Story & photos by John DiSanto – PhillyBoxingHistory.com
Bernard Hopkins held court with the media today at an open workout at the Joe Hand Boxing Gym in Philadelphia. The event was in advance of Hopkins’ highly anticipated light heavyweight title bout with Sergey Kovalev, scheduled for November 8th. At the workout to help publicize the fight was promoter Oscar De La Hoya, founder of Golden Boy Promotions. Hopkins and De La Hoya answered questions and Hopkins conducted a light workout.
Oscar de la Hoya: “Kovalev has never fought an athlete like Hopkins. So the question is, ‘How is he going to react when they hit the 4th, 5th, 6th round?’ It will be very interesting, but obviously we’re with Hopkins 100%. Hopkins is fighting with no pressure. He is already in the Hall of Fame when he retires. He’s already going to be talked about as one of the greats in any generation. So he doesn’t have that added pressure to prove himself at this point in his career.”
Bernard Hopkins: “He a dangerous puncher. He has over 90% knockouts. And anybody who fights this guy has the opportunity to not be the same. But I don’t get caught up in what the other guy might or can do. I train. I study. I know me. There’s no fighter in the world that would not put my record up to beat on any given day in this era, in any class. And that’s how I feel. That’s not being cocky. That’s being confident. To be confident you have to have a track record and put that work in to be taken seriously. You can talk about it, but to be about it, is whole different concept.”