Just click on the link above to purchase the magazine. All Rights Reserved, This is a BETA experience. My brother in arms is Kurt Badenhausen, whom I have worked with for many years and knows more about sports numbers than anyone. I lost my first fight in 1988, and I struggled between going back to jail and staying out for good. “There are some people in here who want to see him lose because there’s always going to be jealousy and envy,” Wilson said. ", Hopkins: "You might not never get out of there. “But most of us in this place want Bernard to win because, in a way, he’s fighting for us. I took away the clock with my lifestyle, the way I eat and the way I think. Many are going to get in trouble and keep on getting in trouble. My girlfriend left me. And he start getting excited... That was the last time I seen Bouie Fisher alive. Go to South Philly. I even wrote an Earnings Quality newsletter for Forbes for a brief period (I think it peaked at about 150 subscribers). I hope what I'm about to post can answer your question. I was a wolf. I didn’t see the extreme hardness that a lot of boys come in here with. "This is the last one," Hopkins insisted when he agreed to end his exile. I'm sure you've heard the term $40 million slave. And I remember that not only did that fight have me thinking about how that happened, I had no clue how the business worked. These days I like to take lots and lots of numbers and turn them into proprietary concepts and multi-platform content. But he happens to be the guy people are looking at in boxing as the man, other than Pacquiao. When do you think you made the transition? When I’m fighting in that ring, I’m fighting for some souls that can help others and for some lost souls that don’t want to help others. He showed what, given the opportunity, an individual – any individual – can do.”. Me and Smokey are not biologically related, but we might as well be. There is some good that can be wrung from even the harshest of circumstances, if only an individual is strong enough to recognize the traps into which so many of those who run afoul of the law keep falling. You can never beat the clock. All rights reserved. My friends wouldn't accept collect calls. While in prison, he won four national middleweight penitentiary boxing championships. Well, how many? Who has the edge in Taylor-Ramirez? They don’t have to become victims or victimizers.”. I started out in the statistics department of Forbes in the mid-'80s then transitioned to. On April 12, 2005, Hopkins did return to Graterford, for the dedication of a 20-by-40-foot mural of him in the prison gym. “I fought Felix Trinidad and I didn’t cry,” a misty-eyed Hopkins said at the dedication. I thought respect was having chains and nice clothes and money to spend. That’s where and with whom Hopkins’ legend began to take root. Because they are told not to. I learned a lesson. People scattered when they saw me coming.”. Police ruled his death as a homicide.At … I have a problem with it. I was seventeen years old; couldn't spell, could barely read. At age seventeen, Hopkins was sentenced to prison for multiple offenses. I know that sounds hard to believe now, but where do you think I got that from? There is now a 60-foot mural of Hopkins in the gym at Graterford penitentiary, which is one reminder of his passage through its lethal halls. My mentors were James Walker Michaels, Geoffrey N. Smith and William Baldwin. "Maybe society put the traps there for me to fall into. I’m always conscious of the clock because, when you’re incarcerated, you want to burn time. The Russian, widely considered to be the most dangerous many in the 175-pound weight class, no doubt has designs on making some history of his own by becoming the first man ever to knock out the ageless wonder from Philadelphia. Three of my longstanding publishing creations: the valuations of sports teams, ranking actors and movie studios on bang for the buck (ROI) and the Forbes Fab 40 (the most valuable sports brands). One of my favorite affairs is being a guest every few weeks on Larry Kudlow's radio show on WABC Saturday mornings. I'd boxed when I was young; started when I was seven years old and had some amateur fights. He explains why he chose to become a criminal, details his 5 years in prison and what happened when he learned his brother was murdered while he was locked up. Were you shocked he retaliated by throwing you to the canvas? Wilson, a member of a street gang called the Moroccos, was drunk and high on Oct. 10, 1970, when he shot and killed 15-year-old Gregory Davis because, he said, he thought Davis was reaching into his pocket for his own gun. “Regardless, to me, Smokey is more of an asset to society than a threat. Today is National Voter Registration Day! "I don't think she missed more than three or four visits ever in a year. '", Twice a week, every week for fifty-six months, Shirley Hopkins journeyed to Graterford State Penitentiary to visit her son. Didn’t bother me. "I was seventeen years old. You take a shower wearing your shorts because, no matter how tough you are, it's not enough if you're up against four or five people. So I'm talking with my mother, and I can hear in her voice that something is wrong. The second, which ran consecutively, was three to six. He served 56 months, during which time he took up boxing, and after his release on parole in 1988, he maintained a clean record. ", Bernard Hopkins talks about winning fights against younger boxers like Jean Pascal Jermaine Taylor and Kelly Pavlik: "These guys old enough to be my son if you do the math. All rights reserved. I didn’t want to go back to prison and I didn’t want to end up dead.”. But you haven't really started thinking right until you realize that the person you put in fear when you robbed them is a person too; that they're someone else's son or brother or father. The boxing programme, like its most famous member, is long gone. Smokey taught me to stick it out, even in the worst days of my life. Email Graham at Graham@TheGBShow.com. You can't even spread your legs, so you sort of shuffle forward. I used to run the prison yard like a gerbil on a wheel, around and around, around and around, saying over and over to myself, 'Someday, I'm gonna get out of here. He had a kind of tenacity to him, you know? Did he mean or try to hurt Bernard Hopkins? Football players, basketball players, they don't talk about politics. He worked hard at boxing. You don't see Steve Jobs -- God rest his soul -- talking with a stack of money on the phone. How have you beaten the clock? BQ: The name of the movie you're talking about is Undisputed right? He wanted to be a fighter. He had just finished eleventh grade. I saw a guy stabbed to death with a makeshift ice pick in an argument over a pack of cigarettes. He was even good when he started out. I'm not happy about the things I did back then, but the way I turned my life around speaks for itself. Hopkins was, as he described, "the baddest bad guy in the neighborhood. I say things, I say it out of what I experienced. Look, I’m not advocating prison. And I told myself, I promised myself every day, 'If I ever get out of here, I'm not coming back again. The stakes are higher now. Can I see it? Bernard Hopkins fought in prison before he became a pro. Smith looked like he fully understood his role during the week of the fight and had awe and respect on his face in the company of Hopkins.
Iphone Unable To Join Ring Network,
George Best Wife,
Lucille Little Richard,
Roundup Cancer Lawsuit Settlements,
Power Outage Westshore,
Sharp Objects Season 2,
Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore,