At Their Peak's, White America LOVED Roy Jones but Not Bhop, Why?

Some of you guys got it mixed up. Bernard Hopkins was an exciting boxer puncher in his 20s early 30s. It wasnt until he got older that he became boring. Hopkins was more exciting than Jones in the early stages.

Bernard Hopkins vs Antwun Echols is one of the funnest fights any boxing fan should ever watch.

 

Oh in that case that's pretty cool-

The same principles of general acceptance holds true for all athletes imo-
Style/Art -in whatever craft they do, in this case boxing. Most casuals are easily impressionable and not likely to delve into the deeper understanding ie. they will be more inclined to talk about the hard punch that landed rather than the situations that set it up- likely this is the part that sets Roy and Bhop apart other than the Olympics but either way when I was more casual about boxing I knew both of them about equally

Personality

Record - If you get to the top and keep winning, people will notice

Media Coverage

 

Actually.....Roy never got the love his ability and talent should have afforded him. White America LOVED Oscar De La Hoya. Roy was a fringe superstar in America.

Roy got more love than Bhop simply because Roy had the whole Olympic Robbery where everyone knew he deserved Gold and his style was by far more fan friendly than Bhops'. The fact Nard was also a convict didn't help either.

But as a whole...black folks and white folks appreciated Roy Jones more because he had the AM background and Olympic pedigree that Bhop never had.

 

Such a honest post.

 

Nard was more exciting in his 20's and 30's than he was in his late 30's and 40's for sure...... But he wasn't as explosive and dynamic as Roy Jones early on. Nard was very much a skilled technican and highly efficent so his fights were more gradual than ending in extreme fashion like the highlight reel KO's that Roy had early on.

 

I think everyone else already said this, but yeah......hard for "white" america to really embrace a guy who absolutely despises them.:think

 

RJJ was dynamic, explosive, fought with swagger, and in his prime put on a good show beating top quality opposition, including B-HOPs. Add to the mix that he was a Olympiad who was robbed of the gold medal. Watching Jones fight was amazing in his prime, he had Ali, SRR, OR SRL type of ability. Also he was fighter of the decade, so he was at the top by achievement and talent.

B-Hop on the other hand, for all his well schooled boxing ability, didn't strike a cord because he didn't have the flash or pedigree, mainly because when he was on his way to making the Olympic team he got arrested for committing a crime. Young prime B-HOp had all the skill and explosiveness, he would KO people at this time. But after a while, he started to fight very dirty and it didn't always make for crowd pleasing performances. Before going into the fight with Trinidad, the perception of Hop's was that he was a a well schooled boxer secondly but firstly a dirty fighter, who makes foul filled fights. But people didn't understand how good he was, and while he did do a few dirty things in the fight with Trinidad, for the most part he simply whooped em, and then got the respect and love. It's similar to Haglar, until he beat Hearns, did he receive his due, which he shouldve received years before.

 

Roy was loved at times and hated at other times due to his sometimes arrogance. But Hoya was the prince of those days. Roy didn't have the promotion team to become what he should have, although he was WELL known in america despite that, everyone knew about RJJ due to highlight KO's and his ability alone. I still remember when his 1 punch KO to the body against Hill was on ESPN and they were talking about it.