Quick story about Bernard Hopkins you guys might like.  I was in the media center for the Manny Pacquiao vs. Ricky Hatton fight last year.  There was a lot of international media there taking pictures with the boxers and some of the more well known members of the media.

They have a lot of these press releases on a table so I am just looking through them when Bernard comes up to me and asks me who I am working for because he had never seen me before (it was the first fight I had cover for BSO).

So I tell him and he immediately remembers that Oscar De La Hoya story that almost got me sued (he thought it was funny).

He asks me to look around the room and point out any other black media in the room (there wasn’t any).  He then proceeds to tell me he better not see me taking a picture with any of the boxers and to stay focus on my business.  Because I don’t just represent myself, but I represent all independent black media.

That is something I will never forget and when I saw him at the Super Bowl all he said was:

“I see you still on your job.”

So I have the utmost respect for Bernard and the words he speaks in regard to Floyd Mayweather in this AllHipHop interview is a lesson not just for Floyd, but for everyone really, check it out.

AllHipHop.com: What’s the problem with you and Floyd Mayweather? He never has anything positive to say about you. Was there something that happened in the past between you two or is it just a personality clash?

Hopkins: Well Floyd had personal stuff to say about Rick Ross, too. He knows me, and he would never say anything to my face. Floyd ain’t no gangster like he thinks he is. I’m not a part of the Hip-hop world when it comes to a rapper. I’m a part of Hip-Hop when it comes to the streets. You can pull up my record. But I don’t back the ignorant days of my past and having to spend years in a 5 by 5 cell. I know how these dudes would really be if they weren’t surrounded by gold watches, diamonds, and all that. It means nothing to me, and I don’t have to play the buffoon like the system wants.

If he wants to waste money in clubs, blow $40 million dollars and not pay his taxes, that’s on him. We have to think and be different. Warren Buffet and Bill Gates, you haven’t seen those guy’s houses. You haven’t seen Bill Gates with a million dollars sitting in stacks like some drug dealer. I don’t have a self-esteem problem, Floyd does. I’m 45; he’s like a young boy to me. I was schooled by old heads. So when I became an old head to the 20’s and early 30’s guys, when I speak they listen. Same why the rappers do with Jay-Z, I have that in the boxing world.

It ain’t about how much money you got, but how much you can count 20, 30 years from now. Mike Tyson had $300 million dollars, and he got tricked out of it. Let’s see who’s ballin’ 15-20 years from now, when you need the money and can’t jump in the ring and make that money back. Because if the rumors are true, Floyd needs money now . It’s not how much you got, but how much you keep. I would never flash my money.

You’ll never catch me on MTV Cribs. Oh I’m sitting on 17,000 square feet, I got 6 acres. But I ain’t got to call the newspapers and tell them come to my house, and next thing you know someone runs up in there damn near trying to take the Kool Aid out my refrigerator…even though I don’t drink Kool Aid, heh. That’s the difference between me and Floyd and where the arrogance comes from.

When Floyd saw me at the Fontainebleau in Miami , because I got a condo down there, the first thing he said to me “yo man you got to see my house!” Now I’m looking at this dude at like 2 in the morning, this young boy, saying first of all what do I care? Tell me about you r family, your daughter, your pops, but he wants to tell me I got to see his house like I’m a b***h! I ain’t one of your bitches, man. What are you talking about?! And lo and behold, I watch the 24/7 from the last fight, you seen it and I seen it, him sitting up there with Puffy showing it off. I’m not into that.

Nobody has seen Jay-Z house, have they? Think about it. Look at the ignorance. Take this as a lesson dog, this is straight knowledge. I’m sitting pretty good. You never see anyone up in my house in Delaware unless they got helicopters. I take them to the condos in Philly and Miami, and they desperately been trying to get to the main house for the last 10 years. They know it’s nice, HBO is like “people got to see it Bernard, see your business savvy, etc.” I say nah, then they won’t want to give me any more checks! I know human nature. Noooo, the less they see the better I’m off.

That’s a street thing, if I was drug dealer why would I go out and buy a brand new car and draw attention on my block? No, I want them to think I’m doing bad. You take the streets and take into corporate America, and that’s why you have rappers that don’t have to sell coke no more. Corporate America is the new drug game. If you still out there trying to hustle on the block you’re a fool.

You can check out Hopkins vs. Jones on PPV this weekend.