Hopkins may do a runner

REAL_DEAL · Post by **REAL_DEAL** » 04 Jun 2004, 09:54

PPV card in jeopardy!
Promoter Bob Arum has said that if Bernard Hopkins fails to fight
Fight news

Saturday night, the entire pay-per-view card will be canceled, as will the proposed September 18 De La Hoya-Hopkins megafight. Hopkins yesterday threatened to pull out of Saturday's title defense against Robert Allen due to the choice of referee Joe Cortez. Bernard went to the airport to take a plane back to Philadelphia, but was convinced by HBO's Kery Davis to remain in Las Vegas. Hopkins accused Cortez of being in cahoots with people supporting De La Hoya to "get rid of me" for the September bout. However, the Nevada commission has indicated it will not honor Hopkins' demand for a change of referees, and Cortez has stated that he is not inclined to step aside. Arum called Cortez' position "ludicrous" saying he should referee a different fight on the card to save the promotion. He also stated that if Hopkins does not fight, it will "be the end of his boxing career." All fighters on the card are scheduled to weigh-in later today. Stay tuned...

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 04 Jun 2004, 09:57

Cortez is a fornicating prima-donna, is he going to allow a whole fight card to fall apart just based on his pride. If he doesn't get to ref the fight because it falls through, then he won't get paid anyway, fornicating moron.

The Devil In Roy Jones · Post by **The Devil In Roy Jones** » 04 Jun 2004, 16:35

Gotta love egomaniac 'star' referees. Incidently, Cortez is one of the few I do like, but he's got to remember not everyone is as rich (and lives in Vegas) like him. People will have paid $400/800 for seats to this card, and then there's expenses....

No way in hell should Hopkins be able to pick his referees, he's one of the dirtiest 'clean' champions ever i.e. he gets away with so much shit without being too blatant to the average joe watching on TV. But who can forget his total foulfests, like the rematch with Antwun Echols, where he knocked out Echols by holding onto the top rope with his left hand, and battering a defenceless Echols with his right. This was because of the referee coming in to seperate them, then chickening out when they started fighting again too soon. Who was this referee? Tony Weeks....

Hopkins foresees this 3rd Allen fight to be the foulfest it was destined to be, I think he's trying to get Weeks in there so he can get away with all his subtle (and not so subtle) illegal tactics. His nightmare referee would be Nady, an egomaniac who goes waaay OTT in over-officiating many times. Cortez, while more lax, has seen every trick in the book, is not afraid to disqualify, and I think there's a good chance he would pick up on Hopkins' 'tricks'.

Ulysses · Post by **Ulysses** » 04 Jun 2004, 18:34

Hopkins has relented and Cortez will referee his fight.

It promises to be a cracking show with three decent fights and two modern greats.
Castillo and Lazcano will have a real tear-up, Hopkins is a fantastic technician and a joy to watch and Oscar is about as good a boxer as there is.

Eric the Viking · Post by **Eric the Viking** » 04 Jun 2004, 18:36

I gotta side with Cortez here - he's right, it sends a terrible message to have big-name boxers be able to nix a referee on short notice, especially when they have no substantive basis for their objection (Hopkins himself says Cortez, who has refereed 2 of his title fights, has done a great job.)

I think the Nevada commission should stick to their guns on this one - fornicate Hopkins and his paranoid whining.

bennie · Post by **bennie** » 04 Jun 2004, 18:47

How can De la Hoya say he's going for history when he's going for a WBO title? Golden bullshit.

TheRiverCityHippy · Post by **TheRiverCityHippy** » 04 Jun 2004, 18:54

i dont know if its down to perspective or something but hopkins looks a LOT bigger than DLH in that photo.
thats gotta tell if they ever meet.
its one thing doing a `roy jones jnr` and dipping your toe into a division but its a totally different senario going against the main man.

Ulysses · Post by **Ulysses** » 04 Jun 2004, 19:28

bennie wrote:How can De la Hoya say he's going for history when he's going for a WBO title? Golden bullshit.

Because nobody else has won a major title in six different weight divisions.

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 04 Jun 2004, 19:36

Bennie, if you can consider Hearns a 5 time world champion, then if DLH wins he should be a 6 weight world champion. One of Hearns' five belts is the WBO Super Middle title. This was when the WBO was just starting aswell.

Leonards five weight championship is also flawed, given he never fought at Light Heavy yet got the belt.

Mind you, of course Hearns won the IBO Cruiser title, which gives him a case for being a six weight champion.

Goz · Post by **Goz** » 05 Jun 2004, 06:55

Ulysses wrote:
bennie wrote:How can De la Hoya say he's going for history when he's going for a WBO title? Golden bullshit.
Because nobody else has won a major title in six different weight divisions.

He is going for history. The WBO belt will be an excellent acheivement at Middleweight and it is a precursor to challenging for the undisputed Middleweight title in September. If that isn't going for history then I don't know what is.

You know people can say whatever they like about De La Hoya but he has, at one time or another, been 'the man' at each of ths 5 weight divisions in which he has plied his trade.

Sure he might pick the easier bauble for his first fight at a new weight but so what? He always ends up taking on the toughest challenge, people should give him a break.

REAL_DEAL · Post by **REAL_DEAL** » 05 Jun 2004, 06:58

i rank the WBO above the IBF and WBA, thoses belts are two corupt for my liking.

Loftgroov · Post by **Loftgroov** » 05 Jun 2004, 19:24

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Cortez is a fornicating prima-donna, is he going to allow a whole fight card to fall apart just based on his pride. If he doesn't get to ref the fight because it falls through, then he won't get paid anyway, fornicating moron.

What are you on about??? Hopkins is the prick. Nobody is bigger than the sport, so who the fornicate does he think he is demanding Cortez steps aside?

Cortez is just doing his job. Hopkins is the multi-millionnaire tosspot throwing a wobbly....

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 05 Jun 2004, 19:55

I agree with Loftgroov here, Hopkins is objecting to Cortez cause he thinks he is De La Hoya's personal ref, but Oscar is not in the opposite corner, so what is the problem.

Also, even if Hopkins believes that Cortez doesn't want him and DLH to get it on, then surely it would be a lot worse if he was a judge than a ref.

I want no excuses in the DLH vs Hopkins match, so Cortez shouldn't get the nod for that job.

Quite similar to another ref/fighter combination that is alarming.

Eric the Viking · Post by **Eric the Viking** » 05 Jun 2004, 22:41

REAL_DEAL wrote:i rank the WBO above the IBF and WBA, thoses belts are two corupt for my liking.

Yeah, it's not like the squeaky-clean WBO is in the pockets of any of the big-name European promoters, or anything...

REAL_DEAL · Post by **REAL_DEAL** » 06 Jun 2004, 01:12

What and the IBF isnt in the hand of money grabing american promoters who want their fighters ranked

America is the new Germany,

Eric the Viking · Post by **Eric the Viking** » 07 Jun 2004, 12:28

BTW, De La Hoya never proved he was "the man" at 130 - he beat a weak champion to collect his WBO super feather title, defended it once against another hand-picked opponent, then moved up to lightweight. He never faced Azumah Nelson at 130, nor did he take on any of the other major-title holders. At Lightweight he beat the overrated Rafael Ruelas (before you start jumping up and down, look at Ruelas' record and then tell me - who had Ruelas beaten at 135? He barely sqeaked out a controversial SD over an aging 35-18 Freddie Pendleton to win the IBF title the year before, then defended it vs. padded-record stiff Mike Evgen, 3-fight novice Omar Pacheco and another padded-record stiff, Billy Schwer, before losing it to DLH.) Oscar never tried to unify the big-3 titles at 135, like Whitaker had done a few years before.