So I haven't really watched or listened to BHOP talk for a while, but I realized he is actually a little punch drunk. BHOP recent interview for Kovalev fight http://espn.go.com/boxing/ BHOP interview in 2004 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jaBaDzHcHg I remember he used to be pretty smooth with his words. BHOP definitely still has his faculties and knows what he is doing. I'm sure he'd rather go out a warrior. I don't BHOP knows anything other than boxing.
People don't realize it's an accumulation of punches and sometimes a lack of desire that end the fighters career, not the age.
I think punches and desire are definitely higher on the list. I wonder how many punches Hopkins has taken in comparison to other greats. There is probably an average number before someone starts slipping.
I have heard in some of the very recent interviews he is slurring more than just from a few years ago. There was a couple times where he started slurring bad and then just started a new conversation/point entirely. Tough to say, though. Most boxers start to sound funny when they hit their late 30's, but then again, some real life non-boxing average joes change their tone and talk differently for the worse over time as well.
After Kovalev lands a punch on Hopkins, he will be lucky to be able to talk at all................Kovalev does not plan to follow Hopkins around the ring, simply stand in from of him, but instead break his arms, break him down. Hell, Hopkins could not handle Dawson..................
When you spend your whole life being tagged in the left frontal lobe, which happens to control speech like Tancred said its to be expected.
There is no denying it. Hopkins' speech pattern is clearly slowing down and he's having an increasing harder time putting words together(not that he was ever good at it in the first place). It's not just the flush shot that do the damage, it's the continual barrage of small, sub concussive punches over the course of a long career that lead to Dementia Pugilistica. Hell look how punch drunk Pernel Whitaker is nowadays and that was a guy that rarely ever got hit flush.
You are KIDDING YOURSELF. Listen carefully. This man could start a new language the way he is talking now. He has sustained chronic trauma and it is showing in the slower cadence, hesitation and slight stutter he has developed.