HOPKINS VS. JONES TRAINERS MEDIA CONFERENCE CALL TRANSCRIPT

Posted on | March 22, 2010 | No Comments

March 17, 2010 – 4:30 p.m. ET/ 1:30 p.m. PT

An MP3 of this conference call is available. Please click HERE to download.

Kelly Swanson:

Thanks, everybody, for joining us. We have a very special call today. This is the season for boxing, and we are looking forward to a terrific fight coming up shortly, April 3rd. Today we have some esteemed trainers on the call for both Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones: Naazim Richardson, Bernard Hopkins’ trainer, Alton “Coach Merk” Merkerson, Roy Jones, Jr.’s trainer. We’re also joined today by Richard Schaefer, Chief Executive Officer, Golden Boy Promotions, and Bobby Goodman, Chief Operating Officer of Square Ring Promotions. Without further ado, I’ll turn it over to Richard Schafer to talk about the fight and the people on the call.

Richard Schaefer:

Welcome, everybody. We have two and a half weeks to go until fight week, so the promotion is starting to heat up. The sponsors are activating all across the country. The movie screens, I just got confirmation this morning, they will start tomorrow with the trailer, so the fight will be promoted in over 10,000 movie screens across the United States, and will be available on pay-per-view and in selected movie theaters across the nation and in pretty much all states as well, so it’s really exciting. You have Hopkins and Jones, two great legends meeting in the ring for a long awaited rematch, great fighters, great athletes, and now a chance to meet each other, to see who really is the best between the two of them.

The fight is April 3rd at the Mandalay Bay Event Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. As I said, live on pay-per-view. Tickets are still available. We have sold a tremendous amount of tickets. There’s about 2,500 tickets left in all price categories, so get your tickets, and make sure you’re going to be part of that legendary night, that legendary event.

It is a pleasure to have two great trainers on the call today with “Coach Merk” Alton Merkerson and, of course, as I said before, one of the very best trainers in the world, in my opinion, a man who has been maybe not as much appreciated by the media as he should be. He has guided the career of Bernard Hopkins for a long time, recently now started to work with Sugar Shane Mosley as well and guided him to a sensational knockout victory over Antonio Margarito about a year ago and is going to be in his corner ago in the Floyd Mayweather showdown.

But here he is. He has guided one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world for a long time with Bernard Hopkins. It is a pleasure for me now to introduce to you Brother Naazim Richardson, who will give you an update on how camp is going, on how well he sees is developing Fight Night as well, and give you some general updates from camp, please, Brother Naazim.

Nazim Richardson:

I’d like to thank everybody for having me, and I appreciate that introduction, Mr. Schaefer, and I look forward to the showdown between Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins. And camp has been going excellent. It’s a privilege to work with a guy like Bernard Hopkins. He’s been doing it for a long time, so his preparation is down to a science.

And we realize we take nothing for granted with Roy Jones because, in my opinion, and this is my personal opinion, I feel as though the man has gone desperate now, and the desperate man is dangerous, and he’s an exceptional talent, and we look forward to this match up, as many have over the years. I was teasing Bernard. I said, some of these young guys on the under card weren’t old enough to spell boxing the last time these two guys fought. But it should be a great match up, and we feel confident going into this fight.

Schaefer:

Great. Thank you, Naazim. It is the fight, as we all know, is a co-promotion with Golden Boy and Square Ring, and it’s a pleasure now for me to introduce to you Bobby Goodman. You all know Bobby, who is going to be introducing Alton Merkerson. Bobby, please.

Bobby Goodman:

Thank you very much, Richard. It’s a pleasure to be on the call today, especially with two such esteemed trainers, and two legends of the sport in Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones, Jr. I do want to say that I was present at the first meeting of these two great athletes, and they’ve since demonstrated that they are among the greatest ever, pound-for-pound, in our sport, and it’s a long time coming to have this rematch.

I do want to introduce a guy that has been with Roy since the start, since the amateurs almost, and has done a fantastic job with Roy Jones, one of the great trainers in the world today, M. Alton Merkerson “Coach Merk”.

Alton Merkerson:

Hello, everybody. It’s a pleasure being here on the conference call, and thanks for the compliments on both fighters. Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins are very seasoned athletes. They’ve been in the game for a while. They’ve been great champions. They’ve been great role models, and they both went down in history already, so in reference to making history, they’ve done it already.

But these two guys fought back in 1993, and Roy beat Bernard, and Bernard feels that he shouldn’t have won and that he can’t beat him now. And Roy feels that he still can beat Bernard, so both of them are going to really prepare for this fight and be the best that they can be, and this competition is going to take place on the 3rd of April.

Camp with Roy is going very well. He’s training just as hard for this fight as he did any other fight that he’s had in the past. He’s mentally and physically focused for the fight. He knows Bernard is going to be ready for the fighting, and know Bernard is really working hard for it.

You know, you’ve got to give credit where it’s due. Bernard is one of the slickest guys out there, and we’re not taking anything for granted either. We’re going to be very versatile, be able to deal with any given situation that occurs in the ring. It’s going to be one great fight. Everybody should come and check this fight out because it’s something that people are going to really want to see. It’s going to be an exciting fight.

Question (Q):

Naazim, I know you have a very strong ethical, moral base. Some of you guys may not know, but what he did with Antonio Margarito, he also did with Felix Trinidad back in 2001 with the illegal hand wraps, and you also work with Bernard Hopkins, who is a real stickler for what he puts in his body, so given those two things, what would you do to change it so that the illegal hand wrap situation doesn’t happen, and given the platform, which Shane Mosley and what’s happened with Mayweather and the Olympic style drug testing? What are your thoughts on both of those things, how you would implement change?

Richardson:

Well, I’m not going to say that I’m at liberty, to really comment on it as far as structure and introduce him to change effectively because that’s really not my area of expertise. But what I will say is, and just being a watch hound, we have to make sure that the commissioners are going to do what they’re there to do. I’m confident in our commissioners. And, like I said, it’s just a matter of – it all … anything can get run down after a while.

After we do something so many times, we start taking things for granted. And what happens sometimes in boxing at this level is that we’ve all been around each other so much that we just start taking things for granted. You know, and sometimes you have to go back and sharpen up the eye and make sure everybody is doing their job, and checking in on these guys. And that’s all it is, is just really making sure to keep our sport clean and keep us in the position where we keep our athletes protected. That’s all we can do because that’s my only goal is to protect my athlete at all times, before, during and after.

Schaefer:

I think maybe what I’m going to add here as well, and you know, we always have to remember that boxing is two guys in the middle of the ring hitting each other. This is not dunking a ball or hitting a ball with the bat. This is not like – this is hitting another person. This is different. This is not about cycling up a hill, you know. This is two people hitting each other and, therefore, playing with each other’s life.

I’m not saying that cheating or having tools available, which are unauthorized is acceptable in any sport, but here in boxing, it really is playing with somebody’s life. It’s not just about winning a game. It’s really playing with somebody’s life, and that’s why I think, in boxing, there should be zero tolerance, be it with illegal hand wraps, be it with performance enhancing drugs or whatever. I think this is really, you know, this is very serious, and I agree with Naazim. This is not up to a trainer or fighter or promoter. It really is up to the athletic commissions to insure that they keep both of their eyes open and, I mean, they see that certain things are happening, that they act accordingly, swift, and strict.

Now, “Coach Merk”, touching on the same two subjects, you had the double whammy in your last fight. I don’t know if it’s been publicized or not, but you had a conversation with me about Danny Green, both in relation to whether or not he was tested before the Roy Jones fight for drugs, and also something about his hand wraps. Could you address that issue and bring it to light, and then talk about how you were able? Have you guys moved on from that?

Merkerson:

Yes, we’ve moved on. We have an appeal and trying to get the fight turned around. You know, it’s very important that everybody know their job in this sport, from the promoter all the way down to the athlete. And I think a trainer’s job is very difficult because he has to know everybody’s job. The main concern of this whole thing is the safety of the athletes.

Everybody has rules and regulations. Just like in Australia with Danny Green, every championship fight, and I’ve worked over 100 world championship fights, you have to take a urinalysis test after or before the bout. And, you know, preferably, you know, and everybody should be required to have it after the fight because if you get it before the fight, you can do anything after you take the urinalysis test.

The test wasn’t conducted. I don’t know why the IBO didn’t actually conduct it. I questioned the commissioner there, and I said, “When are we going to take the urinalysis test?” He said, “We’re not going to take one.” I said, “If you’re fighting for a belt, you have to take a urinalysis test.” So I fought it. I fought it, and nothing happened.

But prior to the fight, I had a young man go over to check out Danny Green’s hand wraps, and I told him exactly what to look for. He complained to the commissioner. The people from Square Ring, John Wirt and also confronted the commissioner and stated that the hand wrap was illegal. First of all, you can’t use any adhesive tape besides one-inch surgical tape and soft gauze. They have something that, some kind of material that they used that once it gets wet, and you put it on, it gets hard afterwards, so the guy actually made a cast out of it.

The commissioner actually didn’t know his job, or they were trying to do something under the table. If in fact I would have knew that prior to the fight actually taking place, I would have told them there was going to be no fight. They actually complained to him, and he said, well, if Roy Jones doesn’t fight this guy, he’s going to be disqualified. I didn’t know anything about this until after the fight was actually over. So to try to do something illegal to inflict punishment or pain or even injure somebody in the right is totally uncalled for an unacceptable in this sport because these guys’ lives are on the line, and it’s totally wrong.

But just like a coach stated, it’s in the commissioner’s hands. Once that guy goes into the locker room, and you’ve got a commissioner there to monitor the hand wrap, he should know exactly what a person can and can’t do. And if he can’t do that and hold people to what the rules and regulations state, he doesn’t need to be in that position as a commissioner.

Naazim, what does Bernard, what does your assessment of his secret to the so-called fountain of youth and why he keeps going? That’s for you. And then for Alton, what would you say to people who say that Roy Jones has been knocked out three times, and even though he sounds good, and his reflects may or may not seem to be there, he still is safe, you know, for fighting in the future? So those are my last questions for each of you.

Richardson:

As far as the question you posed to me, the fountain of youth primarily starts with your youth. Bernard took care of his body when he was a young man. He lived right. He never was one to party, a lot of late night – a lot of unnecessary different activities on his knees and his legs for putting in position for his body to reward him later on in his years.

And what we’ve learned, and I emphasize this to a lot of young athletes. You get kids in boxing, especially in boxing; I’m starting to see it a lot. You have guys that are athletes in boxing. They’re actually athletes. So, I mean, guys, they’re football players, basketball players, baseball players, but they just happen to be able to box. And they bring those attributes to boxing.

Well, that’s well and fine until you start getting older, and then you can’t rely on those attributes. When you can no longer rely on your athleticism, you would have had nothing. You have to have left the sport. If you can no longer rely on your athleticism, you would have left the sport.

Bernard Hopkins learned the sport. When you look at Bernard Hopkins, Bernard is not a football player. Bernard is not a basketball player. Bernard is a fighter, and he’s one of the few out there actually. So … boxing, he’s able to do it a lot longer than a lot of these other guys who rely so much on their athleticism. And now that their athleticism has faded, your fight has to fade.

I mean, once it’s gone, you’ve got to sit down too; you know what I mean, if you didn’t learn the craft. That’s why you have guys who are all time greats like Ray Leonard and them. They had so much athleticism, but you notice when Hearns, when Ray got … with a fighter like Hearns who had more gifts than him, he could go to the fundamentals of boxing. Ray Leonard got his hands high, got behind his jab, and still was able to defeat Hearns because he knew his craft too. And then like the man said earlier, you have to know your craft in this sport.

Thank you. Alton?

Merkerson:

Yes. I agree with the coach totally. You can be a young fighter, but you can be an old fighter. I’m not going to use this guy’s name to criticize him, but let’s take a for instance Kelsey Banks. Kelsey Banks had over 400 amateur fights. After the Olympics in ’88, he turned pro. He had a couple fights. He wilted. He faded away, and people said, well, why did he fade away so soon? He’s so young. He wasn’t young.

You know, any time you have a kid that has 400 and some fights, I don’t care if it’s amateur or pro, that’s a lot of fights. And you have a wear and tear on you. We’re not like an automobile where you can rebuild and re-overhaul yourself.

Once you get to a certain point, you’ve got a beginning stage, a progression stage, a sustaining stage. After you reach a sustaining stage, the only thing you can do is go down hill. But like the coach stated, if you take care of yourself, and you do things the right way, and you don’t get punished when you’re coming up, you’re going to last a lot longer. And I agree with him on Bernard. Bernard has a very good body. He’s taken care of himself over the years.

And getting to Roy and the statement that you made, I’m going to say this, and I’m going to make it short. For the time that Roy has been fighting, Roy is 42 now, and he’s been fighting 32 years. Roy has gotten more in the last four years of his boxing career than he ever did in his whole boxing career, you know. And the reason being, things happen when you get older, you know, reflexes, timing slows down. You can’t do the things that you did before. He hasn’t lost those things, but it’s just that split second that makes a difference in boxing.

Now if you ride a horse long enough, you’re going to fall off the horse. I don’t care how good you are, how good a rider you are. If you ride them long enough, you’re going to get thrown. So it happens, the time that Roy got caught three times, he got caught clean. He got caught clean, and the fact of the matter is, every time that he got caught, he was winning the fight prior to getting caught. So if you get hit right, you’re going to go. His preparation has been the same that it’s been over the years, but he wasn’t getting hit then.

Some people take shots better than other people, you understand? In football, you get guys that make contact on the line all the time. This is a different type thing. You’re not just going straight to the head, but those guys, after years and years of wear and tear, my son played pro ball for six years. Sometimes he can’t get out of the bed in the morning, you know, because of all the injuries and all of the doggone wear and tear he had on his body when he was coming up.

But my concern is the same concern that everybody else has for Roy. We have had brain scans. We have done everything that we’re supposed to do. He doesn’t have any brain damage. He hasn’t had any major injuries to him from the knockouts. Yes, it’s getting close to the time where Bernard and Roy is going to give this thing up because you can’t do it forever. But right now, from a medical standpoint, he’s fine, but the reason I stick with Roy, and I’ve been with him for 20 years, and I’m going to continue to be with him.

I’m not afraid to stop a fight. If in fact that he was getting punished and didn’t get caught with one shot clean, I would stop the fight, and that’s what another young, inexperienced trainer probably wouldn’t do just to worry about their credibility and what people say about them. But it’s not going to be long before we give it up and do some other things, but Roy is fine right now.

Did he pass his Las Vegas test?

Goodman:

Roy had to take a very comprehensive physical, and he did do that. He’s done everything they’ve asked of him and more. Medically, he’s fine. He’s 100%.

Bobby, you mention in your opening remarks that you were present at the first fight 17 years ago.

Goodman:

Yes, I was.

Bobby, what was your role there? Where were you working at that time?

Goodman:

I believe I was with Madison Square Garden, and we had some interest in it because they were talking about Riddick Bowe, who was in the main event who won to fight at Madison Square Garden.

Okay, but you were not associated with either Roy Jones or with Bernard Hopkins on that…?

Goodman:

No, I was not.

You were just sort of like a bystander watching the fight.

Goodman:

Absolutely.

Can you just give me your recollections of that fight? I mean, I’ve seen it, of course. It’s, frankly, not a very good fight, but your thoughts about what you watched that night, if you have any particular remembrance….

Goodman:

Yes. This was two extremely talented fighters who had a great deal of respect for each other just coming into their own in this sport in a big way. It was Roy’s first world championship at middleweight, of course, and Bernard, who had been a middleweight and went on to become the greatest middleweight champion in history, just fell a little short of the mark. Bernard tried to press the action through the fight, and at that time, I just think that Roy Jones’ hand speed was a little bit more than Bernard’s at that time, and it was two fighters showing great respect and great skills, and the right person won that event that night. Now we’re doing it again, and they have been the top of their field, pound-for-pound, for many, many years, and they are two legends of the sport.

Alton, were you also at the first fight, or were you not with Roy at that time?

Merkerson:

I was with him. It was the first world title fight that we had. I was at the fight. Roy trained very hard for that fight. As a matter of fact, I had to cool him down some. I thought possibly he was over-training, and we were over-training. But he actually had an injured right hand in that fight. I tried to pull him out of the fight. I told him, look. I said, let’s not take a chance. And he made a statement to me, and I had a lot of respect for him. You know, if your athlete thinks he can do it, you can’t try to pull him back and say he can’t. I said, “Roy, let’s pull out of the fight because you’ve got an injured right hand. We can do this later.”

He said, “You just get an opportunity like this once in a lifetime. I can beat him.” And when he told me that, I said … you can beat him, let’s go ahead with it. I think it was a very technical fight. We kept Bernard on the end of our jab. We made him pay for the mistakes and stuff, and we got Bernard frustrated in that fight.

But I’m going to tell you what happens with time. You learn from your mistakes, and both of these guys have gotten a lot smarter since that time. They don’t react with their physical abilities as much so as their thinking now, so it’s going to be a very technical fight on the 3rd, and we’re going to see some things different than we did the first fight.

Well, I don’t think anybody else on this call was at the fight. Brother Naazim, you were not at that fight for any reason, were you? You were not yet working in Bernard’s corner, correct?

Richardson:

No, I worked with him in the gym at times, but I wasn’t at that fight.

Got you. Let me ask another question. “Coach Merk,” you addressed a little bit about as far as it might be time to be moving on pretty soon with Roy and his career, and you had been with him for a long, long time. You have been here, seen him be knocked out by some of the fighters that have stopped him. I know that Bobby and everybody on the Square Ring side has talked about, yes, Roy has passed a comprehensive physical in Nevada, and that there’s no issues with the testing. Obviously if there was, they wouldn’t allow him to have a license to do the boxing mach. My question for you, coach, is for somebody that’s had such a longstanding personal relationship with Roy Jones, even though the medical tests may be just fine, don’t you worry when you’ve seen what has happened when he’s been hit, be it against Danny Green or, you know, being completely dominated and knocked out by Glen Johnson, what happened with Tarver? I mean, are you concerned that it’s one too many instead of one too few?

Merkerson:

Like I stated before, yes, I’m concerned because Roy is like a kid, like one of my own kids. I’m very concerned about it. But you know, its one thing about a person when they become an adult. You know, you can lead a guy to the water, but you can’t make him drink. You know, if Roy decides. He has decided that he’s going to fight. I’d rather be here with him than without him because I’m going to look out for his best interests and look out for his welfare.

Yes, I’m concerned, but he’s not going to stop boxing right now. And I’ve talked to him. I haven’t told him to stop, but I’ll always say, when you get a certain age, and certain things happen, you have to know when to hold them and when to fold them. I was concerned when those things happened. We got tested. I’m not just going to keep driving it to the ground. Yes, I’m concerned. I was concerned then, and I’m concerned now. But after all the medical tests, everything came back, and there was nothing wrong. The tests all came back okay. So I can’t keep harping with the guy, and I know he’s going to fight anyway about, well, you need to leave it alone.

You know, a person has to make a decision on his own when it comes to that, just like drugs or alcohol. All the counseling and all the rehab in the world you can take, you’re not going to stop doing drugs until you get ready to stop yourself. So I’ll be the first one to say if I think it’s that time, you totally need to stop. You don’t need to do it anymore. It hasn’t reached that point yet.

Anybody on the call could address this. I’m wondering. You know, there were a lot of people that looked forward to this fight for a long time. The two fighters, Bernard and Roy, for different reasons, the fight never happened for a long time, whether it was arguing about money or percentages or whatever you want to talk about.

The reaction I get from people, and I’m coming to the fight, and I’ve covered these guys forever, and I’ll be damned if I’m missing the last chapter, but a lot of folks that I’ve spoken to over the last week or so, particularly down in Dallas where some of the other media members when I was at the Pacquiao fight just have absolutely savaged this fight. They say it’s a disgrace. They say that nobody cares about it anymore. And I’m just curious.

Do you think that this is just a little bit too late that what’s the point at this time? Bernard is still one of the top fighters out there. We all know what’s happened with Roy the last few years. I’m wondering how in the world do you go about trying to sell a fight that so many people are against? Maybe Richard could talk about it, maybe Bobby.

Schaefer:

Well, you know, you just said it very well. Who wants it? There are people out there who like to miss out on the last chapter, and there are people who don’t like to miss out on the last chapter. And it sounds like you’re one of those who doesn’t like miss out on the last chapter. Those who like to miss out on the last chapter should just stay at home.

Goodman:

These are two of the great legends of our sport who have decided, and they both decided this, that they wanted to do it one more time. And they’ve got all the people surrounding them who care about them, who love them, and they will be there to protect the boxers, as well as the athletic commission, the referee, and other people concerned with the event.

Merkerson:

Let me put a hypothetical situation out. I’m going to say this, and it might sound dumb, but you know, people like excitement. People like revenge. People like to do something that people think they can’t do. Right now, if you came up with Mike Tyson and Buster Douglas because Mike Tyson was supposed to beat Buster Douglas so bad in that fight, and it was a 43 to one odds, and he beat Tyson. What if somebody said today, okay, we’re going to give Mike Tyson a year and a half to get in shape, and everybody said he’s through, and Buster Douglas said, I’ll get down to 270 pounds, and I’ll be ready to fight this bum. Just hypothetically saying it, how many people do you think are going to come and see that fight?

Everybody.

Merkerson:

Of course. See, it’s the same thing. I don’t understand where people get this from. They’re talking about Tyson and … right now.

What I’m getting at though is do you think that two years ago, even before the Danny Green fight, there was still a lot of anticipation about the fight. Do you feel bad that even though it’s still happening, and there are going to be people that want to see it, that it’s just unfortunate that it didn’t happen when it was supposed to happen in the last few years, and that it’s now…?

Merkerson:

I would have loved for it to happen then, but you know, everybody has egos and pride. I’m going to tell you about that because, you know, when Roy was on top, Bernard was on top, Roy has more pride at that time than Bernard did, so they tried to put the fight together. Okay. That’s when the 60/40 thing came up. Okay? It wouldn’t happen because Bernard said, no, I won’t do it unless it’s parity. I’m not going to do 60/40. Then all of a sudden, Bernard is on top. Roy had a few losses. That 60/40 was thrown out to Roy. No, I’m not going to do it.

Now the guys come to a happy medium and said, okay, let’s do 50/50. In my opinion is … that’s my opinion. Okay. If I knock you out, I get 60, and you get 40, and it doesn’t matter. Fifty-fifty is parity. Both of the guys are legends. Both of the guys are great fighters. It’s going to be a good fight. That’s what I want to see. And we can have some closure to this whole thing.

I would have liked to saw a fight eight years ago, but it didn’t happen, but that’s the way business is. You know, if you don’t come to agreement, things just don’t happen. All the way from the promotional parts all the way down to the fighters, so yes. As a coach, I would have liked to have seen it eight years ago. The guys would have been more at their prime. Everybody would have been more excited about it. But still, there’s no closure to the fight. Bernard wants to beat Roy because he don’t think Roy is going to beat him the first time. Roy wants to beat Bernard because he said, well, I beat you then, and I can beat you now. Now….

Richardson:

Let me interject … Bernard had really come to terms with the Roy Jones fight. He really found peace in the fact that two of the guys that destroyed Roy, he destroyed them. He’s the only guy that ever stopped Glen Johnson, and they never speak about that too much in the media and whatnot, and … a lot of people thought … won the first fight, and he definitely won the second fight. Then Bernard walked … gave him harder work than … at the top. So he was comfortable that I can retire knowing that the guys … put it to bed.

Then when the talk came up about it, and … lining it up, he went back into the fight, and he was interested in it. Now I’m going to tell you that I told him, and I tell everybody, and I went on record and said it. I didn’t think the fight was going to happen, and the reason being is, one is, I picked Danny Green. I picked Danny Green by knockout, so I didn’t think that was going to happen. Then when that came to terms, I really didn’t think it was going to go on.

But like Coach Merkerson said earlier, I support Bernard Hopkins. And if a man like him has earned the right to pick a fight that he wants to fight, who has in this sport? This man fought more mandatories than anybody I could name. Every time he fought, he … fight. There was a time when Bernard yelled out he’d fight anything from junior middleweight to light heavyweight, and even … he was overseas … fighting, didn’t call out. But even … coming over later on in Bernard’s years. I still know this, even including….

Every man that Bernard fought … beating or got the win over him. Every one of them wound up on the back after fighting Bernard, every single one of them. So he feels like I can do enough damage to a man that if I get an opportunity to fight them again, the work I put on the first time, the residue will still be there. That’s why he would rather the rematches immediately. …years ago, but like you said, it didn’t work out.

There were 60/40 splits talked about in the media, and then, in private, some of those 60/40 turned to 80/20 in private. Now that makes a man say, you know, a lot of nonsense went in between it, but here it is. Bottom line, like I said, when one guy was on top, it did happen. When another guy got a little more clout, it happened. So that’s all we can look at, and that’s what it is. And my opinion is, I’m telling people, and I’ve told people, and I told Bernard. I would not take this fight.

I told him. I said, if you all want to see Roy Jones like you saw Roy Jones, come to this fight. I know. I’m fully confident, and I told Bernard. Danny Green didn’t see this Roy Jones. Carver didn’t see this Roy Jones. Roy knows he cannot get in front of Bernard Hopkins looking like he’s looking to get those guys. He knows that.

Like I said, Bernard is a wrecking machine. Bernard is not a knockout puncher, get you in one shot. Bernard ruins…. Bernard … fighting guys. And like I said, even with … being as great as he was, the minute after he fought Bernard Hopkins, the next fight he was on his back … win over him. Like I said, you aren’t sure if Bernard is 45 years or old if Jermain Taylor is 45 years old right now.

So he’s the man who put in all this work all those years, and then he says, I want to fight Roy. And I say, like Merkerson said, I’m with you. I said, you know, I support you. I support you, man. I’ve got your back, but a lot of people weren’t interested in that fight. He said, I’m going to fight Roy Jones. And I was like, why?

This question is for “Coach Merk”. Coach, in your opinion, what was the key to Roy’s first victory over Bernard Hopkins? What exactly did he do to control that fight?

Merkerson:

We knew that Bernard was a very crafty fighter. Bernard wasn’t as experienced then as he is now. And neither was Roy, but Roy has always had … he had good hand speed, good ring gentlemenship, ability to make a guy miss and make him pay, all of those things at a young age. Both of those guys were young then, and not taking anything, Bernard just wasn’t at the level. I’m not saying the level, but he wasn’t sharp as Roy then. Roy’s jab was tremendous, you know. Bernard couldn’t handle it. He kept Bernard turning.

It was a thinking game. I didn’t do that much coaching in that fight because they did things by natural instinct. I saw Butch Lewis and Michael Spinks getting very frustrated in the corner because Bernard wasn’t doing some of the things they wanted him to do. You know, you get all these people saying, especially trainers, when they get in the ring after the fight is over talking about, if he wouldn’t have did what I told him to do, or what I showed him. Isn’t not about the I. It’s about we, them, and us because the trainer is not throwing a punch. Roy used good judgment in the fight. Bernard didn’t use good judgment in the fight. Once Bernard got frustrated, it was free sailing then. That’s all I can say about the fight.

Yes. You’re saying Bernard couldn’t make the necessary adjustments to handle what Roy was doing to him, but more specifically, do you think Roy beat him technically speaking, or was it more his natural speed, his reflexes?

Merkerson:

His physical ability, but his ability to think. It’s one thing about any good athlete, you know. If you’ve got a guy that you’re playing basketball against, and he’s not a very good defensive player, and he goes for fake, you’re going to fake to the inside and take the baseline and go and lay the ball up on him. It’s the same thing with boxing. You capitalize on the people’s mistakes. Bernard made some mistakes in that fight, and Roy capitalized on them.

Now Bernard is a much smarter fighter than he was then, and Roy is a much smarter fighter than he was then. What these two individuals are going to do now is use their mental frame of mind more so than their physical ability.

Do you think we will see a fight where it’s more competitive the second time around, given their…?

Merkerson:

I think it is.

…maybe more exchanges?

Merkerson:

Yes. I think so, but both of these guys are not going to make dumb mistakes. The dumbest fight I saw in my whole coaching career was when Nigel Benn fought Iran Barkley in Las Vegas. The bell rung. Both of them were so upset from the press conference, both of them ran out in the middle of the ring. Five seconds in to the fight, both of them threw right hands, and Nigel Benn’s landed first.

These guys are too seasoned to do anything like that. They’re hungry for the fight. They want to win, but they’re not going to make dumb decisions. It might be a defensive fight starting out, but once one of them realize that this person is making mistakes, they’re going to capitalize on them and try to do what they can to win the fight. It’s not going to be an all out brawl if that’s what you’re saying because neither one of the guys fight like that. They never have.

I have a question for Naazim Richardson. Naazim, in your opinion, has Bernard’s style changed from when he first fought Roy Jones?

Richardson:

Yes. His style changed naturally. Like I said, they’re older fighters now, and you have to reinvent yourself. Like I said, if you learn this sport, and then you have to reinvent yourself in order to sustain yourself in this sport. And the people who can’t reinvent themselves, you see the outcomes start to change … in this game. Muhammad Ali was a sticky move guy when he had those attributes, and he was a young guy. He was athletic. Later on, he had to reinvent himself to the robodo in order to sustain himself with the later on years with the guys that came along.

How would you have described Bernard’s style in 1993, mid ’90s compared to his style now?

Richardson:

Seek and destroy. He was a seek and destroy guy, so he was able to run out in the middle of the ring, and Roy was able, with his athleticism, he was able to take advantage of it, you know what I mean, because Bernard was an overly aggressive guy in those days. So anybody who is overly aggressively, you see guys fall back, and you take advantage of them. You know what I mean? So that was….

Like I said, now he takes a different approach as far as assessing the area ands then dissecting the flaws and breaking it down. And that’s what he’s capable of doing, and he’s still. Like I said, he’s taking care of his body where the different in Bernard’s body now is actually his body, he’s in better. I think, condition wise, I’ve always told Bernard. This Bernard Hopkins will beat the death out of that old … Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones, this Bernard Hopkins will take him to school. He’ll take him to school. He’ll be standing in the center of the ring, and wondering why he hadn’t got picked apart like that. This Bernard Hopkins is better than that Bernard Hopkins of 14 years ago. I feel like that, and that’s what I say. If you ever want to check an athlete and see if they learned their craft, the older guy, a lot of times is a little too smart for the younger version of themselves. Now in terms of if you were dealing with athleticism, athleticism is always going to fall to youth. So I’ve always watched that. With every athlete, I’ve always measured athletes like that, with the young athlete.

I asked one of my guys … but not all the time. What would the young Bernard do with the older Bernard? Then you can assess whether or not how well you’ve learned your craft.

My question is to both trainers. In the first fight, I was fortunate enough to be there at the first fight in Washington, D.C. at RFK Stadium, and now will this second fight be – do you think that this second fight will be similar to the first fight or how do you predict this fight will go? Will it be at the same pace that it was the first go around?

Richardson:

I’m confident it won’t be like the first fight. I’m very confident that it won’t be like the first fight because there’s a whole different approach behind Bernard and it encompass Bernard’s thought process preparing for this fight. And I was around to see how he prepared for the first fight, so I knew what the ideas were. I knew what their approach was, and I wasn’t an outsider looking in, and I wasn’t in agreement with it, so I know it won’t be similar to the first fight. But I do believe, and like I said, when you compare the young athlete to the old athlete, I believe this Roy Jones is going to fight Bernard … stand a chance against the Roy Jones who fought Bernard before. I do believe that. I believe Roy is going to bring that kind of preparation. And I’m confident that everything Roy has, he’ll bring to the table, everything he has. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did retire after this fight because it’s going to take everything he has, mentally and physically, just to get up for this endeavor.

I wanted to ask Alton Merkerson a question. Now let’s just say for argument sake that if Roy is able to come up with a victory, what’s next for him?

Merkerson:

Like I stated earlier, we’re getting ready. We’re in the last chapter of this book that we’ve been writing for over a decade, two decades. I don’t really know. It’s something that Roy and I and his dad probably will talk about after the fight. But you know, with both of these guys, it’s not about them having to prove anything to anybody in the boxing world at all because they both made history. I think it’s all about self-satisfaction now.

When you get to a mountaintop, how high can you go? You can’t go any higher. Only you can do is do things for self-satisfaction, self-gratification. It’s not to prove anything to anybody else. This is boiling down to Bernard, I still can whoop you. Roy, no you can’t. You did it once, but you can’t do it again. So both of them love the sport. Both of them have been in the sport for a long time.

But in reference to this fight and the last fight, it’s totally going to be different for the simple reason, both of these guys are much smarter. Both of these guys can look down the barrel and be able to know when you’re going to pull the trick, and make your miss, and make you pay. There’s not going to be a lot of running and moving and stuff. There’s going to be smart, and ring gentlemenship used in this fight. It’s going to be a good fight, but it’s going to be a technical fight. That’s just the way I see it.

Schaefer:

I’m looking forward to Fight Week. I know this is a fight, which has been in the making for a long time, and I can’t believe we actually are only a little over two weeks away from that. Irrespective of what people say, I am happy for these two fighters, that they’re going to fight each other, and I’m really excited about it. I know that both of them will bring their best to the ring that night, April 3rd, and I’m excited. I’m excited for the fighters. I’m excited for Golden Boy, and for all the fight fans out there to be part of this event. Thank you so much, and I’ll see you all out in Vegas hopefully. Thank you.

END OF CALL

“The Rivals: Hopkins vs. Jones II,” set for Saturday, April 3 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nev., is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and Square Ring Promotions and sponsored by Cerveza Tecate and AT&T. The event will be broadcast live on pay-per-view beginning at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.