By Scott Brown: With the recent quotes from Bernard Hopkins, the racial undertones that have propelled boxing begin to surface once again. Hopkins acting in the spirit of good will presents the African-American opinion that is “talked about in black people’s homes.” Sorry, Joshua Clottey. This act of transparency and kindness has sent shockwaves throughout the world for clamoring for what is said behind many other closed doors. For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. By stating this law of reason one can simply view Hopkins’ comments and draw parallels. Is Hopkins a purveyor of Eugenics? Hopkins insists that his statements on black fighters are just him keeping it real. Real like? “I will never lose to a white boy”. Hopkins may be outraged and feels the dominance of “African-American athlete’s” is losing its grip. This could be a slight to the conscience of a purveyor in Eugenics.

Racial pride has been a part of boxing throughout history. Tremendous hardships and tragedies has landed many people to Untied States. This has fueled the life blood of boxing. There is a social science to the art of boxing. It takes a special person to get their nose broken and come back for more. It even takes more to rid one’s own selfish desire, concentrate on the discipline of boxing, and slowly turn your basic skills into a worthwhile talent. After a broken nose, the initial feeling is to get an education. These other options have not been open to everyone though throughout history. This is why social science or socio-economic conditions play a huge role in boxing. One may have the tools but the heart or engine must be in place. My father has said boxing has cycles. Many minorities group have had their times. There have been many great Irish, Italian, Jewish, and Hispanic fighters. More recently there have been many outstanding African-American fighters. Recently this trend has lost its dominance. This can argued rationally by looking up the current rankings on any major sports website.

It is very odd for one man to portray himself a messenger of his own race. No group of people think in one dimension but let’s take him at his word for the sake of discussion. Hopkins says black think Pacquaio would be beaten by a black fighter easily. Why would he think that? Why would he think that over someone’s else’s race? Must Pacquaio fight a black man…….excuse me African American to gain respect? Do other Asians and Hispanics not measure up? Are they a weaker species? Is it ok to claim dominance in an athletic region? Why not go ahead and claim dominance in an academic arena? Is Pacquaio’s dominance a “chink” in the armor of African-American’s dominance of boxing? Harry Lederman the ringside scorer for HBO weighed in and sarcastically accused Manny of avoiding a Jewish fighter such as Yuri Foreman.

Behind other closed doors. If we are being real? Let’s talk about PED’s. If there is no truth to the claims, why is it being brought up? Is this a slight to dominant paradigm? Can a small Filipino dominate in a sport that has been dominated by blacks for years? Obviously not, he is cheating. Let’s listen to what is behind these doors. Though there remains some quality African-Americans fighters African-Americans aren’t as hungry as they have been before. Ask Jean Pascal. Ask the Heavyweight division. Ask the cruiserweight division.

This outburst by Bernard Hopkins may seem unhelpful in the grand scheme. Perhaps this is Bernard’s urgency to stoke racial pride in Mayweather to fight Pacquaio. At this point sadly enough fight fans would take anything for this fight to happen. With a Mayweather win not only does Floyd become the greatest pound for pound boxer of our time, he gets reinstate the image of the dominant African-American in boxing.