Hopkins: From the jail house to the penthouse

[Gandalf]

taken Bernard Hopkins from the jailhouse to the penthouse
The Philadelphia Inquirer - June 8, 2006


Jun. 8--Out of Graterford Prison in 1988, with a high-school equivalency diploma he earned there and nine years of parole to walk off, Bernard Hopkins took to the boxing ring and became middleweight champion of the world. It didn't come quickly or easily.

Here, annotated with pictures and comments from those who watched, is Hopkins' fight-by-fight journey from his losing pro debut to his planned grand finale, a 12-rounder Saturday night against Antonio Tarver. After 16 years fighting at middleweight, Hopkins will fight in Atlantic City at light heavyweight -- which is just where his career began.

Oct. 11, 1988

Clinton Mitchell, Atlantic City (loss in 4 rounds)

Hopkins got $350 (plus $50 for travel) for his four-round debut, at light heavyweight. (Application photos are at right.) After losing a majority decision, he didn't have another match for 16 months. He got a job washing dishes at the Penn Tower Hotel -- and was fired when a boss learned he'd spent time in jail.

Feb. 22, 1990

Greg Paige, Philadelphia (win in 4)

"When Bernard came to us he was 186 pounds and 0-1," recalled Rob Murray, who became his manager. "We did everything from the Bahamian diet to the Dick Gregory diet." Hopkins weighed in at 166 for his hometown debut at the Blue Horizon. The Paige fight began Hopkins' long and stormy partnership with trainer Bouie Fisher, which lasted until mid-2005.

April 26, 1990

Keith Gray, Philadelphia (technical knockout, 1st round)

May 18, 1990

Eddie Tyler, Atlantic City (TKO, 1st)

May 31, 1990

Jouvin Mercado, Rochester, N.Y. (TKO, 2d)

Hopkins took this ESPN fight on a few hours' notice. "We were sitting in a barbershop when the call came," Murray remembers. Hopkins flew on a plane for the first time. In the dressing room they saw the huge Mercado. "I looked around and asked, 'Where's the opponent? All I see is this heavyweight,' " Murray said. Mercado was 171 pounds, but "Bernard chopped him down like a tree."

June 30, 1990

Khalif Shabazz, Atlantic City (KO, 1st)

Aug. 5, 1990

Percy Harris, Atlantic City (W in 6)

Oct. 20, 1990

Darrin Oliver, Atlantic City (TKO, 1st)

Nov. 17, 1990

Mike Sapp, Fort Myers, Fla. (TKO, 1st)

Feb. 26, 1991

Richard Quiles, Philadelphia (KO, 1st)

March 18, 1991

Steve Langley, Las Vegas (TKO, 3d)

June 20, 1991

Pedro Marquez, Parsippany, N.J. (TKO, 1st)

July 9, 1991

Danny Mitchell, Philadelphia (KO, 1st)

Mitchell was "badly shaken by a vicious combination to the head," The Inquirer wrote.

Sept. 23, 1991

Ralph Moncrief, Philadelphia (TKO, 1st)

"Moncrief was a tough fighter," recalled Don Elbaum, a longtime promoter known for introducing Don King to the boxing business. "When [Hopkins] destroyed him in one round, I said, 'This guy must be something.' "

Nov. 26, 1991

David McCluskey, Philadelphia (TKO, 5th)

Dec. 13, 1991

Willie Kemp, Atlantic City (W in 10)

Jan. 31, 1992

Dennis Milton, Philadelphia (TKO, 4th)

Overmatched Milton was supposed to be a contender, but he grabbed Hopkins repeatedly -- around the knees at one point -- and couldn't avoid a clobbering at the Blue Horizon.

April 3, 1992

Randy Smith, Atlantic City (W in 10)

"Smith didn't fight back. He fought not to win but to survive," Hopkins said after the one-sided decision.

May 21, 1992

Anibal Miranda, Paris (W in 10)

"Anibal was an animal," Rob Murray recalled. "Tough as nails. But he couldn't fight."

Aug. 28, 1992

James Stokes, Atlantic City (KO, 1st)

Sept. 14, 1992

Eric Rhinehart, Philadelphia (KO, 1st)

Dec. 4, 1992

Wayne Powell, Atlantic City (TKO, 1st)

"I want Toney," chanted Hopkins -- now known as "The Executioner" -- after this 21-second slaughter won him the U.S. Boxing Association middleweight title. He was gunning for a world title shot, against then-IBF champ James Toney. Toney moved up in weight and vacated the IBF title.

Feb. 16, 1993

Gilbert Baptist, Denver (W in 12)

May 22, 1993

Roy Jones, Washington (L in 12)

Yawn. The matchup of two future Hall of Famers, for the IBF belt, was the first world title shot for both. But "it was an awful fight. They were two reluctant dragons," Philadelphia promoter J. Russell Peltz recalled. "If there were three punches landed in a round, Jones landed two, and Hopkins landed one." Hopkins regretted not being more aggressive. Jones, who won, claimed he fought with a bruised right hand.

"It was our first real look at Bernard," HBO's Jim Lampley said. "And because of the prison background and the 'Executioner' image he was beginning to cultivate, I remember being surprised at the cautious fighting style. It didn't fit the persona he was projecting."

Aug. 3, 1993

Roy Ritchie, Las Vegas (TKO, 7th)

Nov. 23, 1993

Wendall Hall, Philadelphia (TKO, 3d)

In a homecoming mismatch at the Blue Horizon meant to restore his confidence, Hopkins knocked down junior-middleweight Hall four times, once after Hall's corner threw in the towel and the referee ignored it. It was Hopkins' last bout at the Blue.

Feb. 26, 1994

Melvin Wynn, Atlantic City (TKO, 3d)

"Bernard Hopkins almost knocked Melvin Wynn into the slot machines," The Inquirer reported.

May 17, 1994

Lupe Aquino, Atlantic City (W in 12)

Dec. 17, 1994

Segundo Mercado, Quito, Ecuador (draw in 12)

Jones abandoned the IBF middleweight title, so Hopkins fought Ecuadoran Mercado for the belt in a back-and-forth brawl in Mercado's country. Mercado put Hopkins on the canvas with a hard right to the chin in the fifth round. Hopkins went down again in the seventh. But Hopkins outworked Mercado, battering him with left hooks, and only the ropes held Mercado up several times. "In my book he's won this title," TV commentator Bobby Czyz said of Hopkins at the end. The judges scored it a draw.

April 29, 1995

Segundo Mercado, Landover, Md. (TKO, 7th)

His purse up to $175,000 now, Hopkins avenged his draw by thrashing Mercado to win the IBF title, banging him from pillar to post before referee Rudy Battle stopped it in Round 7. "Everybody all up in Germantown, Philadelphia, I did it!" Hopkins said afterward, getting his mother, Shirley, into the ring. He said he'd been watching Mike Tyson tapes to work up aggression. 'I'm going back to what I didn't do against Roy Jones," he said, "giving no respect."

But he also said, "You're a tough guy," to the defeated Mercado and kissed him on both cheeks.

Jan. 27, 1996

Steve Frank, Phoenix (TKO, 1st)

The hapless late fill-in lasted 24 seconds in Hopkins' first world-title defense

[Gandalf]

March 16, 1996

Joe Lipsey, Las Vegas (KO, 4th)

Lipsey, a church choir singer, was 25-0 with 20 knockouts and viewed as a stern test for Hopkins. He wasn't. "It was a right uppercut, and it was a thing of savage beauty," The Inquirer's Bill Lyon wrote of the finishing blow in Round 4. "Lipsey stood there frozen, upright but out on his feet, while his mouthpiece tumbled end over end in a slow, lazy arc toward the canvas." Lipsey went down, too.

July 16, 1996

Bo James, Atlantic City (TKO, 11th)

Apr. 19, 1997

John David Jackson, Shreveport, La. (TKO, 7th)

July 20, 1997

Glen Johnson, Indio, Calif. (TKO, 11th)

Nov. 18, 1997

Andrew Council, Upper Marlboro, Md. (W in 12)

Jan. 31, 1998

Simon Brown, Atlantic City (TKO, 6th)

Aug. 28, 1998

Robert Allen, Las Vegas (No contest in 4)

The legend says Hopkins made 20 straight world-title defenses, a middleweight record. But that's only if you count this "no contest" as his eighth successful defense. Allen was beating Hopkins to the punch consistently and had Hopkins backpedaling.

"I saw fear in Hopkins," recalled Elbaum, the longtime Philadelphia promoter.

Then referee Mills Lane, breaking up a clinch in Hopkins' corner, pushed Hopkins too hard and sent him tumbling off the elevated platform to the floor. Hopkins grimaced with an injured ankle and did not continue. He kept his title.

Feb. 6, 1999

Robert Allen, Washington (TKO, 7th)

Same fighters, different story. Hopkins dominated Allen to retain his middleweight title -- by winning.

Dec. 12, 1999

Antwun Echols, Miami (W in 12)

May 13, 2000

Syd Vanderpool, Indianapolis (W in 12)

Dec. 1, 2000

Antwun Echols, Las Vegas (TKO, 10th)

"A raucous, foul-filled affair," Lampley remembered. "That night you could see his dominant mentality -- the self-possession that allowed him to finish a fight with an apparently damaged shoulder.... I began to get a sense that weekend of how dominant Bernard's mind could be."

April 14, 2001

Keith Holmes, New York (W in 12)

Sept. 29, 2001

Felix Trinidad, New York (TKO, 12th)

Hopkins was never meant to beat Trinidad in the 2001 middleweight title-unification series staged by Don King. But his prefight taunts got Trinidad to come out too aggressively and make mistakes. In a career-making bout at Madison Square Garden weeks after 9/11, Hopkins picked Trinidad apart to become undisputed middleweight champ.

"He's so conscious of his legacy that he almost had to win," Philadelphia promoter J. Russell Peltz said. "If he hadn't won the Trinidad fight, he would have been considered just a guy who fought a lot of bums.... Knocking him down at the end of the fight, it was just a perfect night for him." Hopkins also pioneered the practice of selling advertising on his back, receiving $100,000 to wear a temporary tattoo for an online casino, then betting the money on himself to multiply the cash.

Feb. 2, 2002

Carl Daniels, Reading (TKO, 10th)

After the Trinidad upset, "Hopkins was on top of the world. And he didn't know what to do," Peltz says. He resisted fighting Roy Jones, calling a potential $7 million payday inadequate.

March 29, 2003

Morrade Hakkar, Philadelphia (TKO, 8th)

Fighting in Philadelphia for the first time in a decade, Hopkins carried an outclassed foe in a poor fight. "Aren't you embarrassed by this?" HBO's Larry Merchant asked Hopkins. Hopkins' reply: "I don't know what kind of degree you got, but I got paid tonight."

Dec. 13, 2003

William Joppy, Atlantic City (W in 12)

June 5, 2004

Robert Allen, Las Vegas (W in 12)

Sept. 18, 2004

Oscar De La Hoya, Las Vegas (KO, 9th)

The stunning Round 9 stoppage on a debilitating liver punch made Hopkins a national sports star -- and led him to a business partnership with De La Hoya. You can question Hopkins' multiplication but not his cash-and-carry logic: "I fought the De La Hoya fight and got $15 million," he says. "I could have fought Roy Jones and got $7 million, but I fought the smaller guy and got triple the money.... It was a brilliance of self-patience."

Feb. 19, 2005

Howard Eastman, Los Angeles (W in 12)

Hopkins 20th title defense: lackluster but successful.

July 16, 2005

Jermain Taylor, Las Vegas (L in 12)

Hopkins may have let the undefeated 26-year-old win the first six rounds, by some scorekeeping, and his remarkable late-rounds comeback fell short. The 40-year-old Hopkins lost his four title belts in his first defeat since 1993. "Jermain Taylor is way better, way more physical, way more rambunctious, and bigger, than the other guys against whom Bernard had been defending the middleweight title," Lampley said.

Dec. 3, 2005

Jermain Taylor, Las Vegas (L in 12)

A sequel with a script similar to the first Taylor fight, without the late rally by Hopkins.

Final fight preparation includes a few verbal jabs

ATLANTIC CITY -- The media circus started pitching its tent at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa yesterday, as the hype for Saturday's Antonio Tarver vs. Bernard Hopkins fight entered its homestretch.

In a hotel function room, Hopkins sat dressed in a cardinal-red warm-up suit bearing the logo for IceLink, a company that makes jewel-encrusted wristwatches most people can't afford.

He talked about his sadness as he heard his friend Eric Gregg, the baseball umpire, had died.

"I saw him not too long ago in Chickie's and Pete's," Hopkins said.

And he talked about acquaintances who would be arriving for the fight. "I got a call for Barkley. Jordan. [Charles] Oakley. Jay-Z, of course. Beyonce. Rasheed [Wallace], a big boxing fan. Iverson. I don't think McNabb, but T.O. will be here."

Then he got miked for a "satellite tour" -- sitting in front of a camera and answering questions from disembodied reporters around the country who spoke through his earpiece. He talked to "Steve with ABC" and "Gordon in L.A." and more, answering questions that no one in the room could hear but Hopkins.

On his breakfast: "I had three pancakes, egg whites, two glasses of orange juice. That's a luxury I never had in over a decade. I doubt Tarver had a big breakfast this morning."

On whether he is ready: "I have a game plan. I had a game plan when I fought Jermain Taylor, but the judges had another game plan."

On either Tarver's size advantage or a review of The Da Vinci Code: "You ever read a book that's thicker than the other? Does that mean it's better than the smaller book?"

Then it was off to the Atlantic City Police Athletic League gym, where Hopkins worked up a sweat with intense shadow boxing for four or five rounds. Assistant trainer John David Jackson put on the punch mitts and a body bag, and Hopkins banged on them with quick combinations and hard body shots. He looked fast and strong.

"Just a tune-up," he said. "Start the engine, hear the roar, but don't push down the pedal yet."

Contact staff writer Don Steinberg at 215-854-4981 or dsteinberg@phillynews.com. Contact staff writer Don Steinberg at 215-854-4981 or dsteinberg@phillynews.com.

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[bigragu]

nice article...but the whole jailhouse penthouse thing is a bit old for longtime B-HOP fans....we know it and that's the past...B-HOP chopping down Tarver is in the present and Retiring as a legend/HOF B-HOP is the future......

[Gandalf]

nice article...but the whole jailhouse penthouse thing is a bit old for longtime B-HOP fans....we know it and that's the past...B-HOP chopping down Tarver is in the present and Retiring as a legend/HOF B-HOP is the future......

im a long time b hop fan too, but there's no harm in recycling information for a refresher or to inform younger minds....

b hop by decsion....

[bigragu]

nice article...but the whole jailhouse penthouse thing is a bit old for longtime B-HOP fans....we know it and that's the past...B-HOP chopping down Tarver is in the present and Retiring as a legend/HOF B-HOP is the future......

im a long time b hop fan too, but there's no harm in recycling information for a refresher or to inform younger minds....

b hop by decsion....

yeah...never hurts to inform the new B-HOPPERS!!!