During his preparation for Wednesday night's fight with the rugged, Enrique Ornelas, Bernard Hopkins has stripped himself, mentally, of any pride or sense of entitlement that has come with the legendary status he has achieved in the ring."No matter where I am financially, or historically, I've taken myself back to where I have nothing," said the nearly 45-year-old, former world champion. "It's a talent. It's hard to train like you're starving when your refrigerator's full. It takes a strong will that all starts with one word: Discipline."
And lately, that focused discipline has meant harkening back to a time nearly three decades ago, when, as a teenager, a young Bernard Hopkins spent most of his days staring at the four walls of a cell in Pennsylvania's Graterford Prison.
"I did not get discipline on the streets. I got it at home. But when I went outside of the door, I went somewhere else," said Hopkins, a former Philadelphia thug who survived three stabbings, was jailed for five years, and released in 1988.
"When I went into this place with a five-by-five cell at the young age of 17, I was immature, and I didn't realize how lucky I was," said Hopkins, whose act, in accordance with his "Executioner" nickname, used to include providing his "victims" with a ceremonial "last meal" at the final press conference.
"As you grow, from one stage to another, you can be more of a problem or more of a solution," said Hopkins, who weighed in at 175 pounds to Ornelas' 173.5. "Once I understood that, there was no stopping me. I wanted to be a solution, and that's why I'm here."
Hopkins (49-5, 32 knockoutss) spoke at Monday's press conference at the Sofitel Philadelphia Hotel in promotion of his 12-round, light heavyweight (175 pounds) non-title bout against Ornelas (29-5, 19 knockouts) that will take place at Temple University's Liacouras Center.
The 44-year-old Hopkins must win their matchup, to be televised on The VERSUS channel starting at 8 p.m., to remain on pace for an already-agreed-upon megabout with four-division world champion, Roy Jones ((54-5, 40 knockouts).
Jones-Hopkins is slated for March 13 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Also on Wednesday night, Jones, 40, will take on the hard-punching, 36-year-old, Danny Green (27-3, 24 KOs) at the Acer Arena in Green's hometown of Sydney, Austrailia.
A win in their clash, for the IBO Cruiserweight (200 pounds) title, would give Jones a fifth crown in as many weight divisions.
Taking place 16 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time in America, Jones-Green will be televised on a tape-delayed basis as part of VERSUS' Hopkins-Ornelas broadcast.
In May of 1993, Jones earned a unanimous decision over Hopkins for the vacant IBF middleweight (160 pounds) crown -- Jones' first-ever championship in the initial world title bout for each fighter.
Hopkins and Jones have won once, and twice, respectively, since losing to the now-retired, Joe Calzaghe (46-0, 32 KOs) of Wales, in April, and, November, of 2008.
But Hopkins, who turns 45 on January 15 -- one day before Jones turns 41 -- said that he is not looking beyond Ornelas.
"If there is anyone in this room that thinks that I'm underestimating my opponent, they don't know me and they don't know my legacy," said Hopkins, who made a middleweight record, 20 title defenses while holding the undisputed champion's monicker from January of 1996, through mid-July of 2005.
"Roy Jones Jr. starts Dec. 2. That's what I tell myself, that's what I wake up to, and that's what I've been training off of for the past seven, eight weeks," said Hopkins. "I will not get credit for fighting one of the toughest guys out there in Enrique Ornelas. I have more to lose than my opponent."
Hopkins was the perceived underdog in victories over undefeated, Felix Trinidad, in September of 2001, Antonio Tarver, in June of 2006, and, most recently, against Kelly Pavlik in October of 2008.
Hopkins, who stopped Trinidad in the 12th round, and dominated former world champ, Winky Wright, in July of 2007, said he is also assuming the underdog's role against Ornelas -- something that requires another "D" word, as in, denial.
Using a form of psychological role-reversal, "I must let myself believe that I am [Ornelas,] and that he is me," said Hopkins, who became the first man to knock out Oscar De La Hoya in September of 2004.
"Not everybody can do it, but I can. I go into this place that I have to go into in order to operate," said Hopkins. "In that place, I'm able to look through my situation and make a way. In any situation, I will make a way to win and win impressively."
If he can get past Ornelas, and, then Jones, Hopkins will then look to the heavyweight ranks.
There, Hopkins said he'd consider going after potential bouts with one of the Klitschko brothers -- IBF and WBO champ, Wladimir Klitschko, or, WBC titlist, Vitali Klitschko -- or more realistically, newly-crowned WBA champ, David Haye, who rose from cruiserweight to dethrone Nikolai Valuev.
"This [Ornelas] is not a tuneup. This is a get-up. This is a get-up for me to get prepared to go into a new year," said Hopkins, who is fighting in Philadelphia for only the second time -- the first being his eighth-round stoppage of Morrade Hakkar in March of 2003.
"The reason that I'm here is not because I'm one of the best, and not because I will probably go down as one of the greatest defensive fighters of all time. I'm here because my life has been about discipline," said Hopkins.
"Everyone knows that having discipline isn't just tied to being a good athlete. You have to have discipline to be successful in life," said Hopkins. "I can see my movie being made, and I can see my book being written. You can't live forever, let alone fight forever. But when I am not around, you will miss me."
