eventually breaking Archie Moore’s record of defending a title at the age of 47 or 48. I want that title. I want that record. I want that history.

“I didn’t expect Naazim to give me this money back [Richardson returned his compensation to Hopkins from the Pascal fight]. We can donate this money to a charity that Naazim feels should be supported. We can take this money and do something good. From you to me or me to you we will take this money and put it in a place where it can be productive for a worthy charity.”

“October 15 it is going down at STAPLES Center. History is going to be made again!

CHAD DAWSON, Former Light Heavyweight World Champion

“I want to thank Bernard for finally taking the fight. I want to thank Gary Shaw for believing in me even though I had a bad loss to Jean Pascal.

“I’m excited about my first pay-per-view fight. I have always wanted this fight. I have been chasing this fight for three years.

“A lot of people think I can’t punch. October 15, I am not going for a decision, I am going for a knockout.

“I don’t see any way Bernard can beat me. I have thought that for the last three years and I still think that now.

“Bernard better be on his A-game that night because I am going to be on mine.

“I am excited to be here. I feel better than ever. I’m problem free and stress free. I’m a new Chad.

“This is my ultimate dream. I’m excited.

“He can talk smack as much as he wants. Trash talking sells pay-per-view. I can trash talk, but I just don’t.

“I’m not concerned with what they say on the other side of the table. I’m concerned about them putting the belts around my waist on October 15.

“For me it’s all or nothing. I’m going to give it all or die trying.”

ANTONIO DEMARCO, WBC #1 Rated Lightweight Contender

“I want to work to be world champion. I want to be one of the best.”

JORGE LINARES, Former Two-Division World Champion & WBC #2 Rated Lightweight Contender

“It’s an honor to be fighting on a card with Bernard Hopkins. It’s going to be a great night and a great fight for me.

“It’s like a dream to be here today and have this opportunity to fight here in the U.S.”

KENDALL HOLT, Former World Champion

“I am happy to be here. Not only because I am fighting, but because I am sharing the stage with two great champions.

“I am happy Danny Garcia took this fight. In order to become the best you have to beat the best and I am one of the best.

“I looked at Garcia when he was coming up and I said this kid has a lot of potential. I can’t wait to see this kid in the future. Golden Boy Promotions has done a good job with him. They have gotten him the right fights…up until now.

“When people ask me what my game plan is, I say ‘I am planning on hitting him a lot more times than he hits me.’

“Chad is one of my favorite fighters. Bernard Hopkins, you mean a lot to the sport. I have always admired you. It is going to sadden my heart a little bit to see Chad walk away with that belt.

“Danny, you will be a great champion, but it won’t be on October 15.”

DANNY GARCIA, Undefeated Top Junior Welterweight Prospect

“At 10 years old, I started boxing. I have been boxing for 13 years. This has been one of my dreams to fight at this level, to fight on pay-per-view.

“Brother Naazim Richardson told me when I was very young that everybody gets their chance to eat at the table, not everyone gets to eat at once. He told me that one day you will get that chance, and I think this is my time to eat.

“I have come too far. I sacrificed my childhood and sacrificed what I had to get to this point. After how far I have come, losing is not an option.

“October 15 is my time and I want to be seen as one of the best junior welterweights out there and do it on HBO Pay-Per-View.”

NAAZIM RICHARDSON, Hopkins’ Trainer

“Chad Dawson is a great young fighter. I watched most of the kids grow up. I watched Kendall Holt, I watched Danny Garcia.

“This undercard is going to be awesome. I can’t wait for that.

“You cannot speak about this man [Bernard Hopkins] with anything other than respect.

“To say you don’t like Bernard Hopkins means you don’t like boxing.

“These kids grew up admiring Bernard Hopkins and learning from Bernard Hopkins.

“I have known Bernard for years. It has been an honor for me and the team to work with him. Seeing him in the ring and being a part of history was an honor. Bernard handed me my payment for the Pascal fight, but he was so outstanding and that was enough for me. [Richardson returns his payment to Hopkins].

“I believe in Chad. I believe he is a young light heavyweight. He might be the one of the most technically sound fighters Bernard has fought. Pascal was definitely the most dangerous.

“You cannot underestimate this man [Hopkins]. This is a living legend. This is a great athlete.”

ALEX ARIZA, Linares Strength and Conditioning Trainer

“We’re definitely not taking DeMarco lightly. We never do, but Jorge Linares will be ready.

“We haven’t seen a fighter like Jorge Linares in a long time with that speed power and boxing technique.”

ANGEL GARCIA, Danny Garcia’s Father & Trainer

“It has been a pleasure to see Danny grow up and to be a part of his career. This is the time for Danny ‘Swift’ to make a difference.

“When Danny was born, I knew he was going to be a champion. I knew he was going to be a fighter. He is going to be one fine champion which is what he was meant to be.

“He will become one of the top junior welterweights. We are not taking Kendall Holt lightly, but I hope he isn’t going to take Danny lightly either.

“These are American fighters. These are the ones you [to media] have to make relevant. They are the ones who wear the red, white and blue and represent our country.

“Danny is going to be the junior welterweight champion of the world. As long as I am breathing, that is going to happen.”

RICHARD SCHAEFER, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions

“This is a fight that has been in the making for quite a while. We are happy for the light heavyweight division. We are happy for the sport.

“We have done many fights at Golden Boy Promotions. I think we have come up with many good fight names. There was ‘The World Awaits’ and ‘Lightweight Lightning.’ I really think we really came up with the perfect title for this fight. ‘Believe It Or Not!’??
“Ripley’s Believe It Or Not is a global organization. I encourage those of you who have not been there to visit one of their museums around the country. They are going to promote this fight in their museums and we are very happy to have a real American brand involved in this fight with real American fighters.

“Bernard made believers out of all of us when he beat Kelly Pavlik. Believe me, everyone watching the fight will be believers come October 15.

“I get chills every time I introduce Bernard Hopkins. He is truly a legend.

“Some people don’t realize they’re witnessing history until after the fact. Bernard Hopkins is making history.

“‘Believe It Or Not!’ I think Bernard Hopkins has made believers out of all of us throughout his career.”

GARY SHAW, President & CEO of Gary Shaw Productions

“What Richard and I wanted to do more than anything was to give the fans a great pay-per-view undercard in addition to a great main event. Linares and DeMarco is a great fight. Holt vs. Garcia is a great fight and of then you have the main event.

“It is going to be one hell of a great card. For those going to STAPLES Center and for those of you who will watch it on pay-per-view, you are going to get your money’s worth. We guarantee it.

“We have been chasing Hopkins around the world for three years now. We are glad the cat caught the mouse.

“They [pointing at Golden Boy Promotions’ fighters] are the ‘believers’ and we are the ‘nots.’ This is going to be a big night for Gary Shaw Productions at STAPLES Center and you are going to find out why the believers don’t come true.

“Bernard has done a lot for this sport, but he might not get his due for all that he has done and I mean that.

“Chad is younger. Chad is faster and he is going to be working his jab. His jabs are going to be going up and down faster than Bernard can see them.

“Bernard, with all due respect, you aren’t getting in Chad’s head. It ain’t happening. When the bell rings, Chad is going to jump you’re ass right from the opening bell. You know that and your trainer knows that.”

ANDREA SILVERMAN, General Manager of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Hollywood Attraction

“Ripley’s is honored to be a part of Bernard’s journey as he is a true ‘Believe It Or Not!’

“Amongst Bernard’s endless list of achievements, at age 46, he is the world’s oldest champion in boxing history.

“In 1918, Robert Ripley, an illustrator for a small newspaper, published his first cartoon: Champs or Chumps? Now almost a hundred years later we’re going to find out who is the champ and who is the chump!

MICHAEL HIRSCH, General Manager of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Odditorium Times Square

“Bernard Hopkins’ career is a living breathing Believe It Or Not! including being the oldest person to win a world title. He fits all of the Believe It Or Not! characteristics.

“We are going to have Bernard immortalized in our museums across the world.

“We are really thrilled to be a part of this event. It is our first endeavor being a part of something like this.”

###

“Believe It or Not!: Hopkins vs. Dawson” is a 12-round bout for Hopkins’ WBC and Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight World Championship Titles. The event is presented by Golden Boy Promotions and Gary Shaw Productions and sponsored by Cerveza Tecate, AT&T and Ripley’s Believe It or Not, a new sponsor to the fight game who forged a relationship with Hopkins earlier this year when they made a wax figure of the future Hall of Famer, which will be unveiled during fight week in Los Angeles and displayed at a Ripley’s Odditorium in the future. DeMarco vs. Linares is presented in association with Teiken Promotions.

Tickets for Hopkins vs. Dawson, priced at $300, $150, $75 and $25, are on sale now and are available for purchase online at www.staplescenter.com, www.ticketmaster.com or via Ticketmaster charge-by-phone lines at (800)745-3000.

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Avila Perspective Chap 320: Boots Ennis and Stanionis

Published

10 hours ago

April 11, 2025

David A. Avila

Avila-Perspective-Chap-320:-Boots-Ennis-and-Stanionis.jpg

Jaron “Boots Ennis and Eimantis Stanionus are in the wrong era.

If they had fought in the late 70s and early 80s the boxing world would have seen them regularly on televised fight cards.

Instead, with the world’s attention span diluted by thousands of available programming, this richly talented pair of undefeated welterweights Ennis (33-0, 29 Kos) and Stanionis (15-0, 9 Kos) will battle in the smaller confines of Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Saturday April 12.

Thankfully, DAZN will stream the WBA and IBF welterweight world title fight on the Matchroom Boxing card.

If not for DAZN these two elite fighters and the sport of pro boxing might be completely invisible to the sports entertainment world.

These welterweights are special.

Ennis, a lean whip-quick fighter out of Philadelphia, stylistically reminds me of a Tommy Hearns but not as tall or long-armed as the Detroit fighter of the past.

“Win on Saturday and I’m the WBA, IBF and Ring Magazine champion, and then we’ll see what’s next. But I am zoned in on Stanionis,” said Ennis the IBF titlist.

Lithuania’s Stanionis and his pressure style liken to a Marvelous Marvin Hagler who would walk through fire to reach striking distance of a foes chin or abdomen.

“Ennis is slick, explosive, and they say he’s the future of the division. That’s why I signed the contract. I don’t duck anyone—I run toward the fire,” Stanionis said.

When Hagler and Hearns met in Las Vegas on April 1985, their reputations had been built on television with millions watching against common foes like Roberto Duran and Juan Roldan. Both had different styles just like Stanionis and Ennis and both could punch.

One difference was their ability to take a punch.

Hagler had a chin of steel, Hearns did not.

When Ennis and Stanionis meet in the boxing ring this Saturday, each is facing the most dangerous fighter of his career. Whose chin will hold up is the true question?

“This isn’t gonna be a chess match. This is going to be a war,” said Stanionis who holds the WBA title. “I’m stepping into that ring to test him, break him, and beat him. Let’s see how he handles real pressure.”

Ennis just wants to win.

“I’m at the point right now where I don’t care what people say,” said Ennis. “I’m here to do one thing and that’s put hands on you, that’s it.”

Golden Boy in Oceanside, CA

Next week budding star Charles Conway (21-0, 16 Kos) meets Mexico’s Jorge Garcia Perez (32-4, 26 Kos) in the semi-main event at Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, California on Saturday April 19.

The two super welterweights are both ranked in the top 10 and the winner moves up to the elite level of the very stacked super welterweight division.

Conwell, who trains in Cleveland, Ohio, has been one of boxing’s best kept secrets and someone few champions and contenders want to face. Take my word for it, this kid can fight.

On the main event is undisputed female flyweight world champion Gabriela Fundora (15-0, 7 Kos) defending all her titles against Mexico’s Marilyn Badillo (19-0-1, 3 Kos).

Fundora is quickly becoming the most feared champion in boxing.

360 Promotions

Super welter prospect Sadridden Akhmedov (15-0, 13 Kos) meets Elias Espadas (23-6, 16 Kos) in the main event on Saturday April 19, at the Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif. The 360 Promotions event will be streamed on UFC Fight Pass.

Also, Roxy Verduzco (3-0) meets Jessica Radtke (1-1-1) in a six rounds featherweight battle.

Fights to Watch

Sat. DAZN 5 p.m. Jarron Ennis (33-0) vs Eamantis Stanionis (15-0).

Photo credit: Mark Robinson

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Dzmitry Asanau Flummoxes Francesco Patera on a Ho-Hum Card in Montreal

Published

1 day ago

April 10, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Dzmitry-Asanau-Flummoxes-Franesco-Patera-on-a-Ho-Hum-Card-in-Montreal

Dzmitry Asanau Flummoxes Francesco Patera on a Ho-Hum Card in Montreal

Camille Estephan’s Eye of the Tiger Promotions was at its regular pop stand at the Montreal Casino tonight. Upsets on Estephan’s cards are as rare as snow on the Sahara Desert and tonight was no exception.

The main event was a 10-round lightweight contest between Dzmitry “The Wasp” Asanau and Francesco Patera.

A second-generation prizefighter – his father was reportedly an amateur champion in Russia – Asanau, 28, had a wealth of international amateur experience and represented Belarus in the Tokyo Olympics. His punches didn’t sting like a wasp, but he had too much class for Belgium’s Patera whose claim to fame was that he went 10 rounds with current WBO lightweight champion Keyshawn Davis.

Two of the judges scored every round for the Wasp (10-0, 4 KOs) with the other seeing it 98-92. Patera falls to 30-6.

Co-Feature

Fast-rising Mexican-Canadian welterweight Christopher Guerrero was credited with three knockdowns en route to a one-sided 10-round decision over Oliver Quintana. A two-time Canadian amateur champion, Guererro improved to 14-0 (8).

The fight wasn’t quite as lopsided as what the scorecards read (99-88 and 98-89 twice). None of the knockdowns were particularly harsh and the middle one was a dubious call by the referee.

It was a quick turnaround for Guerrero who scored the best win of his career 8 weeks ago in this ring. The spunky but out-gunned Quintana, whose ledger declined to 22-4, was making his first start outside Mexico.

After his victory, Guerrero was congratulated by ringsider Terence “Bud” Crawford who has a date with Canelo Alvarez in September, purportedly in Las Vegas at the home of the NFL’s Raiders. Canelo has an intervening fight with William Scull on May 4 (May 3 in the U.S.) in Saudi Arabia.

Other Bouts of Note

In a fight without an indelible moment, Mary Spencer improved to 10-2 (6) with a lopsided decision over Ogleidis Suarez (31-6-1). The scores were 99-91 and 100-90 twice. Spencer was making the first defense of her WBA super welterweight title. (She was bumped up from an interim champion to a full champion when Terri Harper vacated the belt.)

A decorated amateur, the 40-year-old Spencer has likely reached her ceiling as a pro. A well-known sports personality in Venezuela, Suarez, 37, returned to the ring in January after a 26-month hiatus. An 18-year pro, she began her career as a junior featherweight.

In a monotonously one-sided fight, Jhon Orobio, a 21-year-old Montreal-based Colombian, advanced to 13-0 (11) with an 8-round shutout over Argentine campaigner Sebastian Aguirre (19-7). Orobio threw the kitchen sink at his rugged Argentine opponent who was never off his feet.

Wyatt Sanford

The pro debut of Nova Scotia’s Wyatt Sanford, a bronze medalist at the Paris Olympics, fell out when Sanford’s opponent was unable to make weight. The opponent, 37-year-old slug Shawn Archer, was reportedly so dehydrated that he had to be hospitalized.

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Remembering Hall of Fame Boxing Trainer Kenny Adams

Published

3 days ago

April 9, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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The flags at the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York, are flying at half-staff in honor of boxing trainer Kenny Adams who passed away Monday (April 7) at age 84 at a hospice in Las Vegas. Adams was formally inducted into the Hall in June of last year but was too ill to attend the ceremony.

A native of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Adams was a retired Army master sergeant who was part of an elite squadron that conducted many harrowing missions behind enemy lines during the Vietnam War. A two-time All-Service boxing champion, his name became more generally known in 1984 when he served as the assistant coach of the U.S. Olympic boxing team that won 11 medals, eight gold, at the Los Angeles Summer Games. In 1988, he was the head coach of the squad that won eight medals, three gold, at the Olympiad in Seoul.

Adams’ work caught the eye of Top Rank honcho Bob Arum who induced Adams to move to Las Vegas and coach a team of fledgling pros that he had recently signed. Bantamweight Eddie Cook and junior featherweight Kennedy McKinney, Adams’ first two champions, bubbled out of that pod. Both represented the U.S. Army as amateurs. McKinney was an Olympic gold medalist. Adams would eventually play an instrumental role in the development of more than two dozen world title-holders including such notables as Diego Corrales, Edwin Valero, Freddie Norwood, and Terence Crawford.

When Eddie Cook won his title from Venezuela’s 36-1 Israel Contreras, it was a big upset. Adams, the subject of a 2023 profile in these pages, was subsequently on the winning side of two upsets of far greater magnitude. He prepared French journeyman Rene Jacquot for Jacquot’s date with Donald Curry on Feb. 11 1989 and prepared Vincent Phillips for his engagement with Kostya Tszyu on May 31, 1997.

Jacquot won a unanimous decision over Curry. Phillips stopped Tszyu in the 10^th frame. Both fights were named Upset of the Year by The Ring magazine.

Adams’ home-away-from-home in his final years as a boxing coach was the DLX boxing gym which opened in the summer of 2020 in a former dry cleaning establishment on the west-central side of the city. It was fortuitous to the gym’s owner Trudy Nevins that Adams happened to live a few short blocks away.

“He helped me get the place up and running,” notes Nevins who endowed a chair, as it were, in honor of her esteemed helpmate.

No one in the Las Vegas boxing community was closer to Kenny Adams than Brandon Woods. “He was a mentor to me in boxing and in life in general, a father figure,” says Woods, who currently trains Trevor McCumby and Rocky Hernandez, among others.

Akin to Adams, Woods is a Missourian. His connection to Adams comes through his amateur coach Frank Flores, a former teammate of Adams on an all-Service boxing team and an assistant under Adams with the 1988 U.S. Olympic squad.

Woods was working with Nonito Donaire when he learned that he had cancer (now in remission). He cajoled Kenny Adams out of retirement to assist with the training of the Las Vegas-based Filipino and they were subsequently in the corner of Woods’ fighter DeeJay Kriel when the South African challenged IBF 105-pound title-holder Carlos Licona at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Feb. 16, 2019.

This would be the last time they worked together in the corner and it proved to be a joyous occasion.

After 11 rounds, the heavily favored Licona, a local fighter trained by Robert Garcia, had a seemingly insurmountable lead. He was ahead by seven points on two of the scorecards. In the final round, Kriel knocked him down three times and won by TKO.

“I will always remember the pep talk that Kenny gave DeeJay before that final round,” says Woods. “He said ‘You mean to tell me that you came all the way from across the pond to get to this point and not win a title?’ but in language more colorful than that; I’m paraphrasing.”

“After the fight, Kenny said to me, ‘In all my years of training guys, I never saw that.’”

The fight attracted little attention before or after (it wasn’t the main event), but it would enter the history books. Boxing writer Eric Raskin, citing research by Steve Farhood, notes that there have been only 16 instances of a boxer winning a world title fight by way of a last-round stoppage of a bout he was losing. The most famous example is the first fight between Julio Cesar Chavez and Meldrick Taylor. Kriel vs. Licona now appears on the same list.

Brandon Woods notes that the Veterans Administration moved Adams around quite a bit in his final months, shuffling him to hospitals in North Las Vegas, Kingman, Arizona, and then Boulder City (NV) before he was placed in a hospice.

When Woods visited Adams last week, Adams could not speak. “If you can hear me, I would say to him, please blink your eyes. He blinked.

“There are a couple of people in my life I thought would never leave us and Kenny is one,” said Woods with a lump in his throat.

Photo credit: Supreme Boxing

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