The Executioner’s wronged

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Sept. 28, 2000 | 9:30 a.m.

When Bernard Hopkins fights Antwun Echols Dec. 1 in Las Vegas, it'll be the 12th defense of his International Boxing Federation middleweight title.

But not one of those 12 has been against a fellow champion, a reality that smacks Hopkins in the face and leaves boxing fans bewildered. What's keeping the middleweights from unifying?

"It hasn't happened because Don King doesn't want it to happen," Hopkins said after initiating the discussion with a phone call from his office in Delaware. "He told me (WBA champ William) Joppy and (WBC champ Keith) Holmes couldn't beat me."

King promotes Joppy and Holmes, while Hopkins is independent.

The issue of a middleweight unification has been topical for years but especially so in recent weeks with Joppy having fought Sept. 16 in Las Vegas and Hopkins on his way. The fact that Hopkins has e-mailed and called a reporter to express his dismay seemingly adds to his credibility.

"I went with a lawyer to Don King's office in Florida in July of 1999 for the purpose of giving him an opportunity to make a fight with me and either Joppy or Holmes," Hopkins said. "Don knows what kind of man I am and I gave him every chance. I wasn't asking for $20 million; everything is negotiable.

"But when he talked about signing me for four years, and taking two of those years to 'build me up' as he put it, I said 'Wait a minute' and we didn't get much further.

"But I wanted to tell you that because nobody knows that I tried to get a unification fight and I went down to Florida to do it."

Hopkins no longer anticipates a fight with either Joppy or Holmes.

"It's not going to happen," he said. "Joppy doesn't think for himself; he just goes by the script and lets King speak for him. And Holmes is in turmoil with King."

The result is that Hopkins is, on one hand, perplexed, yet, on the other, optimistic that Joppy and Holmes may be defeated in the near future and that their successors will be more willing to unify the three major titles.

"A unification isn't out of the question and it may be more of a reality than ever, once the junior middleweight champions move up," Hopkins said. "Those guys at junior middle -- (Fernando) Vargas and (Felix) Trinidad -- are just stopping over before they get to middleweight.

"I think when they move up and when Roy Jones runs out of opponents (at light heavyweight) I might be sandwiched between good situations."

Hopkins is 35 and has been the IBF champion since 1994. He's 37-2-1 with 27 knockouts.

"Sugar Ray Robinson and Henry Armstrong are turning in their graves," he said, utilizing the fabled ex-champions as examples of middleweights who accepted every challenge. "They fought all comers and did it for years, whereas King makes it seem his fighters are afraid of an old man like me."

Hopkins wants to have it known that he is not the stumbling block in the unification process.

"I'm the easiest guy in the world to promote and I'm not asking for a lot of money," he said. "I've never had a million-dollar purse, so I'm agreeable to anything that's fair. But why do I have to be extorted at this stage of my career?"

If he were to fight one of the other champions, he thinks Holmes would be tougher than Joppy.

"Joppy didn't revise people's impressions of him and I don't think he ever will," Hopkins said of Joppy's recent decision victory at the MGM Grand over Hacine Cherifi. "I'd fight him or Holmes and I'm ready to do it. I'm waiting for my phone to ring although I don't believe it ever will."

His phone did, however, ring when Banner Promotions put together his upcoming fight with Echols, who is 24-3-1 with 23 knockouts. This will be a rematch of a Dec. 12, 1999, fight in Miami in which Hopkins won by decision.

He said this fight with Echols was slated for the Rio, although the Venetian remains in the running to land the bout.