Bernard Hopkins: A Proud Veteran Still Learning.

If you are anti-Hopkins, this was the fight for you; if you are a hardcore Hopkins fan, then this fight left you yelling at the television screen. Now, if you are a boxing fan who loves the sport for the overall content of warriors battling until the end, you can use the option of walking away with a smile. Champions are supposed to lose their belts in a fitting fashion: giving it their all, releasing every bit of technique and arsenal they have inside their boxing bodies. Taylor granted us a good match, but Hopkins proved to us that his amount of dedication, high self-confidence and ring comfort defies any age restrictions. Hopkins was visibly in tremendous physical shape. After round one, I started to put together Hopkins’ plan. Its basis centered on making Taylor tired. Hopkins, the well-known slow starter, is a boxer who develops as each second in the round eclipses the last. The plan was going accordingly, but, you would have expected a boxing veteran, such as Hopkins to know the rule of not placing the fate of your fight into the judges hands, something Oscar de la Hoya and Antonio Tarver can attest to if Hopkins needed validation.

The Hopkins versus Taylor fight had all the makings of an entertaining fight, at times it was boring, then the tide of action would rise, then fall, and rise and then take an unexpected twist into boo’s and screaming cheers. We were let down easily; Taylor did not come into the ring with this super speed and crushing power. I am not going to cherish and support the conspiracy theories, Taylor did present a case of boxing that can be debated and convince some that he is a winner, but the revenge tactics and behind the boxing scenes powerbrokers who have a distaste for Hopkins could enter your mind for a minute or two.

It was not the biggest boxing upset left in the hands of the judges. The lessons Hopkins will gain from this will be educational and have no price. For many years, a boxing commission recommendation has surfaced outside the ring and in the center of the boxing political ring. Hopkins, an avid activist for boxer’s rights, will take this lesson and apply it to pushing for a more unionized and acceptable sport, covering all areas, from retirement rights to the selection process for ringside judges.

The championship behavior in Hopkins refuses to allow him to complain. In his mind, he has the game plan established and ready come rematch time. Yes, this outcome was not part of Hopkins’ plan, a plan that had him retiring as a champion and beating the best. He is back at the chalkboard and tracing ways to make a comeback. Hopkins holds a youthful heart and even if you are part of the anti-Hopkins movement, you still have to give the former champion credit.

We have not heard the last of Hopkins, the esteem inside of his body and soul has him set on a path of not only a rematch, but also revenge. Hopkins’ next fight with Taylor, and I am speaking with assertion, will land right in his overall agenda; that agenda is practical, for the first time in a long time, Hopkins will be fighting for championships. With that pressure, he will rediscover his youthful dominance and once again with a win in the second fight. Hopkins will feel like he is twenty-five, as he did in the first fight.

Shaun Rico LaWhorn can be reached at filmmaking_mentality@msn.com