INSIDE CAMP HOPKINS – ONE-ON-ONE WITH BOUIE FISHER
By Ron Brashear
Inside Boxing Writer/Columnist

Las Vegas, NV (IB – September 3, 2004) – Approximately two weeks to go before we witness “Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya (37-3, 29 KOs) take on Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins (42-2-1, 1 NC, 31KOs) for the undisputed Middleweight Championship of the World. Since we had went inside the De La Hoya camp last week with the Mayweather interview, Insideboxing.com wanted to get the other side of the story from the Hopkins’ camp. Here is Bouie Fisher’s appraisement of Bernard going into this fight.

RB: Bouie, when I spoke to Floyd Mayweather, he conveyed that there is a mutual agreement in place for both Oscar and Bernard to weigh-in at 158lbs. Is this your understanding? If so, what, if any, affect would this have on the bout?

BF: “That is the agreement we have in place however I don’t think one or two pounds is going to make any difference because Bernard has never had any problems making the weight.”

RB: What do you think is the “ideal’” weight for Bernard?

BF: “Bernard Hopkins’ ideal weight can be anywhere from 155-160 and he would still be comfortable.”

RB: Since this is the biggest fight of Bernard’s career and he finally gets to make a big 8-figure payday (10 Million), did you approach this training camp any different from your normal training camps of Bernard’s previous fights?

BF: “Most certainly! We had to approach this camp (started chuckling), this might not be the answer you expect me to give you but listen, we had to come into this camp holding this guy back. Bernard is a workaholic and he enjoys this sport, boxing is his sport. He likes to work, work, work! When this opportunity came along, going into the Allen fight, we were most certainly ready for that fight and Bernard fought a smart cautious fight and then he went right back into the gym. He is still in great shape from the last fight.”

RB: Overall, is the training camp for this fight any different in regards to the duration?

BF: “No, not really. Just that there is so much more hype behind this fight that we had to just take a couple of more weeks. It’s just getting away from all of the excitement at home in Philadelphia and we wanted to go ahead and come out here to Vegas now. I just want to keep him calm because Bernard is the best middleweight in the world. It’s now about getting ready mentally, his physical conditioning is not a factor.”

RB: De La Hoya is known for having abilities to provide good lateral movements. Is this something that poses a big challenge for Bernard? What game plan do you put in place to cut the ring off against him?

BF: “Well, in the sport of boxing, a good boxing trainer has a knack for developing what is called a complete fighter. One that can adapt to whatever a fighter’s style might be or whatever his punching power might be. A guy like that, all you have to do is sharpen him up because he already has those things in that computer. We are most certainly practicing now for De La Hoya’s style. I am quite sure that Floyd Mayweather (giving him the respect he deserves as being a good teacher) he is trying to do the same. It not a big issue for us and I think we will be fine against De La Hoya’s style.”

RB: Looking back on Bernard’s previous fights, most of his decision victories reflect a very lopsided scoring in his favor. Is this by design for Bernard to go out and win every round of a fight?

BF: “What happens is we communicate so well together. We have signals that we use via key words. If I want him to work on a certain punch, I have a signal for that certain punch. Whatever I say to him, he picks it up in that computer. I want give out all of my secrets. But if I tell him, - {You are over shooting the runway or take the subway out} – He knows what I mean.”

RB: You have had the luxury of not experiencing too much adversity in a Bernard Hopkins fight per he has been so dominant. Is team Hopkins mentally prepared to deal with some possible form of adversity in this fight where he may have to overcome, let’s say a screaming crowd rallying behind De La Hoya?

BF: “Well, the crowd being behind the opponent actually helps us. They can’t throw a punch and they can’t duck a punch, they can’t block a punch for him and they can’t land one for him. So that will turn into our advantage.”

RB: Does Bernard feel that he can win a decision against De La Hoya, or does he feel he must knock him out in order to get the victory?

BF: “If he doesn’t knock him, we are coming with the idea to outpoint him. This is the same as we did in the Trinidad fight. We just go along with what we see, and what we have studied over the last 15 years. Like I’m saying that computer (referring to Hopkins) is loaded, all you have to do is hit those right buttons. I don’t think it’s necessary to knock him out to win it. If you saw the Trinidad fight, if Hopkins didn’t finish Trinidad in the last minute of the fight, do you think they would have awarded that fight to Trinidad? I don’t think so. If you remember the 10th round of that fight, I had sent Bernard out to finish Trinidad, the action was stopped in the round to fix Bernard’s trunks. Those 8-10 seconds helped Trinidad out. We didn’t panic because we felt comfortable in where we stood in the fight. So we know we can win a decision as well. ”

RB: In regards to how well a fighter is prepared mentally and physically, what % of the responsibility falls on the trainer vs. the % of responsibility falling on the fighter?

BF: “I think it’s a 50-50 % of responsibility. If a fighter trusts his trainer, and believes in his trainer, he has respect for this trainer and he will agree. If the fighter has different ideas of what he should do, we get together and talk about it. We don’t always agree and we have had some hell of times, but its business. I think it would be bad on my part to not compromise and listen if the fighter has ideas of things he would like to do in the ring. This is why Bernard Hopkins and Bouie Fisher have been successful. It’s also the other members of your team that help out. You want a comfortable environment to work in and that is a team effort.

RB: If Hopkins prevails over De La Hoya, doesn’t this mark the Top of the Mountain for Bernard in his mind?

BF: “It most certainly does. What we are experiencing now and what a lot of fight fans and real fight fans are saying, which I definitely agree with, Bernard Hopkins is the greatest Middleweight since the great Ray Robinson. I am not taking anything away from Marvin Hagler or Leonard, or any of the other fighters, but this is how I see it. I am just so glad to see Bernard get rewarded for all of his hard work.”

RB: Mayweather predicts that De La Hoya will win by a decision. Can you share a prediction with us?

BF: “I only predict that we will be victorious.”

RB: Well Mr. Fisher, I appreciate you sharing an inside look into Team Hopkins’ training camp.

BF: “You welcome Ron, let’s close like this: Let’s pray for peace throughout the world. We are living in a troubled time. Our sport brings happiness to people. It has sadness but it has happiness as well. We hope that everything goes well and no one gets seriously hurt and this turns out to be a fight that fight fans will talk about for the next 25 years.”

Well fans, we have heard from both training camps and both sides feel they have the winning team. Who will it be? Will Hopkins solidify his place in history by defeating De La Hoya? Or will Oscar rise to the occasion and shock the boxing world by dethroning the middleweight king in Bernard Hopkins? The answer lies in the center of the ring in Las Vegas on September 18th. It’s a fight that is too good to miss.

You have just gone InsideBoxing.com

Ron Brashear can be contacted at brashear@insideboxing.com, ron@brasheargear.com