JRE MMA Show #148 with Bernard Hopkins

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The Joe Rogan Experience. (drumbeats)

Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music) We're here. What's up?

Hey.

Pleasure to meet you, man. I've been a gigantic fan of yours for a long time, so-

Yeah, yeah.

... it's a real pleasure.

That's what I've been hearing, uh, um, Joe, but, you know, I'm also become a fan in the last couple of years, uh, before you came to Austin. Um, uh, I go out to LA a lot, uh, to do boxing promoting in West Coast, East Coast, with our Golden Boy Promotion, um, partner, Oscar De La Hoya. So, um, good to be met, and good to meet you also.

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

Well, first of all, it's not just walking into it. Uh, I sort of got groomed in my career, um, based on, um, I'll say the last eight, nine years of my 30-year career. Um, I took on a- the, the ownership and responsibility of making the last decisions. I hired people that can give me the right information. Um, 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, um, Oscar De La Hoya fight, in '06, '07. Um, and- 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, uh, per se, but it's difficult in the business, in the structure of- of- of the business of boxing. Um, (laughs) the- the- the small family in boxing, whether they're here, there, in a promotional setting or commissioner setting, uh, they will definitely try to discourage you by any means necessary.

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

Yeah, um, I mean, because I was, one, a- one, forced to do it, uh, to- to- to fight back. And then second, uh, I looked at it as, um, I didn't really have a choice, even though I could have laid down, but I- or got down, uh, to- to their, uh, demands. But I understood one thing, uh, my instincts of survival, but also not just being, um, 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, um, and I wound up, uh, getting out of that deal, um, 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, you know, uh, 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- 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 have the contract, I kept all the stuff, even to the day. I can go back and reflect and bring not only cont- uh, content, uh, uh, 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, uh, the word parity, and I get 80,000 when it's all said and done?" Now, to remind you, I'm fresh out of the penitentiary, '88, '89, '90, '90, I- I rebooted my career after, you know, losing my first fight. S- didn't box for 15 months. So now we in the, what, you know, early '90s, and I rebooted myself back into, uh, reaching a goal that I eventually, uh, reached. But the business part, it- it- it- it- it had me thinking in between those- those moments of c-climbing the ladder or being a contender, uh, that this is more than just going to the ring and winning and not winning. This was something that I had to learn quick, uh, on the job learning.