It’s hard to make a case that a guy who has won ten world titles in eight weight divisions is ducking anyone, but Bernard Hopkins will try. After watching Manny Pacquiao pummel Antonio Margarito on Saturday at Cowboys Stadium, Hopkins wondered aloud when Pacquiao would fight “any other top notch black fighter.” Hopkins, talking to Fanhouse’s Lem Satterfield:
“Maybe I’m biased because I’m black, but I think that this is what is said at people’s homes and around the dinner table among black boxing fans and fighters. Most of them won’t say it [in public] because they’re not being real and they don’t have the balls to say it,” said Hopkins, a 45-year-old future Hall of Famer and a multi-division champion.
“But I do think that a fighter like the Ray Leonards or anyone like that would beat a guy [like Pacquiao] if they come with their game,” said Hopkins (51-5-1, 32 knockouts), who will challenge WBC light heavyweight king Jean Pascal (26-1, 16 KOs) on Dec. 18 on Showtime.
“Listen, this ain’t a racial thing, but then again, maybe it is,” said Hopkins. “But the style that is embedded in most of us black fighters, that style could be a problem to any other style of fighting.”
Let’s go ahead and place “Listen, this ain’t a racial thing, but then again, maybe it is,” atop the Pantheon of Nonsensical Quotes of the Millennium So Far. Or chalk it up to too many blows to the head. Anyway, all Hopkins is doing is putting more pressure on Floyd Mayweather. Fight fans shouldn’t be asking why Pacquiao isn’t facing any black fighters (and for the record, that’s Joshua Clottey in the photo, not fighting Pacquiao I guess). They should be asking Mayweather.
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Does Manny Pacquiao Duck Black Fighters? [Sports Grid]
Will Manny Pacquiao Fight a Top African-American Fighter? [Fanhouse]