Does Bernard Hopkins get a pass for pricing himself out against Calzaghe and RJJ?

Another Hopkins hater, well well, if he had such limited resumé and drawing power how come Clazaghe and RJJ and Chad went after him?... Believe me b4 he puts an end to his career another upcoming or rising star will call him out!

 

I disagree..

Roy got the better of Hopkins when they fought.. Hopkins went on an ATG MW reign after Roy beat him, making Roy's win look impressive.

Roy had already beat Hopkins, Roy was P4P #1, 60-40 was fair.

 

Does he get a free pass? Yes, and it's understandable when you know the whole story. He had a two fight deal with HBO that would have given him 8 million dollars and he also had an offer from Showtime for a 9 million dollar three fight deal with Calzaghe being one of the fights in the deal. He turned down both deals and during that time, he also passed on a rematch with Felix Trinidad too.

After turning down all of that, he went back to Trinidad for the rematch. This time Felix turned it down because he decided to retire instead. Then he went back to Jones and Jones turned him down. In order to get the fight with Roy, I read that Hopkins tried to start a fight with him in the locker room during a Derrick Gainer fight, but it didn't work because Jones still didn't take the deal.

Hopkins made some bad business decisions back then. He could have had all three of those fights at that time and screwed them all up. He wasn't dodging anybody if that's what you're implying. He just wasn't the best business man to handle his own negotiations.

 

Hi Doyle,

Yes I agree to an extent, but Roy still held the win over him. Roy had beaten him and was considered the best fighter in the world, there was no way he was going to accept 50/50. If Bernard had won in 93, he would have demanded exactly the same.

Roy was never going to back down. He didn't like Hop, and at the time, he had one eye on moving upto heavyweight, so he didn't really want to come down in weight. Also in Roy's mind, he'd nothing to prove.

It's a real shame that fight didn't come off, but I hold Bernard responsible.

Regards, Loudon.

 

Roy turned him down because Bernard wanted a 50/50 split. Why would Roy who was fighting two weight divisions above him, take that split? Especially as Roy was looking to go up to heavy, and Bernard had originally wanted the bigger share at the start of their famous argument?

In order to get the fight with Roy, all he had to do was to take the 40%. But neither man would back down because of their ego's. But instead of trying to renegotiate, Bernard dug his heels in the ground, and then told people he was desperate for the fight, and it was Roy who was stopping it from happening.

Regards, Loudon.

 

When did Roy go after him?

Regards, Loudon.

 

Of course he priced himself out. He lost 9 rounds to a really green Roy and hadn't achieved half as much. No way he deserved 50/50

 

i don't know why hopkins thought he deserved a 50/50 split against roy.

 

Roy didn't turn him down because of the split. He offered Bernard 40% and Hopkins refused, so no fight was made. Obviously Hopkins didn't deserve 50/50 and I never implied that he did. After that episode Hopkins then went after Trinidad again, but was rejected. It was then that Hopkins went back to Jones and Jones turned him down. That's when the confrontation apparently happened.

 

That's interesting mate, but when Hopkins went back to Roy, what did Roy turn down?

I find that story hard to believe mate, because why would Bernard do that at Smoke's fight? Surely accepting the 40% would be better than getting into a fight with Roy outside of thr ring? Doesn't make any sense at all. Where did you hear about this incident?

Regards, Loudon.

 

You have to look at what was happening at the time.

Hopkins was riding high having beaten Trinidad so easily. He had other options available to him in De La Hoya and a rematch with Trinidad, both of which presented a bigger purse than a rematch with Roy would have.

With these 2 potential super fights and the big paydays they would represent why would Hopkins risk fighting Jones for anything less than what he thought he was worth?

Jones was not a big draw at the time, his PPV's were struggling to draw 100,000 buys. Fans were heavily criticising his level of opposition to the point that they started boycotting his fights in the infamous "Roycott" of the Gonzalez fight.

Jones also had no options for a superfight, unlike Hopkins. The light heavyweight division had no big names or draws other than DM and with neither fighter willing to travel that fight was never going to happen. The big name super middles like Eubank and Benn where now gone. Jones was forced to jump to heavy to get his career defining fight and a big payday.

Based on this Hopkins had every right to ask for 50/50. Jones may have won the first fight but that means nothing when it comes to purses. Mosley didn't get the bigger purse when he re-matched De La Hoya as Mosley was not the draw.

 

The fight.

I don't even think there were any types of negotiations after that. Jones clearly took offense to Hopkins' behavior that night and I'd imagine that he realized the best way to hurt Hopkins was to leave him without an opponent.

 

I can't control what you believe. I'm just reporting what I read.

I guess Hopkins was trying to bait Roy into a fight with that confrontation and it backfired. We know that Hopkins is hard headed and he probably thought that he deserved more money due to the fact that he was just coming off of his win over Trinidad.

 

So when Bernard tried to goad Roy into a fight, Bernard still wanted 50/50? Or are you saying Bernard went to Roy and said "ok! I'll accept 40% let's fight" and Roy still refused, and then Bernard went for him?

 

I don't remember ever reading about demands or anything being discussed during that night, so I don't know if Hopkins' demands were the same or not. If I had to guess, I'd say that they were the same. Like I said, Hopkins is hard headed.