Guest blogger and Bernard Hopkins expert: Chris Van Hoy

It was a calm fall day in Atlantic City, New Jersey. A home to a few brave souls who can handle this tough town. A home of dreams for so many more. Dreams of success and fortunes that routinely are washed away from the sands of the beaches into the rough surf of the chilly Atlantic Ocean. Here is where so many dreams have begun so bright and wonderful only to end in despair and avolition.

October 11, 1988, at Resorts Casino and Hotel, a young and raw boxing prospect by the name of Bernard Hopkins makes his way to the ring to embark on his journey to greatness. One day he would be the undisputed middleweight champion of the world and become the first boxer to ever hold all four major titles at the same time. This was a long far way from his record-setting 20 consecutive successful title defenses. It was long before Hopkins would go on to become the oldest boxer to win a championship at the young spunky age of 46 years old. For now, before him was Clinton Mitchell also making his professional debut at light heavyweight for which Hopkins was making the extraordinary sum of $350. $350 is a good bit of money for a working man to make in a day but for someone who is training every day and hitting the gym for hours on end. It sure doesn’t seem like a great deal of compensation. Especially when taking the chance of having your brains beat in or worse yet getting knocked out and never regaining consciousness again. This first fight wasn’t about the money no it was about the dream, the first step in climbing the tower to become a world champion.

Well, our dreamer lost that first match in a Majority decision 38-39, 38-38, 37-39 in favor of Mitchell. It was this second failure that Hopkins found himself questioning what he was doing. Did he have what it takes to compete in the boxing world. Whether or not this fight game was truly for him. Was his heart into it, to make the kind of commitment that he knew it would need for someone like him to succeed. He knew he wasn’t the most athletic boxer. He also knew he didn’t have a storied amateur background, there were no golden glove championship trophies on his mantle. Certainly, no Olympic medals hanging around his neck to announce to the boxing world of his greatness. None of this for him unlike so many of his contemporaries who had already achieved so much. No his background started in a 6x8 prison cell in Graterford State prison just outside of Philadelphia. This is where a 17-year-old boy had made his first major failure. Bernard Hopkins had been sentenced to prison for 18 yrs for 9 different felonies that he had been convicted of committing. Hopkins would discover his love of boxing while here though. A love that once he was released after almost 5 years he decided was his best path to pursue. In the ring was where he had his best shot at redemption.

For now, though the Dream would be on hold. Hopkins couldn’t believe he lost his first match. Whether it was poor management or lack of training or for that matter a lack of commitment to the sweet science. He knew this wasn’t going to work. He knew he had to figure it out and fast what it was he was doing. As Bernard was leaving Graterford State prison the warden had commented to Hopkins that he would see him again when he wound up back there to which Bernard replied, “ I ain’t ever coming back here.” No matter what he did he knew he didn’t want to come back to prison. He had to overcome from a place where so many before and after him have failed to pull themselves up out of.

One very vivid memory that had seared its bitter taste into the mouth of his memory was when he witnessed the brutal murder of a fellow inmate who had been senselessly killed over a pack of cigarettes. Bernard had already experienced his own brush with death. When he was 13 years old Bernard had been stabbed on a subway train with his lung being punctured. He would spend the next 6 months in the hospital recovering from this close call with death. This was Bernard’s reality and future if he didn’t change his ways. He had never had a lot of opportunities growing up in the Raymond Rosen housing projects in Philadelphia one of eight children to Bernard and Shirley Hopkins. Before he knew it Bernard was mugging people and stealing. He knew that he had to stop or else that warden would be right about him coming back to Graterford State Prison or for that matter even worse it might be him, Bernard Hopkins the one that could be senselessly murdered. Just like the man he watched die over a pack of cigarettes. Only 23 years old Hopkins knew he had to change his ways. From how he boxed to how he trained to even his thought and belief system. He knew he had to do whatever it took to accomplish his dream of being a World Champion.

After sixteen months without a fight and working as a cook. Hopkins finally made his way back to the squared circle. He knew he was committed completely to doing whatever it took to succeed in the fight game. This 2nd fight would be at the legendary Blue Horizon on Broad Street in Philadelphia. All the great boxers of Philadelphia lore had fought there. The Blue Horizon was very different from the grandeur of the hotels and casinos of Atlantic City. There on Broad Street was a Mecca for boxers and boxing fans. Tucked away within the rough and tough streets of Philadelphia an oasis to art of pugilism.

Bernard Hopkins made his way to the ring but things were a little different this time around. Hopkins now had a new manager to guide his career and breath a new confidence within Bernard. A career that now would be at middleweight a more natural weight for Hopkins than the bloated up light heavyweight he had his first bout at. No more eating fast food and drinking soda or alcohol. No more robbing people and intimidating strangers on the streets. This time Bernard was completely committed to be the greatest boxer he could be and an even better human being. Of course, at the time he couldn’t have imagined how incredible that journey would become.


That second fight would end after 4 rounds and this time Bernard Hopkins would be the one with his arm raised him a precious and very rewarding victory. This was just a little taste of the glory that awaited him. Bernard was now truly becoming “The Executioner “. He would go on to win 22 straight fights. He would fight 8 times in 1990, another 7 fights in 1991 and then another 6 times in the ring in 1992. Considerably more active than the 16 months he spent cooking between his first and second fight. No Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins would go on to terrorize the middleweight division. A run that would set up a title fight for the vacant IBF Middleweight title. A bout that would pit him against arguably the greatest pound for pound boxer of his generation besides himself, Roy Jones Jr. Roy Jones Jr. would go on to pull out the win and take home the prize in that first championship battle. For Bernard Hopkins this defeat while a disappointment was in no way a deterrent to him becoming a champion. If anything this loss made him even hungrier than ever for that Championship Belt. Both fighters would go on to greatness and even eventually have a long-awaited rematch. This of course after Hopkins would become the undisputed Middleweight champion of the world and then set the record for 20 straight consecutive defenses over the span of 9 years. Certainly no minor accomplishment for a young street thug from the streets of Philadelphia. A young man who had the courage and determination to follow through on his dreams and become not only a boxing champion but a boxing legend.