Fear of failure still drives Hopkins on

BERNARD HOPKINS admits he is reaching the end of a remarkable journey which began in ignominious fashion 26 years ago when he emerged from a Pennsylvania prison cell to lose his first professional fight.

Having dominated the middleweight division for over a decade, then moved up to light-heavyweight to destroy former undisputed champion Antonio Tarver, there is little left for the 43-year-old to achieve.

But Hopkins, who was lustily booed by a smattering of Calzaghe supporters when he made his “grand arrival” at the Planet Hollywood resort on Monday, says the memory of that rare failure is what drives him forward to finish on a high.

Hopkins said: “I lost my first fight but adversity motivates me and makes me train the way I train. Losing the first fight was the worst blow that ever happened to me because I didn’t do anything for a year and a half.

“I worked in a hotel but they read in the papers I’d fought in Atlantic City and when they found out I was a convicted felon, they laid me off. I had every damn excuse to go back to what I used to do — there are drug dealers still out there.

“Do you know how many people told me it was impossible to be 22 years old, have a nine-year parole stint and not go back inside? I’ve been doubted. The best way to shut people up is to accomplish what they say you can’t.

“There’s nothing I can’t overcome. You can’t leave yourself in that position of being a lamb because there are people who look for wounded prey. So I said to myself when I lost that fight, ‘I’m not going back there’.”

Hopkins’ subsequent success ensured that what he is fighting for against Calzaghe is no longer his already-guaranteed place in the Hall of Fame, or even favourable comparison with the greats of boxing history.

Hopkins added: “When April 19 comes, people are really going to have to put my achievements and legacy in a special place. I’m not just saying fighters, I’m saying athletes, period, in any sport.

“There’s so many fighters who will never be in an elite group. But they are going to have to put me in a whole new different category. I’m already a legend. To be an icon is the climax — you can’t get any higher than that.”

Calzaghe has laughed off Hopkins’ many monologues and says he has seen little of his latest opponent to make him believe he is any greater threat to his career-long unbeaten record.

“He calls himself a legend but I haven’t seen anything to back that up,” said Calzaghe.

“He’s a dirty fighter and he doesn’t sell tickets. That doesn’t make him a legend in my book.”

The Welshman had long gone from the relatively low-key arrival stage before Hopkins arrived, although his hopes of a quiet build-up week have not been helped by a significant promotional push to sell the fight.

The fighters’ faces stare down from every available billboard, an experience which is wholly new for Calzaghe who prepared for his unification fight against Mikkel Kessler at his isolated gym in Cwmcarn. But Calzaghe knows this is what it takes to silence the critics of his British-based record and belatedly emerge as a true global star in a city in which so many boxing legacies have been boosted or broken.

Calzaghe added: “I’m trying to keep everything as normal as possible while I’m out here. I’m staying in a quiet rented house away from the Strip and I’ve had an excellent and relaxing build-up.

“All this stuff’s not really for me but fighting Hopkins in Wales was never going to be a challenge. I had to come over here to face one of the last remaining challenges of my career, and I’m looking forward to it.”