Bernard Hopkins Talks Floyd Mayweather Fight, Making 160 Pounds

Published

10 years ago

October 17, 2013

The always entertaining Bernard Hopkins got on a roll on a Thursday conference call to hype the Oct. 26* Golden Boy card which unfolds at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, and portions of which will run on Showtime (9 PM ET).

He will meet Karo Murat on that night, but as Murat seemingly isn’t in the same class sphere as the pugilistic sage nonpareil, the 48 1/2 year old got cooking about a theoretical fight with Floyd Mayweather, at 160 pounds, and the disrespect shown to fighters who engage in more “sweet science” than brawling.

Hopkins (53-6-2 with 32 KOs) joined the call after Murat and company had the floor.

In a response to my question, Hopkins said that he was asked about a fight against Mayweather recently, so he answered the bigwig who posed the potentiality to him that he’d be open to it. He said he could make 160 pounds if given enough notice, for a May 2014 fight, and that he likes his chances to test Floyd. (The last time Hopkins fought at 160 was way back in 2005, against Jermain Taylor, for the record.) Nobody in their 20s and 30s can test him, he said. But he could, and the promotion would be incredibly exciting. “That’s the reason I threw my hat in there,” he said. He said he’s six pounds from his weight max now. At middleweight, that glorious division..imagine the possibilities, he said.

I got some friendly flak on Twitter from another media member for asking the question, which he termed absurd, but Hopkins himself touched on that when he said the bigwig who posed the superfight to him “sure didn’t look like he was joking.”

I followed up with Showtime boxing boss Stephen Espinoza, wondering if talking about that potential fight is “absurd.”

“No,” he told me. “And if Bernard keeps saying it, you are perfectly justified in asking it.”

He then got on a roll about people not caring for the sweet science. He said Ray Robinson and Leonard would both be considered “boring” today, because too many people crave tradefests. He thinks that the glorification of the Gatti-Ward HBO doc might be bad, because it will encourage young fighters to take too many risks. He is testament, he said, that there is more than one way to stand out in the game, and he lobbied hard for his method, which prizes not getting hit as much as hitting, in order to retain brain cells. (Great point, though I’d point out that he gets tremendous respect from a huge swath of media and fans, and is quite well compensated for doing his thing. Now, will his legacy be the same as those of men like Gatti, who is more willing, for whatever reason, to give parts of themselves in the ring to entertain fans? That remains to be seen. Is it “fair” that we marvel at the manner in which an Arturo Gatti and a Micky Ward ply their trade, and don’t marvel in the same way at the way a Hopkins or an Andre Ward does? Perhaps not..But it is what it is. In general, the most reward goes to those who risk the most. I personally have high regard for each method of combat.)

Hopkins said the best lesson he’s learned is to never take anyone lightly, which he took from “The Art of War,” a book he liked while in prison.

Murat, the challenger whose chances are being universally dismissed, is a German resident. His promoter, Kalle Sauerland, was present on the call. The German spoke perfect English; he said Murat’s been with Sauerland since 2006, and has earned the right to fight Hopkins. Karo has promised him, he said, that he won’t show respect to the 48-year-old. “We believe in our man Karo Murat,” he said.

Murat (25-1- with 15 KOs), born in Irag in 1983, said he likes his chances against Hopkins, who debuted in 1988 as a pro. And does Hopkins look 48 to him? He said he appreciates his accomplishments, but Hopkins “doesn’t have the speed anymore” and the mileage is apparent on him. He said his white hair and gray beard are evidence of that. In Hopkins’ last fight, against Tavoris Cloud, he said he saw a man looking to land one punch, and clinch. Hopkins was asked about these assertions. The elder said his info isn’t correct. “I’m already up four rounds on him,” he said, because Murat has gotten bad intel. Also, “gray is wisdom,” he said. Pavlik, Cloud, these guys figured that out after the fact. As a middleweight, he didn’t clinch so much. Can he stop him from clinching? He won’t divulge how he will do so, he said. But he will do so, he promised.

He touched on his background some. He started boxing at age 13, one year after he came from Iraq, he said. He went with his brothers, he recalled. He won and got in touch with the Sauerland crew.

Murat, who will be fighting for the first time in the US, was asked about potentially overtraining, considering fights for him have been scheduled and then cancelled lately. He said that won’t be an issue at all.

Axel Schultz came over here many moons ago, and fought George Foreman, and was not shown love by the judges. True fans know what Schultz did, he said. “I’m hoping for an impartial referee, and judges and the rest is up to me,” he said.

Golden Boy COO Bruce Binkow took part in the call. He noted that there will be a presser next Wednesday in NYC. He said tix are still available for the Hopkins card. Also, Saturday at 4 PM, he said there will be a presser to hype the Dec. 9 Adrien Broner-Marcos Maidana faceoff.

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*=Peter Quillin will defend his middleweight title, against Gabe Rosado, on the card. Check out this short video of Quillin talking about his path to today here.

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Michael Woods

Canelo-Charlo Gets All the Ink, but Don’t Overlook the Compelling Match-up of Gassiev-Wallin in Turkey

Published

59 mins ago

September 26, 2023

Arne K. Lang

Canelo-Charlo-Gets-All-the-Ink-but-Don't-Overlook-This-Compelling-Match-in-Turkey

Canelo-Charlo Gets All the Ink, but Don’t Overlook the Compelling Match-up of Gassiev-Wallin in Turkey

The eyes of the boxing world will be on Las Vegas this Saturday where Mexican superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez risks his four super middleweight title belts against unified 154-pound champion Jermell Charlo. Earlier that day at a luxury resort hotel in the city of Antalya on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, there’s a heavyweight match sitting under the radar that may prove to be the better fight. It’s an intriguing match-up between former world cruiserweight title-holder Murat Gassiev and Swedish southpaw Otto Wallin, a bout with significant ramifications for boxing’s glamour division.

Gassiev (30-1, 23 KOs) and Wallin (25-1, 14 KOs) have only one loss, but those setbacks came against the top dogs in the division. Gassiev was out-boxed by Oleksandr Usyk back in the days when both were cruiserweights. Wallin gave Tyson Fury a world of trouble before losing a unanimous decision.

Since those fights, both have been treading water.

Gassiev

Gassiev was inactive for 27 months after his match with Usyk while dealing with legal issues and an injury to his left shoulder. He is 4-0 (4 KOs) since returning to the ring while answering the bell for only eight rounds. The only recognizable name among those four victims is German gatekeeper Michael Wallisch. After stopping Wallisch, Gassiev was out of action for another 13 months while reportedly dealing with an arm injury.

A first-round knockout of Carlouse Welch, an obscure 40-something boxer from the U.S. state of Georgia on Aug. 26, 2022, in Belgrade, Serbia, was promoted as a title fight. The sanctioning body was the Eurasian Boxing Parliament (insert your own punchline here). Gassiev followed that up with a second-round knockout of former NFL linebacker Mike Balogun who came in undefeated and was seemingly a legitimate threat to him.

Although he has yet to fight a ranked opponent since leaving the cruiserweight division, Gassiev — a former stablemate of Gennady Golovkin who has been living in Big Bear, California, training under Abel Sanchez – is one of the most respected fighters in the division because he has one-punch knockout power as Balogun and others can well attest. The rub against the Russian-Armenian bruiser is that he is somewhat robotic.

Wallin

Otto Wallin, a 32-year-old southpaw from Sweden who trains in New York under former world lightweight champion Joey Gamache, fought Tyson Fury on Sept. 14, 2019 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. There was a general feeling that the Swede would be a stroll in the park for Fury, but to the contrary, he gave the Gypsy King a hard tussle while losing a unanimous decision.

Wallin is 5-0 since that night beginning with victories over Travis Kauffman (KO 5) and Dominic Breazeale (UD 12), but his last three opponents were softer than soft and all three lasted the distance. In order, Wallin won an 8-round decision over Kamil Sokolowski, who was 11-24-2 heading in, won a 10-round decision over ancient Rydell Booker, and won an 8-round decision over Helaman Olguin. His bout with Utah trial horse Olguin was at a banquet hall in Windham, New Hampshire.

It isn’t that Wallin has been avoiding the top names in the division; it’s the other way around. His promoter Dmitriy Salita reportedly came close to getting Wallin a match with Anthony Joshua whose team had second thoughts about sending Joshua in against another southpaw after back-to-back setbacks to Oleksandr Usyk.

Gassiev vs Wallin is a true crossroads fight. Both are in dire need of a win over a credible opponent. At last look, Gassiev, who figures to have the crowd in his corner, was a 3/1 favorite.

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Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

Published

2 days ago

September 24, 2023

David A. Avila

Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

LONG BEACH, Ca.-A cool autumn night saw welterweights and minimumweights share main events for a MarvNation fight card on Saturday.

Ukraine’s Eduard Skavynskyi (15-0, 7 KOs) experienced a tangled mess against the awkward Alejandro Frias (14-10-2) but won by decision after eight rounds in a welterweight contest at the indoor furnace called the Thunder Studios.

It was hot in there for the more than 600 people inside.

Skavynskyi probably never fought someone like Mexico’s Frias whose style was the opposite of the Ukrainian’s fundamentally sound one-two style. But round after round the rough edges became more familiar.

Neither fighter was ever damaged but all three judges saw Skavynskyi the winner by unanimous decision 79-73 on all three cards. The Ukrainian fighter trains in Ventura.

Bustillo Wins Rematch

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In the female main event Las Vegas’ Yadira Bustillos (8-1) stepped into a rematch with Karen Lindenmuth (5-2) and immediately proved the lessons learned from their first encounter.

Bustillos connected solidly with an overhand right and staggered Lindenmuth but never came close to putting the pressure fighter down. Still, Bustillos kept turning the hard rushing Lindenmuth and snapping her head with overhand rights and check left hooks.

Lindenmuth usually overwhelms most opponents with a smothering attack that causes panic. But not against Bustillos who seemed quite comfortable all eight rounds in slipping blows and countering back.

After eight rounds all three judges scored the contest for Bustillos 78-74 and 80-72 twice. Body shots were especially effective for the Las Vegas fighter in the fifth round. Bustillos competes in the same division as IBF/WBO title-holder Yokasta Valle.

Other Bouts

In a middleweight clash, undefeated Victorville’s Andrew Buchanan (3-0-1) used effective combination punching to defeat Mexico’s Fredy Vargas (2-1-1) after six rounds. Two judges scored it 59-55 and a third 60-54 for Buchanan. No knockdowns were scored.

A super lightweight match saw Sergio Aldana win his pro debut by decision after four rounds versus Gerardo Fuentes (2-9-1).

Photos credit: Al Applerose

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Tedious Fights and a Controversial Draw Smudge the Matchroom Boxing Card in Orlando

Published

3 days ago

September 23, 2023

Arne K. Lang

Tedious-Fights-and-a-Controversial-Draw-Smudge-the-Matchroom-Boxing-Card-in-Orlando

Matchroom Boxing was at the sprawling Royale Caribe Resort Hotel in Orlando, Florida tonight with a card that aired on DAZN. The main event was a ho-hum affair between super lightweights Richardson Hitchins and Jose Zepeda.

SoCal’s Zepeda has been in some wars in the past, notably his savage tussle with Ivan Baranchyk, but tonight he brought little to the table and was outclassed by the lanky Hitchins who won all 12 rounds on two of the cards and 11 rounds on the other. There were no knockdowns, but Zepeda suffered a cut on his forehead in round seven that was deemed to be the product of an accidental head butt and another clash in round ten forced a respite in the action although Hitchins suffered no apparent damage.

It was the sort of fight where each round was pretty much a carbon of the round preceding it. Brooklyn’s Hitchins, who improved to 17-0 (7), was content to pepper Zepeda with his jab, and the 34-year-old SoCal southpaw, who brought a 37-3 record, was never able to penetrate his defense and land anything meaningful.

Hitchins signed with Floyd Mayweather Jr’s promotional outfit coming out of the amateur ranks and his style is reminiscent in ways of his former mentor. Like Mayweather, he loses very few rounds. In his precious engagement, he pitched a shutout over previously undefeated John Bauza.

Co-Feature

In the co-feature, Conor Benn returned to the ring after an absence of 17 months and won a unanimous decision over Mexico’s Rodolfo Orozco. It wasn’t a bad showing by Benn who showed decent boxing skills, but more was expected of him after his name had been bandied about so often in the media. Two of the judges had it 99-91 and the other 96-94.

Benn (22-0, 14 KOs) was a late addition to the card although one suspects that promoter Eddie Hearn purposely kept him under wraps until the week of the fight so as not to deflect the spotlight from the other matches on his show. Benn lost a lucrative date with Chris Eubank Jr when he was suspended by the BBBofC when evidence of a banned substance was found in his system and it’s understood that Hearn has designs on re-igniting the match-up with an eye on a date in December. For tonight’s fight, Benn carried a career-high 153 ½ pounds. Mexico’s Orozco, who was making his first appearance in a U.S. ring, declined to 32-4-3.

Other Bouts of Note

The welterweight title fight between WBA/WBC title-holder Jessica McCaskill (15-3-1) and WBO title-holder Sandy Ryan (6-1-1) ended in a draw and the ladies’ retain their respective titles. Ryan worked the body effectively and the general feeling was that she got a raw deal, a sentiment shared by the crowd which booed the decision. There was a switch of favorites in the betting with the late money seemingly all on the Englishwoman who at age 30 was the younger boxer by nine years.

The judges had it 96-94 Ryan, 96-95, and a vilified 97-93 for Chicago’s McCaskill.

In the opener of the main DAZN stream, Houston middleweight Austin “Ammo” Williams, 27, improved to 15-0 (10) with a 10-round unanimous decision over 39-year-old Toronto veteran Steve Rolls (22-3). All three judges had it 97-93. Rolls has been stopped only once, that by Gennady Golovkin.

Photo credit: Ed Mulholland / Matchroom Boxing

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