Bernard Hopkins was already deep into his middleweight championship reign before he began to make seven-figure purses, and it wasn't until his career-defining knockout of Felix Trinidad to become undisputed champion in 2001 that he earned really big money (about $4 million).
The bulk of his career earnings have come since 2004, which is when he made $10 million against
Oscar De La Hoya, who later made him a partner in Golden Boy Promotions.
So what the heck motivates Hopkins, who is 43 and not dominant as he once was and has already retired once, to keep fighting?
He said part of the reason he continues to fight is to make up for the late start he got on making big money.
"My motivation is back pay," admitted Hopkins, whose frugal ways are the stuff of legend in boxing circles, as is his ability to produce his Costco card on command. "I'm a late bloomer. As you look at my history, the last five years has been a blessing for Bernard Hopkins and my family and it reflects that and I've done well. I've done well in the ring and I've done well in finances and dealing with [Golden Boy CEO]
Richard Schaefer, who comes from the financial banking industry. I've made some great investments."
Besides the money, Hopkins said he keeps fighting at such an advanced boxing age because he still can do it at a high level.
"I'm still here and I'm still around," said Hopkins, who faces middleweight champ
Kelly Pavlik in a 170-pound nontitle fight in Atlantic City, N.J., on Saturday night (HBO PPV, 9 ET). "So if you can do it and you can do it in respect of your legacy and yourself and you're not disrespecting it, then why not? If you still have it in your blood, in your veins, and you still have it in your heart, and you have your desire to get up in the morning, to be able to travel city to city and write about this or write about that, just look at that as a boxer. If I'm willing to take my body through five to six weeks of pain and then see the rewards, then I think that should be more looked at more than why I'm doing it. I'm doing it for the right reasons and not the wrong reasons."
Schaefer is in Hopkins' corner when it comes to continuing to fight, as he also is with De La Hoya.
"I think Bernard and Oscar are very amazing athletes but what they really are as well, they are very smart and very clever people," Schaefer said. "They really know what they are doing and they know to listen to their body and to say, 'You know what? Now is enough.' But as long as they can compete at that top level -- like many thought Bernard beat
[Joe] Calzaghe and a lot of people have Oscar winning the
[Floyd] Mayweather fight -- basically both of these guys winning against the two top pound-for-pound fighters at the time, as long as it is like that, why should they walk away? As long as they are able to attract the kind of following they do and as long as they're embraced by the fans and they put forward the kind of performances they put forward, then why should they stop?"
Dan Rafael
