HBO is on to a pretty great idea here. Take two fighters — one of them a curmudgeonly ex-con in a periwinkle sweater vest — have them sit backward in chairs like The Fonz, and let them go at it with only skinny suited Max Kellerman to intervene should the sparring proceed from verbal to fistic. Bernard Hopkins might be a 46-year-old geezer, but he's still in contention for a world title. Should he beat Jean Pascal later this month in a rematch of their controversial draw from last year, Hopkins will become the oldest man in boxing history to win a championship. This video also demonstrates that, regardless of what happens in the fight, he will retain his title as one of the best smack talkers to ever smack the talk.
A few gems:
Once I kick his ass in Montreal, he's going to move. He's going to move back to somewhere where he came from. I think it's Haiti. They need him back there. ...
You're saying that I should have kept my mouth shut about injustice? Then you're a coward and a fool! ...
You bitched. You ran. You didn't fight. I forced the fight. And from the fifth round to the twelfth round, I was in your ass and you was ready to quit and you was blowing and puffing and went to your corner like a ragdoll, done, defeated, and knew that you lost that fight. That's how gangster I am. ...
I'm going to make him want to knock himself out by not even coming and getting tortured. I'm going to have him drowning, trying not to die. And so he's going to be on that short list of the young deers that I gotta go ahead and spank because he got a little fresh. And when you get a little fresh, I got to check you.