GL:  Just so ya'll know Bernard Hopkins knows the difference between the internet and BoxingTalk. There is a difference. "I'm on the internet and I'm watching.   The fans have spoken about this.  Everytime he fights, fans speak.  Because they're not getting what they feel he's been giving.  It's a difference.  The fans know it's the people's champ vs. the corporate champ.  Everbody knows.  Whether it's this person or that person, they know.   Fans, at the end of the day want to hold you up.  They're going to hold you up, and make people understand that this is the guy they love.  It's evidence.  That's why you're hearing the buzz on BoxingTalk.com. about Miranda.  You're hearing more about Miranda in the last three or four months on Boxingtalk than Jermain Taylor.  So, you tell me.  Here's a guy that's the undisputed, and this other guy doesn't even have a title, I don't think, a world title.  You hear Miranda, Miranda, Miranda.  Because, that's that infomercial, that punch, that seek and destroy attitude.  So, the tides are starting to change.  Greg can't speak for the fans, but he sure is writing what they have to say.  And I sure am reading."

"The last thing I read, which was yesterday, was Miranda, Miranda, Miranda, we love this guy.  And the pressure is going to start to be put on the Taylor camp, because the fans, who make you or break you, are going to start flooding BoxingTalk.com, over and over, saying we want to see this fight.  Then Greg Leon is going to get cursed out by a few people, because he's going to write what the fans want him to write, and not what they want him to write.  Whoever these people are.  Now you have a frenzy going on.  Greg Leon is going to do what he's done with a lot of fights, make matches through the internet.  Now we have what they call a buzz, a controversy.   Whether he's the best or the other guy is the best.  Then the  fans are going to put pressure on everybody, in any weight class.  If they want to see these particular warriors fight.  Then it will happen, when, I don't know.  But it will happen, and that's what I'm excited for.  I'm excited to see great fights in the year 2007, in any weight class.  Especially Bernard Hopkins.

GL:  You know you're undefeated against southpaws.  Perfect Record. 

BH:  10-0

GL:  Yes, and I know that you can't accurately answer the question until after July 21st, but at the same time, you're a student of the game and you do your homework.  Being 10-0 against southpaws, and studying  Winky Wright for the past decade, do you consider him to be a more skilled southpaw than the previous ten?

BH:  I go all the way back in Winky's career as far as the first Bronco McKartfight.  You'd have to look it up on the internet.  He was really young, still in high school.  No, he's not the most talented southaw I've ever fought, but he's not the worst.  He falls, if I were to grade somebody between A B C and D, he falls between a C- to a B depending on what he shows up.  With his mental aspect of fighting. 

GL:  Which southpaws have you fought that you consider better?

BH:  John David Jackson.  He was slick, he boxed, he knew how to move. John David Jackson has been brought to the table about Bernard Hopkins, and since then he has gotten other jobs with Golden Boy.  Another fighter is Shannon Briggs.  He's not with Golden Boy, I think he's with Don King.  John David Jackson is one of the hottest trainers in boxing right now.  One of the hottest trainers, so respect to John David Jackson.  I'm not surprised.  We go all the way back to Philladelphia championship boxing gym, when he was a champion, and I was coming up.

GL:  Will you be sparring with him in preperation for Winky?

BH; Yes, all the time.  John is in my camp.  John, Mackie Shilstone, Brother Nasseem, Malik, everybody, my whole crew we locking it down.  Winky's talented, but when you asked me that question, I'm being honest.  I have nine or ten southpaws on my resume, and like I said, I'm undefeated with southpaws.  I'd rather fight southpaws than othrodox fighters. It's just the way that my style is that suits me for southpaws.  Southpaws look at me, and think that fighting me is difficult, because of the things that I do, and the positions that I put myself in.  I know every inch of that ring.  I know every inch of that ring.  Instantly I know where I'm at at all times in that ring.  It's just an experience, and it's something that I know is important.  When you're in position, you must know where you're at at all times, to be able to operate.  Having a style, knowing the experience of fighting a southpaw, whether they stand in front of you, whether they move, or whether they do all of the above,  Bernard Hopkins has had success, and had the book on any southpaws that have fought me.  I've got tapes of one of the greatest southpaws to come out of Philladelphia.  I've got tapes of one of the greatest southpaws that fought in any weightclass in the last thirty or forty years.  Sometimes to watch the style of a guy you have to fight, you might not always get that in the ring yourself.  We have a thing called tapes, and recording, and DVD.  You look at these great southpaws of the past, and you try to emulate and imitate.  Not their style, but how to offset them.  You put yourself in that TV screen, and in that fight, and imagine what you would do, if you were in that ring with that particular southpaw.  These are the things I think helped me, as time went on, to fight southpaws.  I had one of the best teachers, and the best southpaws of the 80's era through the 90's, that's John David Jackson.  He taught me a hard way of how to fight southpaws, and I paid my dues.  Back then, I didn't think it was a blessing to be schooled by one the slickest, smoothest southpaws to  come out of my era.  Now it's paying in dividends in everything I do.

GL:  Show them the watch.  Show them how much dividends it's paying.

BH:  This is part of a relationship. Look at it, you know.  Can you guess how many karats that is, Greg?  How many karats it is, not the band, forget the band.  The band is over sixty.  The band is over sixty or seventy, so if you start from seventy, go up and I'll let you know if you're right.  With the bezzle, the middle part, and the side part, this is the undisputed watch in the entire universe.  In the entire universe, even Mars.  

GL:  That's what's good.  We gonna get a lot more of the Executioner on...

BH:  NO, we ain't done yet.  We ain't done.  Let me tell you something again about Greg Leon, this guy here has snuck up on the industry, the media buisiness and he's whooping ass and taking names.  On the same token he understands that to stay on top of the mountain, he must continue to have handsome faces like mine on his damn website, and he must continue to do a good job and give people credable stories.  Not speculation, and rumors, and stuff like that.  As long as he continues to do that he will get respect from the fighters, and they will always open up their doors.  Like I did at The Hotel at the Mandalay Bay.

GL:  Where the fly fishes play.  Oh man.   

BH:  Where the fly fishes play, or whatever it is they do play.  Yeah, the fly fishes do play there though.  Yeah, it was good.  We're going to do more interviews, countdown..

GL:  More chats and Bernard is going to making a big debut.

BH:  We gotta do the website thing for the internet.  We've both been busy.  Greg Leon had a birthday, he's 21, and guess what he's getting old.  I'm getting old, but we'll get back to you.  Sorry fans, I couldn't make it.  I was in Miami, MIA, so  we're going to settle down.  We'll have a couple of days next week hopefully, no the week after next, and we're going to get it done.  I'm going away, but will be back to do it.  Peace.    

GL:  Bernard is making another special debut on BoxingTalk, but we're going to keep that a secret for now.
 

M

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