Edwin Arnold once said, “Within yourself deliverance must be searched for, because each man makes his own prison.”
Bernard Hopkins took that quote literally. Bernard went to prison at the young age of 17 for nine counts of felony with an 18-year sentence. He has seen the worst in murders and rape over petty things; and after serving five years in prison, Hopkins was released.
He promised he would never go back to that life again. He will take each day as a celebration of freedom with boxing as his outlet—the only norm during his crazy prison life.
Twenty-nine years later, at age 46, Bernard is still in the business.
While his counterparts are retiring one by one, he still looks for greater opposition. He wanted new mountains to climb and new adventures to conquer. He just can’t let go of his haven—his happy memory—when things don’t go the way he wants.
Boxing has always been his refuge, his strength, and his constant companion. That’s why he doesn’t like anybody questioning his dedication, or his love of the sport. It took him years to enhance his craft. Buckets of blood and sweat have been his investment.
That’s why when Jean Pascal, his May 21 opponent, accused him of taking steroids and asked him to take the test, it was more like a slap on his face.
The normally trash-talking Hopkins was oddly quiet—responding with a two-handed shove to Pascal.
This is the aftermath of all the steroid accusations in boxing. If anyone goes beyond expectations, then he must be on steroids.
All the achievements and accolades would always have the “doubting Thomas” behind it.
However, the fact that all those accusations have never been proven means that it’s a relatively pointless debate. This is a roller coaster ride with ups and downs; but somewhere down the line, everything has got to stop.
Let he who does not sin cast the first stone.
Bernard Hopkins knows that steroids and PEDS are a form of cheating. He has been down that road before; he would never do anything to break his sanctuary, or to take him out of something that became his sanity beyond prison walls.
Boxing has freed him beyond those iron grills, and beyond making his own prison.
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Christina Applegate Shana Hiatt Tara Conner Drea de Matteo Trista Rehn
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