Bernard Hopkins’ diet apparently has never included a single potato chip or one of George Foreman’s cheeseburgers. Meanwhile, Jean Pascal sounds as if he has his own suspicions about what might be in the Hopkins diet. I’m only certain of one ingredient that Hopkins consumes morning, noon, night and every hour in between.
It’s defiance, a Hopkins’ preservative.
Hopkins finds it everywhere in his quest for the ages. Pascal seems to be a nice enough guy, but he unwittingly provided Hopkins with just enough of that age-old element when he suggested some sort of enhanced drug testing before their light-heavyweight rematch in an HBO televised bout fight Saturday night at Montreal’s Bell Centre. For Pascal, it was the rhetorical equivalent of Michael Moorer walking into a Foreman punch on that long-ago night when Foreman, then 45, became the oldest man to win a heavyweight championship.
Pascal gave Hopkins just enough of that defiant anger to prove them all wrong all over again. Hopkins finds it, manufactures it, anyway. But Pascal just made it a lot easier for Hopkins to seize on slights, imagined or real, which have driven him to maintain discipline that, at 46, could make him the oldest ever to claim a major title.
Hopkins has a chance at history, in part because he understands that a fight begins on the day it is announced. He has worked that psychological angle tirelessly, shamelessly and more effectively than anyone throughout a career that spans at least a couple of generations. Pascal, a Haitian-turned Canadian, was on a grade-school playground at about the time that Hopkins turned the trash-talk trade into a tactic. He was a 5-year-old when Hopkins made his pro debut in 1988. In other words, Pascal has only a learner’s permit in a game that Hopkins has long been a master
Ever since Pascal suggested drug- testing and Hopkins countered angrily in a predictably over-the-top tone, Pascal has been back-pedaling. A big step backward came during a conference call a week ago.
“I don’t think Bernard’s cheating,’’ said Pascal, who escaped 12 rounds against Hopkins with a majority-draw last December. “I said that at the press conference.’’
Then, Pascal said he told Hopkins: “Bernard, I know you’re a clean fighter.”
According to Pascal, Hopkins responded by saying: “Who am I to ask him that?”
Pascal says he wasn’t trying to offend Hopkins.
“I wasn’t going to be disrespectful,’’ he said. “ I just wanted to make sure that the fans’ voices were heard, to let them know that we participate in a clean sport. That’s it.’’
But in going politically-correct, Pascal’s implication was that the fans’ voices have included questions about performance-enhancing drugs. It’s slippery slope. Excellence in any sport these days includes questions about PEDs. From Tiger Woods to Manny Pacquiao, everybody hears them. Hopkins is hardly immune.
But for Pascal to raise the question just isn’t smart, especially when Hopkins is standing there. Above all, it just says that Pascal doesn’t know much about his opponent’s calculating, predatory nature. Hopkins’ vitriolic hyperbole included this shameless sales pitch: “Don’t be surprised if I kill him.’’
Weeks later, Pascal laughed at that one. He also dismissed the possibility of a defamation lawsuit from Hopkins, who implied that might be on the agenda after Saturday night’s closing bell.
“That just makes me laugh, because if he wants to sue me, I will file a complaint because he said he’s going to kill me,’’ Pascal said. “… He’s trying to make me quiet. But, that won’t work. I’m going to bark like a dog.’’
That’s exactly what Hopkins wants to hear.
Joe Calzaghe had it right. In December of 2007, Calzaghe quietly stood by and watched Hopkins taunt him as “a white boy” in a crowded press room in Las Vegas. A few months later, Calzaghe proceeded to beat him on the scorecards. Calzaghe didn’t leave many opportunities for Hopkins to nurture the defiance that has sustained him.
The talented Pascal, still a student, must not have been paying attention. He’ll pay for that inattention. The backpedaling that started in a conference call will continue in the later rounds Saturday night. Look for Hopkins to win a unanimous decision in a defiant, record-setting victory that will whip a younger man and – for now – the oldest one of all, Father Time.
