Psychological Warfare

Joe Calzaghe v Bernard Hopkins

The fight that is billed as the biggest on the planet in 2008 began with Bernard Hopkins using his underhand dirty tricks to try and throw Joe Calzaghe off of his game before they have even step foot into the ring on April 19th by first stating: “I will never be beaten by a white boy”.

For anyone that knows anything about Bernard Hopkins you will already know that this is how he fights, his dirty underhand tactics learnt on the streets of Philadelphia and in the American prison system that he uses to give himself the upper hand in the War within the ring.

In prison he learnt that if he sat rocking backwards and forwards in the prison yard as if he was a little crazy it would intimidate other inmates and prevent him from being bullied, this must have been where he learned that pretending your something that your not gives you the upper hand over others that he brought as a tool into the Sport of Boxing – Why else dress up in fancy dress like a gimp trying to intimidate people?

This is the pre-fight psychological warfare to win the battle of the minds before getting into the ring.

At the top of the boxing profession when you have two of the Worlds best fighters in the ring fighting, they should be at peak performance, with the mental capability of each of the boxers being paramount and just as important as being physically prepared. One sign of weakness either through fear or being outclassed in the ring, and the stronger opponent will then take dominance over the fight, and dominance of the fight is the key to winning.

For a prime example of Hopkins psychological tricks you only have to look at his performance in Puerto Rico before he was to fight Felix Tito Trinidad, he knew that Trinidad was very patriotic about his country so in front of his fans in Puerto Rico he grabbed the National flag and threw it on the floor as a sign of disrespect to Trinidad and his fans. He then needed to be escorted out of the building by the police because of the baying mob. This tactic enraged Felix Tito Trinidad who then took that rage into the ring and fought with a mentality of rage as if he had a point to prove, owing it to his fans, rather than of a professional sportsman and this exposed him to Hopkins boxing ability, who was cool calm and collected and then went on to win the fight.

Hopkins knows better than anyone that the psychological side of the battle is as important as the skill, and he always tries to use this to his advantage as history proves. He is the master of the psychological War, except this time with Joe Calzaghe he has been exposed as a fraud outside of the ring and Joe Calzaghe is now going to expose him inside of the ring in front of a global audience of free view HBO viewers.

As soon as Bernard Hopkins opened his mouth at the start of his psychological war he lost in an instant and made the biggest mistake of his boxing life by stating: “I will never be beaten by a white boy”, this immediately brought the indignation of every sane minded person down to bear upon his shoulders because this was a blatant racist statement, with Hopkins trying to turn this fight into a race issue when it is nothing more than a sporting event to see who is the best boxer on the planet. Everyone is now apologizing for him even though he has not retracted the statement and apologized himself, all he has said is that Joe Calzaghe will have to now prove him wrong.



Bernard Hopkins is a member of the “Nation of Islam” which is a militant religious black supremacy organization, so those words coming out of Bernard Hopkins mouth speak very clearly for themselves, he and his fellow “Nation of Islam” followers believe that they are superior to every other race, so Hopkins believes he has no alternative but to win against Joe Calzaghe because he is white, and has made the very public statement to that effect.

This statement was not to un-nerve Joe Calzaghe because what does Joe Calzaghe care whether his opponent is black, yellow, brown or pink? He is a sportsman and boxing is a sport not a battle ground for race. This statement was for Bernard Hopkins because he knows he is fighting the best fighter in the World, he has made a controversial statement consciously knowingly or unknowingly for himself which he must now stand behind as he fights in the ring. When he is in the ring, he will have at the forefront of his mind that he cannot lose because what would losing to this white boy mean? Prison, the streets of Philly, the Nation of Islam, African Americans, the sport, the American people, the British people – What is everyone going to think?

Pretty heavy self inflicted burden to carry into that boxing ring.

So Bernard Hopkins mind is going to be out of synch because of that one statement that he himself made, just like his opponent Felix Tito Trinidad in Puerto Rico, thinking of the consequences of the statement whilst standing trying to box toe to toe with the Welsh Warrior whilst his mind should be on boxing. When your in that ring trying to outbox your opponent your mind has to be completely on what you are doing in the ring, so if it is at all distracted then there is no space to think about what you are doing – The psychological boulder

Psychologically Bernard Hopkins is the one going into this fight on the back foot now because he has needed to put something in place to try and raise his own game no matter what because of the size of the job that is ahead; why would he do that? Because he knows within himself consciously or unconsciously that he needs more than what he has within himself to beat Joe Calzaghe, but even his psychological tricks will not help him when he faces the best pound for pound fighter on the planet because he is a fraud and a cheat.

Because the sane public and those within boxing know that this is not a race issue and that the comment was completely abhorrent, Bernard Hopkins has heaped a psychological boulder upon his own mind. Being of the “Nation of Islam” and believing how they believe he may not have cared about peoples thoughts about those type of comments before making them, but now he has made them with the whole world watching, reality has hit home, and very hard, he has been pushed into a corner from all sections who are involved in this fight and those watching because of the wider implications to the sport - Bernard Hopkins first deadly mistake

Hopkins was the one who started the psychological war in the first place with his comments and has been trying to weather the storm ever since making them and has made out that the coverage of his words has not effected him, but in reality how could they not effect him? Our brains do think about things after all, especially when confronted on a daily basis with what we have said, so he is the one who is going to be mentally fatigued and in turmoil going into that ring on the 19th and not Joe Calzaghe. I would even go as far as to say that he now knows within himself that he is going to lose and has accepted it within his mind (he has had a long time to think after all) even though he wants everyone to believe it is the other way round, and he knows there is always the chance he could pull off an upset if Joe Calzaghe is un-nerved mentally, and of his game.

I have read somewhere that Bernard Hopkins is talking about retirement after this fight so there must be a space in his mind that has resided to the fact of losing - Defeated

Joe Calzaghe has already won the psychological war of this boxing match and has not even had to do anything to win, Hopkins might as well have shot himself in the foot with a gun, that’s how much damage he has done to himself, with no chance of ever winning now. The fight has already been won and in reality it really could not have been easier for ‘Team Calzaghe’, its just up to Joe Calzaghe to now get into that ring and let his World Class boxing skills shine to the American HBO audience, just like when he fought Jeff Lacy and Mikkel Kessler, and not let anything take his mind away from the job that is ahead.

The Joe Calzaghe in the ring is a totally different Joe Calzaghe out of the ring.

Those history books beckon with two more fights ahead before retirement, so there cannot be any stronger motivation to win against Bernard Hopkins than that.

This fight has been called “The Battle of the Planet” because of the level of the two fighters and the importance of the fight, it has also been deemed another America v Britain just like the Hatton v Mayweather fight. This is all good for the sport and adds to the global appeal of this one fight, and brings the best of the best in America together with the best of the best of Great Britain.

Going into the ring Bernard Hopkins has been presented with a flag from a few fight fans serving in Iraq as a sign of support for their fighter, a souvenir if you will, and Joe Calzaghe goes into the ring after being crowned the Sports personality of the year 2007 by the whole of the British public. Joe Calzaghe is Great Britain’s sporting hero and will shine on that World stage for the British people, he is an inspiration and role model for many people because of his humility and his unique talent, backed up with a life story that is the stuff of folklore, a folklore the British people recognize that’s why his father who has trained him his whole life was awarded Trainer of the year at the same sporting achievements award.

Bernard Hopkins has surrounded himself with what he has called the dream team to train and prepare himself to face the might of Joe Calzaghe in “The Battle of the Planet”. 17 years undefeated and a 10 year World Champion, there is no dream team on Earth that can stand in the way of the real dream team – “Team Calzaghe”

Calzaghe, the name of Boxing greatness.

For me as a Christian I know there is nothing that can stand in Joe Calzaghe’s way apart from himself, he steps into that ring every time with a massive cross tattooed on his arm that signifies his belief in an Almighty power far greater than himself, a power who he always recognizes and thanks for his achievements within his sporting life and career, a little like Evander Holyfield.

Hopkins the “Nation of Islam” follower stands no chance in the face of this humble Welsh Warrior from the Valleys, and this will be proved on the 19th when he conquers the American boxing landscape in style, he has crossed the water, surveyed the land, now its time to show the World who is the best pound for pound fighter on the planet, then return home to a hero’s welcome.

I think of David and Goliath when I think of this fight with Bernard Hopkins because of all the American hype surrounding him, but Joe Calzaghe met his Goliath in Chris Eubank, went deep into the boxing trenches, defeated him and took his belt and has hung onto it for 10 years. Joe Calzaghe now steps into the ring as a King, “King of the ring” not a shepherd boy with nothing, there is only one “King of the ring” Mr Hopkins and that’s Joe Calzaghe.

I predict the fight will be won by the fourth round, it will take this long for both fighters to find their place in the ring, and I know after watching the Kessler fight that for the first 4 rounds some of the thoughts in Joe Calzaghe’s mind where “am I too old to do this” because he faced this young hungry World Champion. Those thoughts have got to be natural when your standing face to face with you opponent, especially one like Mikkel Kessler who was 6 years his junior, but by the 4th round Joe Calzaghe had gotten into his rhythm, pushed those thoughts out of his mind and got on with the job in hand and outboxed and outclassed his very worthy opponent, then took his two World title belts from him. Bernard Hopkins is going to be thinking these same thoughts along with many others, exactly the same in those first early rounds because he is the older opponent, and by the fourth I reckon he will know that he has nothing more to take the fight to the next level to win, so for the next 4 rounds he will be dominated by a World Class champion and then knocked out in the 8th. That is my prediction, but predictions are never certain, no matter the round or when the fight finishes, the outcome will be the same – JoeCalzaghe Winner.

Bernard Hopkins has tried planting the seed or doubt into the minds of Team Calzaghe by saying that he is going to force Enzo Calzaghe to pull his son out of the fight to save him from punishment, and that he looks forward thinking about them leaving together in the car after the fight, defeated.

The truth will be “Team Calzaghe” leaving after a glorious win over Bernard Hopkins, the smiles on their faces as they have stepped one step closer to those history books, and then thinking about a defeated Bernard Hopkins sitting in his dressing room having to face the World defeated, after everything that has been said and done leading up to this fight.

I wonder whether he will be wearing sunglasses to hide?

The self proclaimed Executioner is going to be Executed.

Bernard Hopkins said this is going to be another Ali v Cooper because he felt self assured at that moment in time – Your sadly mistaken Mr Hopkins, this is a Joe Calzaghe v Bernard Hopkins fight, completely different.

Atleast Bernard Hopkins can retire to the sun somewhere after this fight with the proceeds of his defeat, we all know how much he hates the cold weather don’t we, this self proclaimed rough tough guy from the cold dark streets of Philidelphia – That was the past, this is now!