Bernard Hopkins: “Floyd Mayweather has to go down to Maidana’s skill level to be beaten on Saturday and I don’t see it happening!” – OTR #214

By Jenna J – “On The Ropes” Boxing Radio returns this week to preview the SHOWTIME PPV event, ‘The Moment.’ This Saturday May 3rd, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, boxing fans will be treated to one of the biggest PPV events in recent history, as Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather looks to get his 46th victory when he takes on WBA welterweight champ, Marcos ‘El Chino’ Maidana.

This event does not only feature the current p4p king, Mayweather, but also includes a stacked under card which will see the return of Amir ‘King’ Khan as he looks to stake his claim as the next challenger to Floyd Mayweather, by defeating veteran Luis Collazo. Also on the card, Adrien Broner will be looking to bounce back from his first professional loss back in December by taking on Carlos Molina. I will be giving my thoughts and official predictions on this event. Just click on the audio player to listen to the show!

Guest

Joining the show this week is current light heavyweight champion, Bernard ‘The Alien’ Hopkins. Hopkins is coming off an impressive victory against Beibut Shumenov in which he captured the IBF light heavyweight crown. Bernard discusses about the talked about unification bout against Adonis Stevenson, and how he would approach the bout.

‘The Alien’ also gives his in depth thoughts on Floyd Mayweather Jr’s bout with Marcos Maidana and who he thinks will emerge victorious. Lastly, Bernard Hopkins talks about a potential Pacquiao-Mayweather bout, and if he believes the fight would still live up to the hype that it has carried for many years. Here is a preview of what Bernard Hopkins had to say

Jenna: Bernard, what are your thoughts on the fight tomorrow night between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Marcos Maidana?

Bernard Hopkins: I’m looking for the first quarter of the fight to be a tug of war amongst a will and sharpness, and also craftiness in a guy that’s a sharpshooter but is not a one pull the trigger sharp shooter, and that is Mayweather, that can neutralize the wide swings that are coming from a distance before they hit the target.

Mayweather is no Broner. Broner is not a veteran right now, Broner didn’t know how to adjust at that time to Maidana’s attack and the way he attacked — overwhelming and aggressive, in your chest your face type of mentality. It takes poise and also it takes patience, but also activity in between those things to be able to be dominant and be able to pick a guy like Maidana to pieces.

When people say the style and they say to me who I think has the better ammunition and better arsenal to be able to overpower the other — hands down, it’s no hard thing to figure out between the styles of the two.

Does Maidana have an aggressive chance to aggravate a situation, instigate a situation, irritate a situation? Yes, and in doing that, you gotta understand that at this level, the only person who can let themselves down mentally and beat themselves is Floyd Mayweather.

Floyd Mayweather has to go down to his level, go down to his skill level to be beaten on Saturday. I don’t see it happening. Anything is possible, do I see it happening? No. Do I see anybody in that weight division that has the IQ and that type of arsenal and ingredients that comes with that mentality and that mental toughness? I don’t see nobody in the division to be honest with you.

Now my whole thing is that, lets hope we get some action. For the sake of boxing, lets hope we get some action. You can’t blame Mayweather — you’re fighting who’s there in the division to fight and unify the titles and move on to what’s bigger and better and maybe a threat, maybe not.

I’m telling you, you can normally see the first 2-3 rounds to see what’s really gonna happen — even though we know that it’s not over till it’s over, and I agree. Some of us — there’s only a few dinosaurs left in this game, and I know I’m one of them — when you see the first 2 or 3 rounds of something you’ve been seeing over and over again, around the 3rd or 4th round, you’re either gonna say, “Here we go again,” or you’re gonna say, “This is a good fight,” either way, come Saturday.