Nazim: If Chad swung on me, I’d swing back! If Klitschko swung on me, I’d get a gun!

His prediction on what critics and fans will be saying about the Hopkins-Dawson rematch when all is said and done:

“Let me just tell you something that I want to clarify. Bernard’s going to be mad at me because I’m giving it to the media, because he didn’t want to give it to the media. But I will. The reason why Bernard wouldn’t do stare downs and why he didn’t want to do the stare downs from the first press conference is because Bernard, and I’m an advocate of it, too! I’m so sick of hearing about how Bernard got in this person’s head, how Bernard got in that person’s head, if he blinks his eye, did you see the way Bernard blinked his eye? Oh he’s a cagey veteran! He blinked his eye and got in the kid’s head! Oh did you see the way he tipped his hat? That made Chad mad at the weigh-in! All of this Bernard got in his head, and nobody says Bernard can fight! He always got in somebody’s head. He plays head games! Well if he can play head games why doesn’t he just sit on the couch, call the head game in, and just relax and get his check? I mean it’s ridiculous, and when he beats one of these guys he got in his head! That’s why he didn’t want to do the stare downs or nothing. You can’t say he looked in his eyes in he did that, he said something at the press conference and that did that to him. There will be none of that! It will have to show that Bernard can fight and he is still willing to train and sacrifice his body and his time away from his family to make the commitment to deal with these young guys, while these young guys are out buying Bentleys and being rock stars.

They’re going to say Bernard got in Chad’s head! ‘Chad was doing good and then when Bernard landed that one body shot he mentally did this to Chad’. Or ‘Bernard stepped around and he started mentally looking in Chad’s eyes!’ That’s how I answer the question. It’s going to be the same old, same old! Bernard got in his head! Somehow Bernard manipulated him and got in his head. It’s the same old thing! Like I said, it’s boxing. It’s boxing. People got to write something. What are you going to do? Not do your job? Somebody has got to write something! When you got a guy who’s been around as many years as Bernard what are you going to write that hasn’t been written? If you want to go back to his prison stint, this, that, or the other thing, what can you write that hasn’t been written? You got to write something!

But like I said and I told people, Chad with these young guys, and I said it a long time ago in the light heavyweight division. I said Chad is the most technically sound. Me and Bernard argued about that. He disagrees. I said Chad was the most technically sound of the young guys. Chad has never been a superstar. They tried to make him one, they do interviews, they want to make him a superstar because boxing needs superstars to go forward! The Oscars and all of these guys have retired. So they need future stars. So they pushed. So people want to see the next guy! We want to see the next thing that we can follow for a long time, because we love the sport! So they tried to make him a superstar, but he’s not! He’s a champion. He’s a guy who knows how to win 7 out of 12 rounds. That makes you a champion. There is nothing flashy. There is nothing flamboyant about him. He can do different haircuts and do whatever he wants. You just have to have that to come out with that swagger or not. Some guys got it. Some guys don’t. He don’t have it! He can fight! He’s technically sound! I said Pascal is the most dangerous, because he closes his eyes and he swings for the fence every time. So there is always a chance he can land something, and if a 12 year old kid hits you the way Pascal is swinging he can buzz you. If a 12 year old kid closes his eyes and swings with all of his might, he will sting you with the shot. That’s why Pascal is the most dangerous, and the most aggressive was Tavoris Cloud. So this is what the young guys bring to the table.

Now for the veterans it’s time to turn it back. That’s the job. The question before us is can we turn these young talents back? When Bernard was a young monster there was nobody that could turn him back. When Shane was a young monster, the veterans couldn’t turn him back. So now they have to learn from that and see if they can turn these kids back for a second. We know the clock don’t stop ticking for nobody. So I don’t care how great you are. You know Muhammad Ali isn’t going to get in there right now and outbox Klitschko. The clock doesn’t start ticking for nobody. We understand that, but you can turn back some of these young boys for a second or two. If they don’t have the athleticism to supersede the veteran’s experience, then they put them on pause. They’re young. They can bounce back. Saul Alvarez can always come back. Chad Dawson is a young man. He can still come back. Bernard and Shane are not going to be there forever, but for right now it’s our job to hold that minute hand on that clock and say wait a minute! Give me one second. So then we’re going to put the stop watch on them and keep it moving.”

His views on the fact that whenever someone has doubted Bernard Hopkins he seems to rise to the occasion:

“Well like I said they’re going to doubt him. Now my thing was Chad made a statement that kind of threw me off balance. Chad said, ‘Bernard was scared of me’. Now no disrespect to Chad, because like I said I’ve known him since he was a child. No disrespect, but ‘afraid of you’? Yo! I had a stroke and I’m an old man and I ain’t afraid of you! If Chad swung on me, I’d swing back! If Klitschko swung on me, I’d go look for a gun! But if Chad swung on me, I’d swing back. Chad don’t have a highlight that makes you afraid of him. Tyson had highlights that would make you say, ‘I’m not even going to get in the ring with this dude!’ He had highlights that make you afraid of him. Chad don’t have no highlights that make you afraid of him. When they’re doing his highlight reels now, you can see them digging for things to try and show how serious he is. He knows how to win 7 rounds out of 12. Now Floyd and a few other of these boys, they know how to win 12 rounds out of 12. You’ve seen Bernard with Trinidad win 12 rounds out of 12. Chad knows how to win 7 rounds out of 12. You have never seen him fight and win every single round. He doesn’t have that in him. Jermain Taylor never lost a round until he fought Bernard Hopkins. This is the difference in some athletes. You said it. They’re going to count him out. They’re going to count Bernard out. I told Bernard these are your fans! The ones who are counting you out are doing more for your career than the ones who are supporting you. The ones who are counting you out are the ones who motivate you.

Bernard has upset the pot so many times, he has turned back the naysayers so many times, that naysayers don’t even look bad any more when he turns them back. The public doesn’t even come on them and say look, we told ya’ll so. You can’t even go back in the gym and tease the guy and say, ‘See I told you what Bernard was going to do!’ It’s so secondary that you’re like yeah, Bernard did it again. As we look in the future we’re going to say, ‘Remember back in the day when Bernard Hopkins used to keep pushing back those young boys’. It’s how we used to say Ray Leonard used to keep coming out of retirement. But this weekend we deliver it, so we get to enjoy it! We get to enjoy it up close and personal.”



CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE INTERVIEW WITH NAZIM RICHARDSON

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Did you happen to hear the interview with Nazim? He's one of those guys that really sounds better when you're listening to him (IMO).

He really is a world class trainer who exudes wisdom!

He's also pretty clever with analogies. I personally loved this one!

"We talk about a guy getting old. When I was a young man I used to go out and get the bags for the groceries. I’d carry all of them! I was so strong, and I was a freakish strong young boy. I’d carry all the bags. My family would say, ‘Why don’t you take another trip?’ ‘I got it!’, and I got all the bags. As I got a little older I’d take one or two trips. Now when I see the groceries coming in I call my sons, because I still want to get the groceries in the house but as I’ve gotten older I’ve found a smarter way and an easier way for me to still get the job done, and that’s what Bernard Hopkins has done in boxing. When he was a young boy he used to just bulldoze you and hit you with the right hand. As he’s gotten older he learned to maneuver and put you in position for the right hand. As he’s even gotten older now he’s learned to manipulate you and make you give him the shot for the right hand."





Incidentally, I think Hopkins can exploit Chad's mental lapses and win. I will say this, though - both camps seem extremely confident based on the OTR chats we had with Brother Nazim and Iceman Scully.

I'm ****ing psyched for this fight!

May the best man win!

:smoke

 

And we were in agreement on that, and I actually posed that exact question to Nazim (phrased differently). His answer was correct, although he had a different take on things entire from a perspective I'd have not personally considered.

Co-sign! He was tremendous in that series. When he said something to the effect, "You know a guy is a bad mother ****er if they let you sing - AND YOU CAN'T SING!"

:rofl

I think you will enjoy!

:thumbsup

 

Bernard definitely has an ability to win the mental battle, or at least get a mental edge before the fight even begins.

So I agree with you on that. At the same time, I understand where Brother Nazim is coming from. I mean, it's not as if Bernard's talent and skills aren't contributing factors in his success. The man knows how to fight!

:smoke