By Dan Ambrose: IBF light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (54-6-2, 32 KO’s) hasn’t given up his big dream of fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. and says he’s willing to drop down in weight to make it happen. Hopkins also says he’d like to fight Manny Pacquiao as well.
Recently, Hopkins said that he could get down to 160 to make the fight happen, which would mean that Mayweather – or Pacquiao – would still need to move up in weight from 147 or 154 to make the fight happen. Why they would want to do that to fight the soon to be 49-year-old Hopkins is the big question you’d have to ask.
Hopkins told Arsenio Hall this week “Definitely, we’d meet where he’s [Mayweather] comfortable more than I’m comfortable, because I’d have to come down. I’d rather put on weight. His next potential date is in May of 2014. It can’t happen at that time yet.”
When asked by Hall how he’d beat Mayweather, Hopkins said “Jump on him like a bad suit. Pressure is one strategy. You have to do multiple strategies, but you have to have the talent to do these things. I’d say to both of those guys [Pacquiao and Mayweather], give me half of the money and I’d fight both of you.”
It would seem like Hopkins is wasting his time talking up a fight with Mayweather when there’s no apparent interest coming from Mayweather’s side. Hopkins would be better off talking up a fight against guys from his own division like Adonis Stevenson or Sergey Kovalev than wasting his breath on a fight that will likely never happen against Mayweather.
Hopkins isn’t talking Stevenson or Kovalev, because the guy that his promoter Richard Schaefer is planning on putting him in with is arguably the weakest of the current light heavyweight champions in WBA champ Beibut Shumenov instead of the best two guys in Stevenson and Kovalev. Hopkins could get a lot more attention if he were to fight those two guys than he can fighting Shumenov. But of course, those guys will likely knock Hopkins out, whereas Shumenov is someone that is beatable for him even at this advanced age.
I could see Mayweather agreeing to fight Hopkins if he could melt down to 152 to make the fight happen, but it’s not really fair if Hopkins comes down to 160 and they rehydrates to the 180s to fight a 150 lb. Mayweather with a 30 pound weight advantage over him.
The only way a Mayweather-Hopkins fight makes sense is if A. Hopkins agrees to a 152 lb. catch-weight and B. Hopkins agrees to a rehydration limit of 165 lbs. If Hopkins is limited to gaining back just 12-13 lbs. after he weighs in at 152 lbs., then a fight against Mayweather would be a fair fight. But if Mayweather has to fight a rehydrated 180+ lb. Hopkins while weighing only 150 lbs. himself, then that’s a joke of a fight and not worth it for Mayweather.
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