Bernard hopkins on pacquiao,mosley & holyfield

http://boxing.fanhouse.com/2011/01/1...ander-holyfie/

Bernard Hopkins on Manny Pacquiao, Shane Mosley, Evander Holyfield

Former undisputed middleweight (160 pounds) champion, Bernard Hopkins, has raised some eyebrows concerning his assertion that eight-division king, Manny Pacquiao, still has not faced a top notch African American fighter.

Holder of the WBC junior middleweight (154 pounds) belt, Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 knockouts) will pursue his 14th consecutive win and his ninth knockout during that stretch on May 7 in defense of his WBO welterweight (147 pounds) crown against Shane Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs) in an HBO pay per view televised, Top Rank Promotions event.

Hopkins (51-5-2, 32 KOs), who turned 46 on Saturday, has his sights on an April or May return bout with WBC light heavyweight (175 pounds) king Jean Pascal (26-1-1, 16 KOs), against whom he fought to December's Showtime televised draw that was promoted by Golden Boy Promotions.

In this FanHouse Q&A, Hopkins addressed the Pacquiao-Mosley fight, the potential rematch with Pascal, and, whether or not he would embrace the notion of a shot at 48-year-old, four-time heavyweight titlist, Evander Holyfield (43-10-2, 28 KOs).


FanHouse: What are your thoughts on Manny Pacquiao?

Bernard Hopkins: Manny Pacquiao is the Bruce Lee of boxing and I think and believe that he deserves everyone's respect. I mean that as the highest of compliments.


What are your thoughts on the fact that Bob Arum believes that you were unfairly criticized for noting that Manny Pacquiao has not faced a top notch African American fighter such as Floyd Mayweather, Shane Mosley or Zab Judah?

What I believe is that styles and the individuals make fights. But an individual who can bring horror to Manny Pacquiao is Floyd Mayweather. Period.

I would have loved for Manny Paquiao to fight a guy named Zahir Raheem a few years ago because their styles would have been interesting. I seem to recall that they were trying to make that fight, but they never did.



Do you believe that Bob Arum is just trying to sell the fight by saying that he believes Shane Mosley's style is the distinct African American style that Manny Pacquiao has yet to face and which could give Manny Pacquiao trouble?

Let me tell you something about Bob Arum. I love Bob Arum's business savvy and how he is spinning this, because he's not saying that Bernard Hopkins is saying that Shane doesn't have a shot.

I certainly think that Shane does have a shot. But I have to tell you that I was nervous about the fight that Shane fought with Antonio Margarito before Shane wound up knocking him out.

As a matter of fact -- and you can ask Shane about this -- I told him, 'Margarito is tall, and he's not quick and he's not fast.' But I told him, 'you know, Shane, I don't know...I just don't like that fight.'

But Shane went in there and proved me wrong, and I told Shane that. After the fight, I told Shane, 'Man, I was scared of that fight.'

And I told Shane, 'I was kind of worried about that one.' I told Shane that right after that fight. So, now, Shane went out there and proved me and a lot of other people wrong. And he did it under the heat of a lot of his personal problems.


So what do you believe are Shane Mosley's realistic chances are of beating Manny Pacquiao?

Hey, I don't know what Shane Mosley is motivated by, but I can tell you that anybody has a shot, and you can't count Shane Mosley out. I'll say this, we get up for fights, you know, guys who fight like we do.


By 'We,' whom do you mean?

Shane Mosley, Glen Johnson, myself...guys who are the older guys in the sport. There's only a handful of guys like us. We're people who are fighting beyond the age of 35.

We're guys who have the skill and the dedication necessary to keep doing it the way that we're doing it. What I'm saying is that this is how I feel. Shane Mosley can talk for himself.

But when we need to prove that we've got one more good fight in us, the thing is how many 'one mores' do you get? I mean, I was like, 'I've got one more,' when I fought Jean Pascal.

Jean Pascal came forward, and people said that that was my best fight they've seen me fight in a long, long time. Jean Pascal pressed the issue, and I knew that I had it in me.

It ain't got to do with confidence, or a lack of confidence or too much of it. I know that Shane has it in him because he showed me with Antonio Margarito.

Manny Pacquiao is definitely faster and quicker than Margarito and won't get tired. Manny Pacquiao don't have the greatest defense, but he throws so many punches that sometimes, you can't hit him.

But Shane Mosley has Naazim Richardson in his corner. Now, I'm biased, because Naazim Richardson is also my trainer. But if Shane listens, and doesn't over-train, and doesn't get too over-hyped for this big event, then he could win.

I mean, Shane's been in more big events than I have. And he's got Naazim Richardson.


What do you believe that Shane Mosley and Naazim Richardson can exploit in Manny Paquiao?

Manny Pacquiao gets hit. Manny Pacquiao has that intensity in his DNA. Shane Mosley has been at his best 90 percent of the time when he don't have to chase you. Look at the tapes.

Look at Shane Mosley's opponents. Other than Vernon Forrest, who was basically always a middleweight, and, Winky Wright, who were bigger and they were boxers, Shane's basically been successful.

And we know that Shane has always had heart. Everybody knows that. Plus, Shane has felt that he has been written off and that he wanted the Floyd Mayweather fight and did not deliver.

Yeah, he almost knocked out Floyd Mayweather in the second round, but, after that, he sort of surrendered. And I would say that to Shane's face. He surrendered.

He fought not to get hurt. He fought not to get knocked out. And that's why he didn't win the fight. He didn't fight in that fight after the third round. It was no longer a fight, but a quest for Shane to just survive.

He's been hearing that, and he now has to prove himself again.

So in summary, what do feel are Shane Mosley's realistic chances against Manny Pacquiao?

Does Shane have a good chance? You're damn right he does. We saw Mike Tyson go and lose to Buster Douglas, and Shane Mosley is no Buster Douglas.

Shane definitely is not the same Shane Mosley of the past, and I'm not the same Bernard Hopkins of the past. But at the end of the day, Shane Mosley has a shot. Ask the Glen Johnson's of the world.

We rise to the occasion just to prove a point. Now, sometimes, that's not enough. But, now, Manny Pacquiao is human, and he may be subject to this sort of thinking.

And what I mean is that when you're at this stage where a guy like Manny Pacquiao might think that Shane Mosley is easy pickings. But if he thinks that, then he's a fool.

For example, I believe that Jean Pascal took me lightly. And the ultimate surprise is shock that comes during the fight. But sometimes, the shocked fighter doesn't have time to recover.

I mean, how do you recover mentally for something that you weren't prepared for? So I give Shane Mosley a 60 or 70 percent chance to win this fight.

That's because Manny Pacquiao might view Shane Mosley as a sort of high-stakes sparring partner. That, and the combination of Shane Mosley being motivated could make a difference.

I mean, this is all about motivation. I know that I've used the media for so many years to start some legitimate intensity for myself just to get motivated.

Once you get to a certain point in your career, and you've made a few dollars, and you've got the nice home, you need something to motivate you and to keep you there.

You need something to help you to maintain that passion so that you don't fall off.


Would you ever consider fighting Evander Holyfield?

Evander Holyfield? No. That would be a blow to Bernard Hopkins' name when it comes to a guy that people think should have retired six, seven years ago.

I mean that with no disrespect to Holyfield. It has nothing to do with Holyfield's name, but it has to do with Holyfield's performances over the years.

Other than the fact that I believe that Evander Holyfield beat 'The Russian Giant' [Nikolay Valuev,] I don't think that that would be a fight that the public would like, me and Holyfield.

I mean, some people are saying that I should retire after the way that I fought Roy Jones. But I think that I fought well for a 40-year-old guy in the ring against Jean Pascal.

You know, it's like I think that Glen Johnson showed what he could do against Allan Green.