He isn't going to hit me with the left hand anyway, so he won't have much use for that, ... whatever Roy Jones shows up, I am planning on destroying. |
He was beat by a better fighter. Period. I am one of the best fighters in the world. Give me my credit. You all thought I would be one-punch happy but I passed my test. I did my homework. I took nothing for granted. I wasn't assured of victory until they raised my hand. |
He was bested by a better fighter, ... I didn't feel like he was intimidated. If I made a mistake he would have punished me. |
He was trying to bait me. But I wasn't going to fall into that trap because I knew he came to fight. |
His words to me were: 'I wrote the script with you in mind.' I am truly excited about the possibility of playing Mason Dixon, and we're getting ready to work an entirely different stage, baby. |
Hopkins gives us this feel good story of how he's going to walk away from the boxing game, riding out on his throne. |
I abused drugs for about seven months, ... It started in the summer of 1987 when I was nineteen years old. I was out of school, running around with the wrong crowd. I was doing lace [a mixture of crack and marijuana]. And what happened was, in my mind, the drug became the only value that mattered. I was involved in something that I'd lost control over. My responsibilities become secondary to the drug. I began to change as a person. I was acting crazy. Finally, one night, I went into my mother's room when she was sleeping, woke her up, and told her, 'Mom; I'm in trouble. I have a problem.' She was like, 'What are you talking about?' And I said, 'Mom; I'm messed up. I'm using drugs.' We cried all night. She was very hurt, and I felt horrible because of the shame and hurt I was bringing her. Neither of us was educated on the matter, but we found out where I could go to get help. I went into a residential rehab program for six months. I had to do some rebuilding. They educated me about my problems and my purpose in life, and I'm a better person now because of the experience. I learned from my mistake and put it behind me. I could have given up on myself. I know people who have battled drugs for years and never kicked the habit. But I beat it. It never resurfaced, and I'm very proud of that. |
I am after the big killers in the heavyweight division. I want to retire as the heavyweight champion of the world, |
I bet $250,000 that he won't make it to the sixth round. I'm a man of my word and I gotta hold true to that. |
I broke camp and I went to his first high school football game, ... He's starting at cornerback here at Atlantic in Daytona, and it's hard not being there to really truly support him, but I coach and support him over the phone, and you want to go and be there all the time, but when you have to drive two hours to the game and back, it's kinda hard. Once this fight is over, then I can start showing up and being supportive. But he knows that I wish I could be there. |
I didn't proclaim Roy to be the greatest thing since Sugar Ray Robinson, ... You all did. The media and the politics made Roy out to be what he is. Roy Jones's greatness is a myth. Sometimes I think the people at HBO have dementia. They're the ones who have made the great Roy Jones an icon, but I never looked at Roy Jones through the media's eyes. |
I don't care if there is a fight that night. The people are going to decide. They'll look at their fight and they'll look at our fight, and the people will decide. |
I don't know about that. But like I said, I always felt in my hear that I was a great fighter. And it just took the world a long time to recognize that. But when you go back and look at my amateur caeer - how can you not know? That's what's so confusing to me. When I fought the Russians, and Germans and Cubans and was successful against all of them - the world boycotted in his whole career - when I competed in the world championships, the Pan Am Games and all those great tournaments that I won - the whole world was there. And I beat the best. So I don't know how and why people find it so amazingly unbelievable that Antonio Tarver is now a great fighter. I've always been a great fighter. My amateur record proves it. |
I don't know what he can say anyway that's gonna make a difference in the outcome of this fight, ... When you look at a guy that's unsure of what's gonna happen, the last thing you want to do is come out and stick your foot in your mouth. So it's best that he stays quiet, he stays hidden, and he works as hard as he can work to avoid the inevitable, and that's getting knocked out on October 1st. So when you're looking at a guy from that standpoint, you have to say 'okay, I understand.' |
I don't know what technical changes he can make. Obviously, he needs to make a whole lot of 'em. I bring families back together again. I should get some credit for that. |