There is some truth to this, probably more than people are willing to admit. One thing about black boxers I’ve notice over the years, the ones that crossover and have mainstream appeal are the ones who perpetuate many of the stereotypes of young black men are trying to fight against on a daily basis.
Just being a great boxer and nice guy, won’t lead you to worldwide recognition, you have to be over the top and sometimes buffoonish for that to happen. Sometimes you can manipulate the system to your advantage (like Floyd Mayweather) or you just end up looking like a buffoon, but a well paid one (like Adrien Broner).
In Hopkins case, he is the opposite of most stereotypes and that should be applauded, but it just isn’t by the mainstream. Here is what he had to say to ESPN.
In an exclusive interview with ESPN.com, Hopkins was asked the reason his record-setting run in recent years hasn’t transcended the sport.
“[It’s] because I’m black,” Hopkins said before the start of his media workout at the Joe Hand Boxing Gym. “What do you think if my name was Augustine, Herzenstein, Stern? Cappello? Marciano? Don’t you understand the conflict of interest?
“If I was any of those names of any other background, I’d be on every billboard and every milk carton and every place to be. If we’re talking ‘American Dream,’ here’s a guy who almost threw his life away and he took this great country’s great attributes and used it — do for self, work hard and be a law-abiding citizen. I’ve done that for 26 years.”
“If you really look at it, I have done the ‘American Dream’ that people have died on boats to come here to live,” Hopkins said. “I have done all of that and then you look back and say, ‘Wait a minute, what’s wrong here?’ A lot of people are not bold to say it, but I am.”
Hopkins fights Sergei Kovalev this weekend, just few months shy of his 50th birthday. This should be a HUGE DEAL, but it just seems like a regular solid fight to most casual fans and that is sad.