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D-Hop Still Fighting Way Out of Uncle Bernard's Shadow
Four years after an unsuccessful title shot against Holt (left), Demetrius craves another shot. His uncle can help set the table, but D-Hop needs to get cookin' to secure the opportunity. (Hogan)
It is one of those perplexing questions that does not have one absolutely correct answer. Does being the relative of a famous person help or hinder oneâs individual development? Is it better to bask in anotherâs reflected glory, or to try to make your own mark in the world?
For comebacking junior middleweight Demetrius âThe Gladiatorâ Hopkins, his response to the complexities posed by his special but hardly unique circumstances has been to sample bits from both Column A and Column B. For the moment, he again has cast his lot with his Hall of Fame-bound uncle, Bernard âThe Executionerâ Hopkins, whose tough-love approach to his nephewâs boxing career has occasionally been the source of friction between the two.
âIâm OK with Bernard,â Demetrius said. âI respect and appreciate what heâs accomplished, and what heâs trying to do to get me back into a position where I can fight for a world championship. Iâm a Hopkins; nothing can change that. Iâm proud to be a Hopkins. But Iâm older, and Iâve learned from some of the things that have happened in the past. Itâs time for me to really establish my own identity as a fighter, my own legacy.â
The younger Hopkins, who once was the IBFâs second-ranked junior welterweight contender, is now 32 and again bidding to regain a measure of relevance at a higher weight, albeit with somewhat lowered expectations. D-Hop (31-2-1, 11 KOs) takes on 36-year-old journeyman Keenan Collins (14-7-3, 9 KOs), of York, Pa., in a non-televised eight-rounder Saturday night in Atlantic Cityâs Boardwalk Hall, on the undercard of an HBO World Championship Boxing doubleheader headlined by the matchup of WBC lightweight champion Antonio DeMarco (28-2-1, 21 KOs) and Adrien Broner (24-0, 20 KOs). The co-feature pits heavyweights Seth Mitchell (24-0, 20 KOs) and Johnathon Banks (28-1-1, 18 KOs) for Mitchellâs NABO title as well as the vacant WBC International belt.
The card is being staged by D-Hopâs once and perhaps future promotional company, Golden Boy, in conjunction with R&R Promotions and Gary Shaw Productions. And if you think that Bernard Hopkinsâ position as a Golden Boy executive is mostly responsible for Demetrius getting what is tantamount to another tryout for a regular gig with GBP, youâd be correct.
âThereâs a lot of people that gave me second chances,â Bernard said of Demetriusâ second bid to become part of the Golden Boy stable, the first being sandwiched between stints with Duva Boxing and Main Events. âThere are people that gave me third, fourth and fifth chances. You canât walk around with the cancer of bitterness.
âBoxing is open to redemption and forgiveness. Havenât I preached that? Havenât I lived that? I got Demetrius on board after five years of not being under Golden Boyâs banner, although heâs not there yet.â
Demetriusâ former manager, Cameron Dunkin, said he believes D-Hop â who lost a split decision to then-WBO junior welterweight champ Kendall Holt on Dec. 13, 2008, in what has been his only shot to date at a world title â has retained enough of his skills to mount another bid at serious contention. But much depends, Dunkin said, on whether Demetrius exhibits the sort of personal and professional discipline for which is uncle in renowned, and which the nephew has too often lacked.
âI got Demetrius a pretty big signing bonus (with Top Rank),â Dunkin recalled. âOne fight we scheduled for him, when he got there he was, I donât know, maybe eight or nine pounds overweight. The fight was canceled and we had to pay the opponent something like $12,000. So things started off kind of rough.
âBut he still got that title fight with Holt. After that, though, it never really got going again. It wasnât all Demetriusâ fault; things just never fell into place like we all thought they should have. You have to remember, though, that he took the Holt fight on short notice. He had to drop a lot of weight fast. Who knows? If he had beaten Holt, this might be a completely different conversation.â
Dunkinâs exasperation with Demetrius owed not only to the fighterâs failure to fully capitalize on his obvious talent, but with out-of-the-ring issues, one of which was his 2009 arrest on a warrant for an outstanding debt for child support.
âLetâs face it, if he had gone with Bernard from the beginning, I donât think he ever would have come to me,â Dunkin said. âHe and Bernard werenât getting along and he needed someone to try to move him and get him fights.
âBeing Bernardâs nephew, I think, was a benefit to Demetrius in a lot of ways. It separated him from the pack a little bit. But Demetrius got caught up in it at times. He thought that having the Hopkins name should have helped him more than it did, but that doesnât get it done. At some point, you have to show you can do it all by yourself.
âWhich is not to say he couldnât have gotten it done then, or canât get it done now. You see guys who are shot at 25 or 26. Bernard is nearly 50 and he isnât shot. Boxing is a sport where one size doesnât fit all. Demetrius is only 32. He has so much ability. I brought him out here (to Las Vegas) to camp and he sparred with one of my middleweights, whoâs undefeated now. Demetrius just played with him. People who saw that session almost couldnât believe how good he was. If he really dedicates himself now, I definitely think he can win a world championship.â
Not that total dedication to their craft is necessarily a family trait shared by both fighting Hopkinses.
âI remember Bozy (D-Hopâs former trainer, Derek âBozyâ Ennis) telling him, `You can say what you want about your uncle, but Bernard takes care of himself. He trains, heâs dedicated, heâs a true professional prizefighter,ââ Dunkin said. âBernard lives like that life 365 days a year. There arenât a lot of those guys around.â
Bernard Hopkinsâ adherence to a strict code of conduct, one he constantly tried to impose upon Demetrius, the son of his older sister, Bernadette, at various times spurred the nephew push himself harder. But it also frequently raised the kidâs hackles.
âI gave Demetrius his first pair of gloves,â Bernard said before his 2005 first bout with Jermain Taylor. âDemetrius would cry all the time. Iâd tell Bernadette that heâd always be in trouble if he didnât stand up to the tough guys who were giving him a hard time. So I took him around the corner to Mr. (Jazz) Jarrett, right in the basement, and put the gloves on him. Within a month, nobody was picking on Demetrius anymore. Within a year, he was putting combinations together and winning these little trophies, and he was hooked.
âIt was an accident it happened that way, but, you know, he at least had to learn how to defend himself.â
As he got older, Demetrius sought to assert his independence from Bernard. Upon withdrawing from Temple University in 2000, he signed his first promotional contract with Dino Duva, against Bernardâs advice, and he only temporarily was trained by Bernardâs longtime chief second, Bouie Fisher (now deceased), preferring to return to Ennis. (Demetrius is now trained by Danny Davis.) The two also squabbled about other things, raising an already high tension level.
âThere is a lot of pressure,â Demetrius said in June 2003. âPeople always want to compare me to my uncle. Itâs like I canât ever have a bad day or somebody will say, `Youâre not as good as Bernard.ââ
Nor were unflattering comparisons of his ring achievements in comparison to Bernardâs the only source of irritation for Demetrius.
âMy uncle and me have our differences,â he said in 2008. âItâs not going to work out between me and him. The man kicked me out of my apartment. He kicked me, my son and my fiancĂ©e out.
âWe donât get along. Itâs been like that for a while. Itâs a shame. Heâs got to learn how to talk to people and respect people.â
But time and circumstances, if not healing all wounds, at least provide grounds for uneasy truces. Besides, maybe the old saying really is true that blood is thicker than water.
Demetrius admittedly has much ground to make up. He fought just once in 2011, a 10-round, unanimous-decision loss to Brad Solomon, and once this year, an eight-round, unanimous decision over Doel Carrasquillo in Costa Mesa, Calif., with Bernard at ringside. An impressive showing against Collins could serve the purpose of reminding fight fans that he still is out there, and maybe as a potential factor in his new weight class.
âDemetrius understands that he represents not only himself in the ring, but the legacy of the Hopkins family,â Bernard said in 2005, a fact of life that neither man is apparently unable to overlook even if they wanted to.
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Ramon Cardenas Channels Micky Ward and KOs Eduardo Ramirez on ProBox
The Wednesday night bi-monthly series of fights on the ProBox TV platform is the best deal in boxing; the livestream is free with no strings attached! Tonightâs episode was headlined by a super bantamweight match between San Antonioâs Ramon Cardenas and Eduardo Ramirez who brought a caravan of rooters from his hometown in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico.
Cardenas, coached by Joel Diaz, entered the contest ranked #4 by the WBA. He was expected to handle Ramirez with little difficulty, but this was a close, tactical fight through eight frames when lightning struck in the form of a left hook to liver the from Cardenas. Ramirez went down on one knee and wasnât able to beat the count. It was as if Cardenas summoned the ghost of Micky Ward who had a penchant for terminating fights with the same punch that arrived out of the blue.
The official time was 1:37 of round time. Cardenas improved to 25-1 with his14th win inside the distance. Ramirez, who was stopped in the opening round by Nick âWreckingâ Ball in London in his lone previous fight outside Mexico, falls to 23-3-3.
Co-Feature
In an upset, Tijuana super welterweight Damian Sosa won a split decision over previously undefeated Marques Valle, a local area fighter who was stepping up in class in his first 10-round go. Sosa was the aggressor, repeatedly backing his taller opponent into the ropes where Valle was unable to get good leverage behind his punches.
The 25-year-old Valle, managed by the influential David McWater, was the house fighter. This was his 10th appearance in this building. He brought a 10-0 (7) record and was hoping to emulate the success of his younger brother Dominic Valle who scored a second-round stoppage of his opponent in this ring two weeks ago, improving to 9-0. But Sosa, who brought a 24-2 record, proved to be a bridge too high.
The judges had it 97-93 and 96-94 for the Tijuana invader and a disgraceful 98-92 for the house fighter.
Also
In a fight whose abrupt ending would be echoed by the main event, 34-year-old SoCal featherweight Ronny Rios, now training in Las Vegas, returned to the ring after a 22-month hiatus and scored a fifth-round stoppage over Nicolas Polanco of the Dominican Republic.
A three-punch combo climaxed by a left hook to the liver took the breath out of Polanco who slumped to his knees and was counted out. A two-time world title challenger, Rios advanced to 34-4 (17 KOs). Polanco, 34, declined to 21-6-1. The official time was 0:54 of round five.
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The next ProBox show (Wednesday, May 8) will have an international cast with fighters from Kazakhstan, Japan, Mongolia, and the United Kingdom. In the main event, Liverpoolâs Robbie Davies Jr will make his U.S. debut against the California-based Kazakh Sergey Lipinets.
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Haney-Garcia Redux with the Focus on Harvey Dock
Saturdayâs skirmish between Ryan Garcia and WBC super lightweight champion Devin Haney was a messy affair, and yet a hugely entertaining fight fused with great drama. In the aftermath, Garcia and Haney were celebrated â the former for fooling all the experts and the latter for his gallant performance in a losing effort â but there were only brickbats for the third man in the ring, referee Harvey Dock.
Devin Haney was plainly ahead heading into the seventh frame when there was a sudden turnabout when Garcia put him on the canvas with his vaunted left hook. Moments later, Dock deducted a point from Garcia for a late punch coming out of a break. The deduction forced a temporary cease-fire that gave Haney a few precious seconds to regain his faculties. Before the round was over, Haney was on the deck twice more but these were ruled slips.
The deduction, which effectively negated the knockdown, struck many as too heavy-handed as Dock hadnât previously issued a warning for this infraction. Moreover, many thought he could have taken a point away from Haney for excessive clinching. As for Haneyâs second and third trips to the canvas in round seven, they struck this reporter â watching at home â as borderline, sufficient to give referee Dock the benefit of the doubt.
In a post-fight interview, Ryan Garcia faulted the referee for denying him the satisfaction of a TKO. âAt the end of the day, Harvey Dock, I think he was tripping,â said Garcia. âHe could have stopped that fight.â
Those that played the rounds proposition, placing their coin on the âunder,â undoubtedly felt the same way.
The internet lit up with comments assailing Dockâs competence and/or his character. Some of the ponderings were whimsical, but they were swamped by the scurrilous screeching of dolts who find a conspiracy under every rock.
Stephen A. Smith, reputedly Americaâs highest-paid TV sports personality, was among those that felt a need to weigh-in: âThis referee is absolutely terribleâŠ.Unreal! Horrible officiating,â tweeted Stephen A whose primary area of expertise is basketball.
Harvey Dock
Dock fought as an amateur and had one professional fight, winning a four-round decision over a fellow novice on a show at a non-gaming resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. He says that as an amateur he was merely average, but he was better than that, a New Jersey and regional amateur champion in 1993 and 1994 while a student New Jerseyâs Essex County Community College where he majored in journalism.
A passionate fan of Sugar Ray Leonard, he started officiating amateur fights in 1998 and six years later, at age 32, had his first documented action at the professional level, working low-level cards in New Jersey. The top boxing referees, to a far greater extent than the top judges, had long apprenticeships, having worked their way up from the boonies and Dock is no exception.
Per boxrec, Haney vs Garcia was Harvey Dockâs 364th assignment in the pros and his forty-second world title fight. Some of those title fights were title in name only, they werenât even main events, but, bit by bit, more lucrative offerings started coming his way.
On May 13, 2023, Dock worked his first fights in Nevada, a 4-rounder and then a 12-rounder on a card at the Cosmopolitan topped by the 140-pound title fight between Rolly Romero and Ismael Barroso. It was the first time that this reporter got to watch Dock in the flesh.
Ironically (in hindsight), the card would be remembered for the actions of a referee, in this case Tony Weeks who handled the main event. Barroso was winning the fight on all three cards when Weeks stepped in and waived it off in the ninth round after Romero cornered Barroso against the ropes and let loose a barrage of punches, none of which landed cleanly. Few âpremature stoppagesâ were ever as garishly, nay ghoulishly, premature.
With all the brickbats raining down on Weeks, I felt a need to tamp down the noise by diverting attention away from Tony Weeks and toward Harvey Dock and took to the TSS Forum to share my thoughts. Referencing the 12-rounder, a robust junior welterweight affair between Batyr Akhmedov and Kenneth Sims Jr, I noted that Dockâs Las Vegas debut went smoothly. He glided effortlessly around the ring, making him inconspicuous, the mark of a good referee. (This post ran on May 15, two days after the fight.)
Folks at the Nevada State Athletic Commission were also paying attention. Dock was back in Las Vegas the following week to referee the lightweight title fight between Devin Haney and Vasyl Lomachenko and before the year was out, he would be tabbed to referee the biggest non-heavyweight fight of the year, the July 29 match in Las Vegas between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr.
The Haney-Garcia fight wasnât Harvey Dockâs best hour, Iâll concede that, but a closer look at his full body of work informs us that he is an outstanding referee.
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While the Haney-Garcia bout was in progress, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman threw everyone a curve ball, tweeting on âXâ that Devin Haney would keep his title if he lost the fight. Everyone, including the TV commentators, was under the impression that the title would become vacant in the event that Haney lost.
Sulaiman cited the precedent of Corrales-Castillo II.
FYI: The Corrales-Castillo rematch, originally scheduled for June 3, 2005 and aborted on the day prior when Castillo failed to make weight, finally came off on Oct. 8 of that year, notwithstanding the fact that Castillo failed to make weight once again, scaling three-and-a-half pounds above the lightweight limit. He knocked out Corrales in the fourth round with a left hook that Las Vegas Review-Journal boxing writer Kevin Iole, alluding to the movie âBlazing Saddles,â described as Mongo-esque (translation: the punch would have knocked out a horse). After initially insisting on a rubber match, which had scant chance of happening, WBC president Jose Sulaiman, Mauricioâs late father, ruled that Corrales could keep his title.
Whether or not you agree with Mauricio Sulaimanâs rationale, the timing of his announcement was certainly awkward.
Haneyâs mandatory is Spanish southpaw Sandor Martin (42-3, 15 KOs), a cutie best known for his 2021 upset of Mikey Garcia. A bout between Haney and Martin has the earmarks of a dull fight.
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In a Shocker, Ryan Garcia Confounds the Experts and Upsets Devin Haney
Its good to be crazy. Like a fox.
Ryan âKingRyâ Garcia knocked down WBC super lightweight titlist Devin Haney three times to remind everyone of his fighting abilities in winning by majority decision on Saturday.
âI just knew what I could do,â Garcia said.
Fans will not forget the lanky kid from Victorville, California now.
Garcia (25-1, 20 KOs) fooled everyone in playing crazy weeks before the fight, then showed shocking power to hand Haney (30-1, 15 KOs) his first loss as a professional at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Haneyâs WBC super lightweight title was not at stake for Garcia because he weighed three pounds over the limit.
After Garcia seemingly acting out of control on social media, Haneyâs guard must have slipped in the first round during the first few seconds as Garcia connected with that hellish left hook and Haney, with a look of shock in his eyes, almost went down. He barely survived the first round.
âHe caught me with it,â said Haney.
During the next few rounds, Haney proceeded to advance toward Garcia seemingly fully aware of the lethal left hook. He used feints and rights to score with a busier approach as Garcia seemed cocked and ready to counter with a left hook.
In the fourth round it seemed Haney was confident he had regained control of the fight, but every time he opened up with more than a two-punch combination Garcia reminded him whose hands were faster and more dangerous.
Though Garcia seldom jabbed he seemed bent on looking for the right moment to unleash his deadly left hook. And every time the Southern California fighter opened up with a combination he scored and Haney dare not exchange.
A few times Haney smiled as if signifying he escaped.
In the seventh round Haney looked to punish Garciaâs body and instead was met with a three-punch combination included a left hook to the chin and down went Haney slumped on the ground. He managed to beat the count and as soon as Garcia came within reach Haney wrapped his arms around him with a python grip. Despite the warnings by referee Harvey Dock, the fallen fighter would not release and Garcia impatiently fired a weak punch during the break. The referee deducted a point from Garcia though he could have deducted a point from Haney for not obeying his instructions to release his hold. Haney actually went down three times in the round but only one was counted by the referee.
From that point on Haney was very cautious but still looking to win by decision.
Though Garcia kept using a shoulder-roll defense that left his body exposed, he would retaliate with three and four punch combinations that usually Haney could defend against other fighters.. But Garciaâs blazing combinations were too fast to defend.
In the 10th round Haney looked to attack and was countered by Garciaâs right and a blinding left hook to the chin and another two blows that sent the former undisputed lightweight champion to the floor again.
It didnât look good for Haney to survive.
Garcia walked into the 11th round still composed and never out-of-control He dared Haney to exchange and when within striking distance Garcia unleashed another lightning combination and down went Haney again with a defeated look.
Both fighters had fought each other as amateurs six times so there were no surprises between them. But Garciaâs power and speed were superior and that was the difference in a professional fight.
In the final round both were cautious with Garciaâs combination punching proving too dangerous for Haney to open up. Garcia celebrated early as the round ended confident of victory.
After 12 rounds Garcia was seen the victor by majority decision 112-112, 114-110, 115-109.
âYou really thought I was crazy,â Garcia told the interviewer and the crowd. âYou guys hated on me.â
Other Bouts
Arnold Barboza (30-0) won a curious split decision victory over United Kingdomâs Sean McComb (18-2) in a 10-round super lightweight fight. McCombâs long reach and busy southpaw style gave Barboza trouble. But he managed to win the fight though the crowd was not pleased.
Bektemir Melikuziev (14-1, 10 KOs) defeated Franceâs Pierre Dibombe (22-1-1) by technical decision after eight rounds due to a cut on his eye from an accidental head butt. It was a very competitive super middleweight fight.
Costa Ricaâs David Jimenez (16-1, 11 KOs) outworked John âScrappy Ramirez (13-1, 9 KOs) in a 12-round scrap to upset the Los Angeles based fighter. After a few close rounds Jimenez simply bullied his way inside and forced Ramirez against the ropes and unloaded his guns.
After 12 rounds two judges saw it 117-111 and 116-114 all for Jimenez.
âIâm a hard-working man from Cartago I come from nothing,â said Jimenez. âMy corner told me I had to work inside.â
Charles Conwell (19-0, 14 KOs) stepped on the gas early with vicious body shots and uppercuts and blasted through the resilient Nathaniel Gallimore (22-8-1, 17 KOs) for several rounds. After a brutal fifth and sixth round the referee halted the one-side beating in favor of Conwell who was fighting for the first time under the Golden Boy banner.
Another winner was Sergiy Derevyanchenko (15-5) by decision over Vaughn Alexander (18-11-1) in a super middleweight match.
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