The Jeers Have Become Cheers for Hopkins

Bernard Hopkins never had a problem getting a reaction out of people.

They wanted to shut him up. They wanted to beat him. They wanted to kill him.

Suddenly, it seems all people want to do is to fawn over Hopkins and honor him. Amazing what one victory can do for a guy, if it happens to come against the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

Coming off his victory last month by technical knockout against Felix Trinidad at New York’s Madison Square Garden, Hopkins will be honored tonight as fighter of the year by the World Boxing Hall of Fame at its 22nd annual Banquet of Champions at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, the latest in a series of accolades heaped on Hopkins.

“I’m not going to say I told you so,” said Hopkins of his momentous win at the age of 36 in his 43rd professional fight. “I’m going to say no more $100,000 paydays.

“I want to fight the great fighters so I can show everybody how great Bernard Hopkins is.”

It’s not as if this was Hopkins’ first big fight. The victory was the 14th successful defense of his International Boxing Federation middleweight crown, tying Carlos Monzon’s all-time record for middleweight title defenses.

But along with the victories has come controversy for Hopkins, not surprising for someone who honed his boxing skills behind prison walls where he served five years for armed robbery.

“I haven’t spit on the ground since then,” Hopkins said.

Maybe not, but he did spit figuratively in the face of Puerto Rican fans by twice stomping on their flag during his hysterical hype for the Trinidad fight. The second time resulted in Hopkins fleeing a Puerto Rican news conference with a furious mob in pursuit.

And then there was his inappropriate headgear at a Madison Square Garden news conference several days before the fight. Just two weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, in a city still traumatized, Hopkins wore a cap with the word “WAR” on it.

Garden officials were so incensed they indicated Hopkins was no longer welcome in their building, although they have since backtracked on that edict.

For his part, Hopkins has apologized to Puerto Rican fans and has met with New York police and firefighters to show his support for the relief effort.

But let’s face it. If Hopkins hadn’t beaten Trinidad, nobody would care. And for that victory, Hopkins gives a lot of credit to Oscar De La Hoya, who showed how to outbox the ever-charging Trinidad and frustrate him in their 1999 meeting before losing a majority decision to Trinidad at 147 pounds.

“De La Hoya gave me a little game plan on how to beat Trinidad,” Hopkins said. “He was so confident because he didn’t know I was going to be that elusive. Trinidad only has one style of fighting. I knew he couldn’t adapt.

“I kept my right hand glued to my face to take away that left hook. He kept hitting it and hitting it, but he could never get through. About the sixth or seventh round, I knew I had him beat. Once he realized he couldn’t hurt me, the fight was over.”

Although Trinidad hasn’t decided if he will continue fighting, if he does, the richest and most logical next step for him would be a rematch against De La Hoya, who is now fighting at 154 pounds. Could De La Hoya, who designed the plan to beat Trinidad, take advantage of it himself this time?

“Not at 154 pounds,” Hopkins said. “De La Hoya doesn’t have enough power.”

Hopkins’ future remains unclear. Although he would like to fight De La Hoya or Shane Mosley, Hopkins appears to be too big for them. A fight against Roy Jones, who already has beaten Hopkins, will depend on Jones, whose skill at avoiding blows inside the ring is matched by his ability outside the ring to avoid meaningful opponents.

So for now, Hopkins is content to accept awards like the one he will receive tonight and soak in the cheers and praise he thought he might never hear.

To Be Enshrined

Those being inducted into the Hall tonight are former champions Aaron Pryor and Antonio Cervantes (junior welterweights), Eusebio Pedroza (featherweight), Denny Moyer (junior middleweight) and Nicolino Locche (junior lightweight).

There will be a posthumous honor given Pascual Perez, the flyweight champion from 1954-60 and the first Argentinean to win a championship.

Being honored for their contributions outside the ring are promoter Don King, World Boxing Council President Jose Sulaiman and announcer Jim Lampley.

Quote of the Week

At the fifth Annual Mentor Awards Gala Wednesday, where George Foreman was honored, Michael Moorer, whom Foreman knocked out to regain the heavyweight title in 1994, said: “If I hadn’t stood in front of George, they would be selling the Michael Moorer grill.”