JRE MMA Show #148 with Bernard Hopkins

Joe Rogan (0:04)

The Joe Rogan Experience.

We're here. Pleasure to meet you, man. I've been a gigantic fan of yours for a long time, so it's a real pleasure.

Bernard Hopkins (0:18)

That's what I've been hearing, Joe, but I've also become a fan in the last couple of years.

Before you came to Austin, I go out of LA a lot to do boxing and promoting in West Coast, East Coast with Golden Boy Promotion.

I'm a partner of Oscar De La Hoya, so good to be met and good to meet you also.

Joe Rogan (0:39)

What is it like transitioning from being a fighter to being a promoter? Because Oscar, yourself, Floyd, only a few fighters have managed to do that successfully like you have.

Bernard Hopkins (0:50)

Well, first of all, it's not just walking into it. I sort of got groomed in my career based on I'll say the last eight, nine years of my 30-year career.

I took on the ownership and responsibility of making the last decisions. I hired people that can give me the right information. Not a lot, but just a few people that can give me the right information about this particular fight. For instance, Kelly Pavlik in Atlantic City, Oscar Delahoye fight in 06, 06, 7 And I groomed myself for this moment to be able to be independent, but also learn the business. And let me tell you, it is difficult. It's difficult not doing a job per se, but it's difficult in the business, in the structure of the business of boxing.

The small family in boxing, whether they're here or there in a promotional setting or a commissioner setting, they would definitely try to discourage you by any means necessary.

Joe Rogan (2:06)

Yeah, I can imagine, especially yourself, because you had had so many issues with promoters over the years, and you were so vocal about it, unlike a lot of other fighters.

Bernard Hopkins (2:16)

Yeah, I mean, because I was, one, forced to do it, to fight back. And then second, I looked at it as I didn't really have a choice, even though I could have laid down or got down to their demands. But I understood one thing.

My instincts of survival, but also not just being in the game, I wanted different for myself. And I had one bad experience, well, I had a couple of bad experiences, but I had one, the first bad experience I had early in my career.

And I wound up getting out of that deal with Butch Lewis. And I can mention names, not because he's deceased, but I can mention it because I wound up being actually sued based on keeping me in check. But I fired back, and I wound up counterpunching and got out of that situation and spoke boldly about it and moved on to try to wake others up. Not actually preach, but just bring it up about my situation. If anybody recognized and experienced it, any fighter or anybody else, they can grab some knowledge. But that was the start of it. That was the start of it. My first professional fight, not first, but my first championship fight was Roy Jones Jr. And that fight was a parity fight. It was a split, 1.4 split between me and Roy Jones. I had the contract. I kept all the stuff even to the day. I can go back and reflect and bring not only contact for what I'm speaking about, but I kept it because I paid for it. It's called litigation. And so I said to myself, how can it be a number? 750, 725 split. Parity, the word parity.

And I get 80,000 when it's all said and done. Now, remind you, I'm fresh out of the penitentiary. 88, 89, 90, 90 I rebooted my career after losing my first fight.

Didn't box for 15 months. So now we in the early 90s, and I rebooted myself back into reaching the goal that I eventually reached.

But the business part, it had me thinking in between those moments of climbing the ladder, of being a contender, that this is more than just going in the ring and winning and not winning. This was something that I had to learn quick on a job learning.

Joe Rogan (5:03)

There's a lot of shenanigans in boxing.

Bernard Hopkins (5:06)

Yes. You got to support this unregulated, right? Whether that means anything to people or not. But there's no checks and balances there. The people that set the rules, break the rules.

I'm going to say that again. The people that set the rules, break the rules.

I mean, you know, where can you...

Joe Rogan (5:29)

Is that that thing that they said was going to go off? This is the dad of cell phones. Make sure it's not a real problem. National test. This is a national test.