Bernard Hopkins
Boxing is the sweet science. You hit and not get hit. There's no reward for you to hit me more than I hit you other than on the scorecards.Collection: Science
I'm a health-awareness guy, and all of that includes how I eat, how much I rest, and how I keep my skin good. Any kind of maintenance that I would do on a car, I do on myself.Collection: Car
I don't have a diet. Jenny Craig got a diet. Seriously. I eat to live, not to die.Collection: Diet
If you don't know your own value, somebody will tell you your value, and it'll be less than you're worth.
When they say you can't, show them you can.
There's more to life than having things: a Rolls-Royce, a big house, bling bling.
Protect yourself at all times. It's what I talk to school kids and college kids about when I do my seminars. I'm not just talking about in the ring. Protect yourself at all times.
I don't react and think off emotions - that gets you in a bad situation.
The young is always there to replace what we call the old. That's the process, even in nature.
When I left the penitentiary, I learned to stay away from the Philly cheesesteaks, the pizza, the junk that clogs your arteries and kills you.
Always have to think like a guy with no food in his refrigerator.
I've had a hard life. I smell and sense fear. I didn't get that from Catholic school; I know what fear is.
One thing I want people to know before I leave this game is I gave it my all.
Yes, we have to look at our opponents and study our opponents. But you have to look at you first and know you can do it.
I have an orthodox style that a southpaw is confused with me.
I don't drink occasionally. I don't drink on the holidays. I don't drink alcohol, period. Not wine, not nothing.
I have already bent time to my will.
I'm not downplaying my age - because humankind is such that people run away from their age. Especially women. Guys pretend not to care, but they do. Age is not a good thing to most human beings. But, being an alien, I embrace it.
We want to give you the roses when you're dead. That's how human beings think. I try not to think like a human.
You cannot go into combat without putting the work in.
I'm tired of proving myself.
Ninety percent of the media picked Pavlik, and I always appreciate naysayers. That's what motivates me.
I learned a lot from being in hell. I learned discipline. I learned that I choose what to put in my body.
When you grow up hard, when you grow up surviving, unfortunately, it helps.
I'm amongst you all, but I'm not one of you all.
Some people might think they're invincible, but I don't.
It's two sides to everybody. I'm a manager - I'm a promoter - and I'm a fighter, so it is two sides to me. That's a balance there.
If I was a bad guy, I probably would be incarcerated.
I would love to play with the Flyers. I got the two front teeth missing, so I can look the part. I'm ready cosmetically. I could fit right in.
I looked up to Marvin Hagler, Ali.
I say the sweet science is to hit and not get hit.
I say the sweet science is to understand not only how to fight coming forward, how to be a big puncher, but also understand, if you run into a guy who can take your punch for the first time, how to react.
Age is not a problem. It becomes a problem when people try and make us think old.
No one's kicking down the door to fight Bernard Hopkins.
Boxing is a small world where the same thing that goes on, goes on in corporate America.
If I can create an atmosphere to make my job easier and your confidence less, why not?
Ninety-nine percent of getting over a problem is mental.
Any UFC fighter, and any fighter going into the boxing ring and can do what they do in the UFC, nine out of 10 won't be victorious and vice-versa, with a boxer coming from - even myself - coming over to that field will be a fish trying to be in a jungle and survive. It's not going to happen.
I've shown, for twenty-plus years, with a legacy that will be talked about way after I'm gone, that I am different.
My whole career, I got a lot of credit for not taking punches.
Most of my fights are intelligent.
You do a deal - business deal, real estate deal, stock deal - protect yourself at all times. I got that from boxing. That's from A to Z: that covers everything in life. And it started when I heard it in the ring. They don't say that in basketball or football or any other sport that I know of but boxing.
I love fighting big guys because I'm fast. I'm not a big, light heavyweight. I can move. I can get inside on them. I'm inside, I'm wrestling with them, and they're just wrestling, but all the time, I'm chopping; I'm slapping.
They had to debate whether Joe Frazier should be in the Boxing Hall of Fame or not. I'm making sure that it would be a felony to sit down and debate whether or not Bernard Hopkins deserves to be in the hall of fame.
I'm the guy still driving a Nissan.
That materialistic life, that's not my god.
Age is not an enemy to me.
I am a proud man and never takes things for granted in my life.
I want to be the spokesman for the 40-and-older crowd, inspiring people to believe that no matter their age, they can be healthy and save their lives.
I am not going to eat something that I have been told is not good for my system, and I do what I can to eat energy food, such as lean meats, whole grains, and lots of fruit and vegetables. Without this daily habit, my body would have given up a long time ago. There is no magic pill, no magic drink, no magic food.