Bernard Hopkins Wishes Canelo Alvarez Could’ve Stayed With Golden Boy

It’s been a couple months since Canelo Alvarez announced his departure from Golden Boy Promotions, and though his fellow colleagues haven’t seemed too shaken up over it, Bernard Hopkins is still feeling the hit.

Hopkins really didn’t want to lose the pound-for-pound greatest boxer in the world, and had the following to say on the matter to FightHype.com:

“Losing Canelo is nothing you can downplay. Not having that particular athlete, that particular mindset and discipline ready for a big challenge, is not something you should want or try to tell others that swallowing that was easy. It’s still not easy for me, and I’ll leave it like that.

“I wish I could have done something early on too, maybe, who knows… I believe Canelo respects me. I believe he understands me from a fighter point of view and I assume a fighter’s point of view even though I wear a promoter’s hat based on my partnership.

“Sometimes when you let things become other people’s business on either side, other opinions can make things a little difficult, whether they were good opinions or bad opinions or good advice or bad advice.”

Hopkins however can sympathize with Canelo here, being a former boxer himself, having dealt with his deal of promoters he didn’t care much for.

“I can say this, a promoter don’t define a fighter, because if that was the case I wouldn’t have become who I became. I don’t like 99.9% of promoters. Then and now. Then and now.

“So, I had to change in my old age. But I wish Canelo well and I wish him greatness. I wish him many accomplishments in the next few years of his career, which is important, if you look at his age. Time do(es) fly.

“On that note, I say job well done and I’ll be rooting for you every time you fight. That’s Bernard Hopkins saying that. What everybody else says, that’s their prerogative. Always, always got mad respect for Canelo to continue to cement his legacy as he moves through his 30’s.”

Those well wishes will be granted as well, Canelo is the best this sport has seen in some time. Yes, of course there’s Floyd Mayweather Jr, who fought, and defeated a 23-year-old Canelo, but he was a different kind of great.

Mayweather is the greatest defensive fighter of all-time, out of any combat sport, he’s the best at it, ever. Canelo is a true fighter, he gets into technical brawls frequently, and he wins them all.

It’s truly remarkable how great Canelo Alvarez has become.

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