You expected Hopkins to move up in weight as soon as he finally won a world title at mw, even though he was easily making the weight there? :huh
"Expecting" is not the word. It's not that it was required of him or anything. It's just not uncommon for fighters to move up a division to make more money. And he could have moved up easier than most.
As was 160 for a long time it was a baron division, 168 was pretty hot until Jones/Eubank/Benn left it, we can't fault him for not moving up then as he wouldn't get fights with those men anyway. After the 160lb tournament he should have moved up and it was a bit of waste of his legacy, waiting around in hope of big money from a smaller Delahoya I think I should change my username to 60-40 Get Your Ass Whooped. Got to laugh at Hopkins calling RJJ a hypocrite and saying he'd achieved more by beating Trinidad, then complains Jones didn't want him to face Tito because Jones wanted an easy fight against Trinidad (which he did)
His first objective was the Monzon's record. Once he broke it he waited couple of years and moved up.
Hopkins seemed to have turned down the chance to face Darius “I’ve been negotiating with Don King in New York who represents Bernard Hopkins”, Kohl said. “We want to realize a fight between Michalczewski and Bernard Hopkins. All parties involved want it: King, Universum, Hopkins and Michalczewski.” “The fight would take place at light heavyweight later this year in Germany. It would create great interest over here and I could imagine that it takes place at an outdoor arena.” American Bernard Hopkins is a middleweight world champion since 7 years. Since he unified three 160 lb. crowns and impressively knocked out undefeated super star Felix Trinidad he is not only considered the best middleweight worldwide but also one of the pound-for-pound best fighters. Experts currently regard Hopkins as being as strong as Roy Jones even though the letter scored a decision against Hopkins 7 years ago - but never granted him a rematch. “For years we’ve been trying to realize a fight between Jones and Michalczewski – without success. But Hopkins is different than Jones. He is not afraid of a great challenge and he is willing to come to Germany. Don King and me agree that it would be more attractive to stage this fight in Germany than in the US.” Hopkins is currently holding the world titles of WBC, WBA and IBF at middleweight. For a fight against the “Tiger” the 6-foot athlete from Philadelphia would need put on 15 pounds. “The fight would be shown live by HBO in the US. We will still discuss the broadcasting time. But everything looks very good. In contrast to the Jones team everybody involved wants that fight – his promoter King as well as the boxer.” A fight between “Tiger” Michalczewski and “Executioner” Hopkins would not only be a fascinating showdown on the highest level of boxing. At the same time it would be a hurtful sideswipe to Roy Jones. It’s because in the past years the man from Pensacola used to not only avoid the light heavyweight champion from Germany but also his countryman Hopkins. Before a Michalczewski-Hopkins clash can be finalized, the WBO champion first has to defend his crown successfuly on April 20 in Gdansk against American Joey de Grandis. It would the 21st successful title defense for the undefeated Michalczewski, 45-0 (38 KOs). 20 Apr 2002: Meanwhile, it looks like a proposed bout between WBC/WBA/IBF middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins and Michalczewski will not take place. In a taped interview on German TV, Hopkins stated he is willing to meet Michalczewski halfway, at 168, but he can't go all the way to light heavyweight. After tonight's bout, Michalczewski dismissed any notion of a Hopkins fight taking place at 168, stating there is "no way I can go down to super middleweight."
People forget Hopkins was basically blackballed out of big time boxing for the good part of his middleweight career. He couldnt get along with anyone and was contractually tied to King, Lewis, and a few others, all of which he parted ways with on a bad note and often fought on the undercards of other major bouts. It wasnt until the King needed Hopkins to make the unification series with his cash cow Tito that King included Hopkins in a major showcase. Hopkins couldnt get big fights because noone wanted to work with him because he felt like he was under paid in every fight. I think paranoia was setting in a bit when he decided to duck out of the first Allen fight in fear of losing his title to a King fighter.
Why would he? For most part he could make mw easily, had at least one belt and made good money defending his record again and again? Moving up in weight should add to your resume due to higher risk, not to shouldn´t be weighed negativly since it actually is the normal thing to do. In ´95/´96 he was even quite a finished product, just won a belt at mw, made the weight easily and started to earn some money. Why risk that by moving up and probably not even getting a fight with the big names due to contractual issues and beeing virtually unknown? And like kmac said, why would Jay Larkin been negotiating a Hokins-Calzaghe fight in 2003 when he was with Showtime and Hopkins was with HBO. Makes no sense. Aside, Calzaghe was virtually unknown then, sitting in England defeinding his belt mostly against Ottke leftovers. Why would Hopkins when he just advanced to p4p number 1/2 - and ahead of Jones! - and just fought the biggest fight of his career take 40% of the share to fight Jones? Why blaming Hopkins for not taking 40%? Blaming Jones for not taking 50% is as reasonable. Both men are to blame here. Sorry, but I see no need for Hopkins to move up. Perhaps it would have made sense to move up immediatly after DLH, considering that he started having trouble making. But outside of a rematch with Jones in 2002 that´s the only moment of his career I would say it actually would have made sense for Hopkins to move up other then when he finally did.
No one is saying that it does. This is not about trying to denigrate him in any way, just discussing what opportunities there were and why they didn't materialize.
They are in a way. I can understand it from the viewpoint of both of them, but in the end it was Hopkins who had something to prove. Taking a 40% cut of what would have been the biggest purse in his career to erase the only blemish on his record seems entirely reasonable. This is only speculation, but if he really fancied his chances I think he would have accepted it too. On the other hand, it was perhaps only pride that got in the way. That he refused to accept an agreement that would have meant that he acknowledged Jones as the bigger star. Not when he had finally established himself on the big stage. I can understand that viewpoint.
Like many boxers who start off with barely a pot to **** in, he wanted to make money, and it's damn hard to get to the point where you can make easy money in boxing. The title defense goal fit in nicely with that, and was probably his single most marketable accomplishment (except perhaps KO'ing Oscar and the Tito fight). Making pretty good money with low-risk defenses isn't sexy, but it'll pay the bills after you retire as long as you're smart with the money. By the time Taylor took his title, Hopkins was already set for life from the Oscar fight and the resulting Golden Boy partnership. Without the title streak and with financial security, he could afford to take more risks with his career. And that's why he tested himself more once he moved up in weight than he did when he was the Middleweight champ. I doubt he'd have taken the Jones fight even if Roy did agree to 50/50, personally. Something would've come up to axe it, like then disagreeing over the weight. We saw pretty much the same thing play out with Calzaghe- like Hopkins, he won the tough fights he did have, but took a good number of easy money fights and waited until he was secure financially before he took bigger chances in the twilight of his career.
Fair enough. Like written the opportunities weren´t really ther or more didn´t make much sense. Going by the personalities of both, that´s the point IMO. That´s why I blame both equally.
Are u forgetting Roy Jones was a Middleweight, Super Middleweight, Light Heavyweight champion and already beat Hopkins back in 1993? I don't know why it's so hard to understand that in no way did Hopkins deserve a 50/50 split.
Beltholder, not champ. And what does it matter? At the time Hopkins was on top of the world and ranked above Jones p4p. That´s the important thing here. It´s not important who deserved what - that´s impossible for us to determine and decide anyway - it´s important who had the argument. Both had good ones. What it came down to was pride. Neither could get over himself.
On one hand, yes, Hopkins was the one with a point to prove. On the other hand I can see how he felt that he had finally made it big, and that his pride wouldn't let him take the smaller share of any purse anymore. Ps. Does anyone know how the purse with Tito was split?