Hopkins just said that to give respect to his predecessors and endear himself to the media. I can pretty much guarantee he thinks of himself as number 1!
hopkins is not putting any white fighters ahead of himself. Have you not listened to him over the past decade plus?
Bhops in an interview yrs ago stated in a h2h matchup he thinks he could of beaten Robinson at 160 as well as Hagler. The only one he'd doubt he'd beat was Monzon.