During a conversation with Marcos Villegas of Fight Hub TV, the legendary Bernard Hopkins gives his take on the talk of a potential fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Gennadiy Golovkin. Hopkins and De La Hoya obviously work together at Golden Boy, and although they haven’t specifically discussed a Golovkin fight, Hopkins wouldn’t be against it. Check out some excerpts from the interview below with the full video above.
Hopkins on De La Hoya saying he would consider fighting Golovkin:
“Why do I understand why Oscar believes and knows that he can beat GGG? Because GGG declines every year. What he has left is always his punch. You take that away — even though it’s still swimming in shark water, until the bell rings and it’s the 12th round and it’s over with. If Oscar was gonna come back and I had a say in it…I would take GGG.
“GGG always had and always will have a punch. That is declining, even in the win recently. Don’t let that fight fool you…it don’t fool these eyes. GGG is a Hall of Famer by no doubt, he earned his position…but a smart (De La Hoya), seen every style, been in there with better talent, that can pick the lock and systematically knowing that if he has the right plan, the right condition with all his experience, Oscar wins by unanimous decision.
“I will let Oscar know in Texas, let’s start calling this guy out for September of ‘21. Obviously he’s already working now, I can’t reveal how hard, but he’s working…going into September, the build-up, the talk, the promotion of it, and then you see Oscar slimmed down…I would like to see that fight before ‘21 is out. And I say to Oscar, if he’s really, really, really determined to come back and have to pick a big fight…fighting GGG is taking you serious.
“People will be thinking Oscar lost it and they’d be thinking he’s gonna get hurt. Well, I think that’s the only thing that’s gonna motivate him not to get hurt. This fight sells. Oscar’s a brand, love him or hate him, this fight sells.”