There is a Darwinian reality to prison life, and a "moral code" inside a prison cell is about as useful as putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound.
Criminals go in, ex-convicts come out, no-one who goes through the process is likely to be turned into a better,more personable human being.
Prison is a place of dread, depression and sorrow, grown men walk around scared, sad, and mean all at the same time.
Nobody is comfortable inside prison walls, except for the most extremely institutionalized psychopaths.Its their dysfunctional world, and inside the penitentiary world they are at the top of the food chain.
North Philly, Philadelphia is the home of some of the finest boxers the world has ever seen. Joe Frazier, Jimmy Young and Tyrell Biggs just to name a few.There is none more noteworthy however, than Bernard "the executioner" Hopkins.(49-5-1-1)
Hopkins turned to crime early in his life, by the age of thirteen he was mugging people and had been stabbed three times.
At the tender age of seventeen B-Hop was given a heart-wrenching sentence of 18 years in Graterford penitentiary for nine different felony offences, including armed robbery.
Inside prison Bernard became a man and witnessed some of the harshest realities of prison life.
Rapes and inmate murders were common-place in Graterford,the tiniest of luxuries like a pack of cigarettes could cause another inmate to take your life.
Bernard Hopkins found boxing while inside Graterford..or should I say that boxing found him?
After serving almost five years, Hopkins was released from prison and decided to use boxing as an escape from his previous lifestyle.B-Hop turned pro immediately.
Campaigning as a light-heavyweight he lost his pro debut in Oct/88 to Clinton Mitchell in Atlantic City.NJ.
B-hop took 19 months off however and returned as a "middleweight with a vengeance".
Between February 1990 and September 1992, Hopkins scored 20 wins without a loss. He won 15 of those fights by KO, 11 coming in the first round.
In the biggest fight of his career, Hopkins fought six-division titleholder Oscar De la Hoya for the undisputed middleweight championship.The fight was fought at a catch-weight of 158 lbs, two pounds below the MW limit of 160 lbs.
Bernard won the bout with a knockout in the ninth round with a devastating left hook to the body and thus became the first boxer ever to unify the titles of all four major sanctioning bodies.
On November 2004 De la Hoya invited Hopkins to join his boxing promotional firm, GOLDEN BOY PROMOTIONS as president of its new East Coast chapter. At age 40, an age in which most boxers are retired, Bernard Hopkins—with a win over Howard Eastman—reached the middleweight record of 20 title defenses.
On April 19, 2008, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Hopkins lost The Ring light heavyweight championship to Joe Calzaghe.
B-Hop got off to a great start by knocking Calzaghe down with a magnificent straight right hand in the first round.
Calzaghe stayed busy however and just as he did with Roy Jones Jr recently, Joe Calzaghe overwhelmed Hopkins.And in the end the judges awarded Joe with the split decision.
Important to note that Bernard Hopkins also has a loss to Roy Jones Jr. in 1993, a loss in which Jones refuses to let B-Hop avenge .Bernard also has two losses to Jermaine Taylor in 2005.
Last month on October 18, 2008, Kelly Pavlik the current middleweight champion of the world got "taken to school" by Hopkins in a non-title match-up.
Bernard was able to outbox, outwork and dominate the 26-year-old Pavlik. It seemed as if father time had not slowed "The Executioner" down, not even a little bit.
That great achievement could easily place Bernard Hopkins in the 'Top 15' greatest boxers of all time, and without a doubt, a contender for the No. 1 greatest middleweight boxer of all time, alongside the great Sugar Ray Robinson.
...because I could not stop for age......age kindly stopped for me....inside the bus was just myself and immortality..(anonymous)
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about 1 month ago
by ESPN boxing reporter Dan Rafael, promoters spent the better part of Monday attempting to save the deal with Mosley and Margarito now expected to face each other on Jan. 24 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Money issues reportedly caused the matchup to initially fall a part but Rafael states that HBO will be putting up additional compensation that will go to Margarito and his promoter, Bob Arum’s Top Rank.
Mosley is promoted by Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions and the company’s CEO, Richard Schaefer, is quoted as referring to the Mosley vs. Margarito matchup as a “done deal.”
Schaefer’s company will essentially be compensating with itself as it will be involved in the production and marketing of Affliction Entertainment’s second-ever mixed martial arts pay-per-view, which is scheduled for the same night as Mosley vs. Margarito at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
Affliction’s PPV, titled “Day of Reckoning,” will be headlined by WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko defending his title vs. former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski. In addition to competing with Margarito vs. Mosley on HBO, the event is likely to face competition from the UFC and Spike TV.
about 1 month ago
Excellent article. POTD.
About as poetic and lyrical as a BR article gets. I hope more people get a chance to see this one.
Awesome job, Stoker.
from about 1 month ago
Gettin' good isn't he, Jon?
about 1 month ago
wow..thanks jon ...thats very much appreciated my friend..
/stoker
about 1 month ago
I second Jon's sentiment. Another 5 stars/POTD. Your writing gets better with each article. And I think you might be a better boxing writer then MMA writer. Thats not meant as an insult, rather a compliment. Keep it going man!
about 1 month ago
Now if Brian wanted to change specialties and leave MMA . . . I surely would not be the one to stop him, but you, Stoker, had better not defect. I know where you live! ***** and POID (again!)
about 1 month ago
THANKS GUYS..YOU PEOPLE ARE MY GREATEST FRIENDS!!!...MY STRESS LEVEL IS NOT AS HIGH NOW..BOXING IS SOMETHING IM CONFIDENT ABOUT..SPAMMERS CANT TOUCH ME..LOL
/LOVE STOKER
about 1 month ago
I am not a B-Hop fan myself, but the article was great.
about 1 month ago
thanks Jason..his life story is one in a million.../dollars that is...lol
about 1 month ago
Congrats man...This just got article of the day!!!
about 1 month ago
hey wow...right on..thanks B
about 1 month ago
Are you sure the Calzage fight was a split decision? i thought it was unanimous?
from about 1 month ago
Never mind, I looked it up. I wish I watched the fight now. I had it on tape and erased it.
I think Roy Jones, Jr. is just too far over the hill to fight Hopkins now. Ever since he went up in weight to fight John Ruiz and then came back down again he had not just not been the same boxer. I think that bulking up to fight Ruiz really ruined his career. I would not pay to see the fight.
about 1 month ago
THANKS C yeah..I would like to see it only to see Hopkins avenge the loss..or try...one of the reasons I wrote this article was to see how much interest there is in B-Hop versus RJJ..thank you!!
Chuck Giampa (116-111) and Ted Gimza (115-112) scored the fight for Calzaghe, while judge Adalaide Byrd (114-113) scored the fight for Hopkins.I'ts possible but unlikely because Roy has no interest in fighting B-Hop...he knows he got lucky the first time..and he is smart enough to leave it at that.,.but we will see../STOKER
from about 1 month ago
Hopkins right now would wipe out RJJ. It wouldn't be really avenging the loss at this point. Roy is a shell of himself and should retire.
I am kicking myself for not saving my tape of the Hopkins-Calzage fight.
Nice article. I read some more of your work and it's very good. I am going to run and watch boxing on HBO now!
about 1 month ago
..on hbo..is it the taping of Hatton vs malignaggi..??I saw it live on ppv ...that fight showed off Hattons talents..what a war ..if Pacman beats Oscar..is the world ready for Pacman VS Hatton...I sure as hell am../STOKER
from about 1 month ago
The Paul Williams v Verno Philips fight. Not much of fight, Williams smoked him.
about 1 month ago
well...um ..I respectfully disagree...Jones looked good early against Calzaghe..but i know what you mean...and on paper..the loss would be avenged..but Jones has no interest...unless he starts to need more money for some reason..but I think he is ok in that department...lol.
thanks again./stoker
about 1 month ago
Great article Stoker...seriously, many props. Since I came into MMA, I let off of boxing a bit, but articles like this make me take a look at things around the boxing world and wonder...just watched Manfredo Jr. lose to Bika the other day, and I was like, this is awesome. Still MMA at heart though. Again, great article. Teach me my friend!
about 1 month ago
Stoker, sorry I was late to this one. Congrats on a well deserved POTD. Great article - especially the insight into the world behind bars. I love Hopkins. He is a throwback to days when men fought wars inside the ring just to survive outside of it. Absolutely a great read! *****POTD
about 1 month ago
THANKS GRAY...I had no idea when I wrote it that it would take off..BUT I DO HAVE LIFE EXPERIENCES ..JAIL TIME ETC.. nothing that im proud of ..i think being able to convey your feelings into words is a god given talent..an art-form..if you don't have it ..then all the journalism degrees in the world wont help you...i have grade 12..and a few creative writing courses..
"read dozens of books about hero's and crooks and learned much from both of their style...(jimmy buffet,son of a son of a sailor)thank you../stoker dafire
about 1 month ago
Hi Stoker,
Interesting article. Great stuff about life behind bars. I gave it ***** and POTD.
Good job!
--Larry
about 1 month ago
thank you larry...
about 1 month ago
Stoker, this was seriously, seriously good. I know we've had our differences (and probably will again, I guess), but I'm very impressed at the progress you've made. I know very little about boxing, and this piece was very informative. Great work.
about 1 month ago
Thanks Jeremy....were cool buddy
about 1 month ago
As you already been told good stuff and keep it coming.
about 1 month ago
thanks
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