The air was heavy in the conference room that morning for the usual HBO pre-fight production meeting. A particular subject hung in the balance that makes people edgy. Sergey Kovalev was about to defend the IBF, WBA and WBO light heavyweight titles against Jean Pascal on Jan. 30 in Montreal, and the Russian expatriate and his team were sitting down with the HBO broadcast crew handling the fight.
However, Bernard Hopkins, a member of the HBO broadcast team, would not let it go.
“I remember telling Sergey, ‘Pascal called you racist, and he might be on to something, so let’s talk about race,’ and everyone in the room started looking at me and there was what seemed like this long pause, because no one knew what I was going to say next,” Hopkins said with a laugh. “I said you might have a little something in you because you keep beating up black fighters. Everyone spilled out of their chairs laughing. Kovalev laughed so hard I saw his wisdom teeth; and I didn’t even know he had wisdom teeth.”
Hopkins lightened a situation that in 2016 still seems to be the touchy topic of race in boxing. Rarely is it discussed openly. Many feel uncomfortable even when the word is mentioned, but does it still exist in arcane corners of the sport? Does it matter if a prominent black fighter fights a prominent white fighter anymore -- will there be a divide in support based on race? Was what Kovalev did a racist act or was it done as a ploy to enrage Stevenson so much so that he would want to fight him? Does it make Kovalev a racist in doing it?
Race in boxing is still such a taboo issue that over 25 people were interviewed for this story and only a handful decided to talk on the record about it. Some in the media, TV execs and fight promoters, all turned away, politely saying collectively, “I’m not touching that.”
No one on the record was willing to call Kovalev a racist, though off the record he was referred to as a “piece of [expletive],” a “racist [expletive]” and an “ignorant scumbag.” Some point out that Floyd Mayweather Jr. got crucified for off-color remarks about Manny Pacquiao in 2010, yet Kovalev seemed to get a free pass on the Stevenson tweet. On the record, many were willing to defend Kovalev, bringing up the important points that he has a black trainer, John David Jackson, who Hopkins referred to as a “strong black man who wouldn’t stand for any prejudicial [expletive], proving Kovalev isn’t racist at all,” and that Kovalev has no sense of American history.
It has always been great marketing to find two excellent fighters of differing backgrounds in their prime to fight each other. The underlying subplot of race and ethnicity is what sold some of the greatest fights and led to some of the greatest gates of all-time, going back to Jack Johnson-Jim Jeffries, Joe Louis-Max Schmeling, Joe Frazier-Muhammad Ali I and Larry Holmes-Gerry Cooney.
“Interestingly, boxing is backwards in so many ways, but the twisted part is, when it comes to race relations, boxing has always been way ahead of the game,” said noted New York promoter Lou DiBella. “The most significant athlete of the last 60 years was Muhammad Ali, and before that, Joe Louis. Don King was one of the major players in boxing before there were African-American owners in any of the major sports. In some ways, boxing has been ahead of the curve. Today, most of the great white fighters are from Eastern Europe or the former Soviet Union, and I don’t think that they’re advantaged at all.
“People in this sport, they’re so cowardly [not to talk about race], because Kovalev’s comments sort of broke a code,” he continued. “You don’t see a lot of racism in boxing compared to a lot of places. People of different races are working out of the same gyms these days; they’re bleeding the same blood. One thing I’ve always loved about boxing is that I haven’t see the same racism in this sport, which I’ve spent half my life in, as we saw through the years in team sports. It took forever to have black coaches and managers in baseball and football. You can go back generations to the great black trainers.
“The Irish want to support an Irish fighter,” DiBella added. “Italian-Americans like to root for Italian-American fighters. The Puerto Ricans want to support a Puerto Rican fighter. The Mexicans want to support a Mexican fighter. Is that racist that a Mexican wants to see a Mexican fighter beat a Puerto Rican fighter? That’s not racist. That’s ethnic pride. It’s easier selling a mixed match than it is two guys of similar backgrounds fighting each other. It’s always been a known fact that ethnic stuff matters. It’s not racism. It’s just making matchups that have the most marketing potential. People are too afraid to talk about race, especially in this sport, because they are either cowards or uneducated. Part of the problem why race relations are such a problem today is that race is hard for everyone to talk about, and there isn’t enough open dialogue. For all of boxing’s problems, however, I would compare boxing to other sports historically, it’s been so ahead in so many ways. In this country, we need to have an open dialogue about race. It’s needed. The country could take a lesson from boxing, in my opinion, in regards to that.”
Andreas Hale, who writes for Sherdog, RingTV.com and Yahoo Sports, is the former executive editor of BET.com. He has written at length on race in boxing and in society.
“The answer is yes and no, race is still an issue in boxing,” Hale said. “The reason why is this, I won’t say it’s racism, but I will say race is involved. For an African-American fighter, they really have no country. Boxing, like soccer, is still based on nationality support. [Saul] ‘Canelo’ Alvarez has the support of Mexico; in the MMA world, Conor McGregor has the support of Ireland. African-American fighters don’t even have a country that supports them. That becomes an issue for a lot of fighters.
“There is a reason why, I feel, that Floyd Mayweather went heel the way that he did,” he added. “That was because being a nice guy isn’t going to get you anywhere as an African-American boxer. That doesn’t mean that there’s racism going on. It’s hard to find support. Put it this way, it’s OK to be black, but once you cross that line of being ‘too black,’ you offend people because they feel it exposes you for who you are. There are fighters who don’t want to cross that line. Look at Andre Ward. He’s a great fighter, but if he was Andre Ward from the U.K., he’d have amazing support.”
Consequently, foreigners are fed stereotypes of Americans by what the United States projects through the media. Europeans, Eastern Europeans, Africans, Asians and South Americans have a narrow point of reference.
“They base things on reality TV and hip-hop, what’s being projected, which can’t be further from the truth,” Hale said. “There’s still fear there and there always will be, until things change. Sergey Kovalev didn’t understand the sensitivity [of the Stevenson tweet] to know what he was doing. A foreigner doesn’t understand the history of African-Americans in this country. It doesn’t excuse what he did. I think it was deplorable what he did with the Adonis Stevenson picture, and it was under-covered by the media. I think he got a pass because he’s not from this country and because he is also one of the best fighters in the world. Status means everything. Because he’s Sergey Kovalev, the best light heavyweight in the world, he can get away with these things. It’s funny, you know, because monsters aren’t always made by monsters themselves. They’re made by people. We as a society are just as responsible as the individuals committing these things.
“The approaches to racism and prejudice aren’t as overt as it was in the 1950s and 1960s,” he added. “You had people protesting Beyonce’s halftime performance at the Super Bowl. Black pride doesn’t mean anti-white, and I don’t know why people can’t get that through their heads. I don’t think Floyd Mayweather really looked at Manny Pacquiao the way he did when he crossed a line; Bernard Hopkins doesn’t believe everything he says. We’ve gotten so sensitive as a society, where we think that everything is crossing the line. You can’t say anything anymore. I really don’t think Kovalev is racist, because he wouldn’t have someone like John David Jackson training him. He just lacks understanding.”
Jackson, considered one of the world’s top trainers, personally knows the feeling of having eyeballs on the back of his neck when in foreign countries. It is an attitude many African-Americans encounter when abroad, derived from centuries of stereotyping from this country.
“Sergey is not racist, believe me, because I wouldn’t be working with him if he was,” Jackson said. “Where Sergey comes from, it’s a predominantly white world. My gym is predominantly black, and you won’t come across two more old-school guys, two old-school ‘black guys’ like myself and Don Turner, who work Sergey’s corner. Racists don’t hire blacks, the last time I looked. Don and I wouldn’t certainly work for one. Race is a part of boxing, depending on where you are.
“Coming up, I heard a few things said about me,” he added. “I was in Germany one time. I could feel the tension there, like I wasn’t really appreciated. Racism is still there. It’s just more hidden today than it was 20 years ago. I was in Russia with Chris Algieri three years ago, and I could feel that I wasn’t welcome there. They don’t see a lot of black people over there. When I walked in Moscow -- and they treated me well there -- I still felt uneasy. They see blacks killed by cops in this country, though it’s definitely not the way it used to be. We’re not getting lynched and killed like in the 1950s and ’60s. What foreigners see is what they see on American TV. Racism was here before we were all born. I hate to say that’s always going to be here. The only thing I suggest is people worry about their own damned business and it won’t matter what color someone is; and that’s black and white. We can get a lot better if people in boxing and in life, in general, can get past that. It scares me to think that there are too many ignorant people in this world to keep race and differences going. It’s really as simple as this: I’m a man and I expect to be treated like a man. It shouldn’t matter what color I am.”
Hopkins has made his share of faux pas promoting fights in the past. There was the time in San Juan, Puerto Rico, when he enraged a nation of people by throwing down the Puerto Rican flag before his historic fight against Felix Trinidad. There was another time, promoting his fight against Joe Calzaghe, when Hopkins said, “You're not even in my league. I would never let a white boy beat me. I would never lose to a white boy. I couldn’t go back to the projects if I let a white boy beat me.”
To anyone that knows “The Alien,” labeling Hopkins a “racist” or “prejudiced” would be the furthest thing from the truth. The future hall of famer’s reputation and stature transcend race. Early in his career, when Hopkins wasn’t as appreciated as he is today, he looked for reasons to place chips on his shoulders. Now, he is one of the sport’s most beloved ambassadors, a man who has matured and finds himself a father figure to many young fighters.
“Race will always be a part of boxing,” Hopkins said. “You hear it behind closed doors, [with] some of these kids saying they won’t let ‘some white boy beat me.’ Yes, I did take a gamble from pushing people’s buttons. Look at my Trinidad fight and throwing down the Puerto Rican flag. People will remember that; it was promotional. It sold tickets. Do I regret it now? Sure, because that’s not who I am. There was a time in my career when I do admit [that] people did look at me as being ‘too black.’ The Joe Calzaghe thing I would take back and the Puerto Rican flag thing I would take back.
“You know, there’s whites rooting for the white guy because he’s white, and blacks will root for the black guy because he’s black,” he continued. “You have some people who are black that feel the same way as some people who are white. I see that Kovalev provoked a guy who has been afraid to fight him. Look what Muhammad Ali did against Joe Frazier. Ali called Frazier a gorilla, and Ali is black; and he took that little rubber gorilla and beat it. It’s promotional, intended to get under a guy’s skin, and nine out of 10 times, it’s never politically correct. When’s the last time you’ve seen an athlete be politically correct? We’re not running for congress here.”
“Ali got to Joe Frazier so much; Ali probably wished he never did that the first time, because Frazier beat the hell out of him,” Hopkins added. “Kovalev took a gorilla’s head and put it on Stevenson’s body, and I started laughing. Kovalev wanted to make a point, and I don’t think it was anything racist. Would anyone say anything if the fighter was white and the gorilla’s head was placed on his body? I want to be real here. Sergey wanted to piss this guy off so much, [and] Stevenson was willing to do anything to say, ‘Let me get at this guy.’ But Stevenson’s people are smart. They know he can’t beat Kovalev. Stevenson isn’t stupid. He’s starting to think he’s looking bad, and it’s why he had to get up in Montreal and make himself look like a buffoon. If I was Stevenson, I would have laughed if someone did that to me -- put a gorilla’s head on my body.”
For Hopkins, more important issues are in play.
“What bothers me, in all seriousness, and I’ve spoken openly about it: Blacks in this country can blow each other’s brains out over nothing, but let someone else do it that’s not the same color [and] they want to march 30 blocks, form all of these groups and holler and scream in front of the cameras and give great speeches,” he said. “When it’s over, they all go back to their lives. We know there’s going to be another killing. We have to stop killing each other. Kids, black kids, are being killed out here and that’s real. It doesn’t matter who’s killing them. What matters is that they’re being killed.
“I still think certain people get away with certain things because of color,” Hopkins added. “The fact is we need to talk more to each other. That’s what’s missing, unfortunately; and both races feel the same way. Everyone is prejudice and jealous. That’s what it’s really all about.”
Joseph Santoliquito is the president of the Boxing Writer's Association of America and a frequent contributor to Sherdog.com's mixed martial arts and boxing coverage. His archive can be found here.