Long before his boxing career came to fruition Bernard Hopkins was a feared street fighter on the streets of Philadelphia.
Something, a life rather, that ended up getting him in jail for a while but there he found boxing and never looked back once free, he became the oldest world champion in boxing history no less.
Speaking to former pound for pound light-heavyweight Kingpin Andre Ward on his show ‘All The Smoke Fight’ — Hopkins disclosed:
“My nickname on the street wasn’t “The Executioner” like in fighting, or “The Alien,” or “B-Hop.” It was “Heads.” My brother, who was a year younger than me, Michael—he’d be 59 now; I just turned 60 in January—they called me “Heads,” and they called him “Baby Heads.” He had a short amateur career and a reputation too. My whole family, even my four sisters, could throw a jab, a right hand, a left hook, right now. My sisters never had problems with boyfriends—they took care of themselves. That’s embedded in our DNA.”
Hopkins was one of the great middleweights of his time, no doubt.
Bernard Hopkins is without question one of the greatest stories in the sport’s rich history.
He still holds the record all time for most middleweight defenses in world championship boxing history – 20 consecutive defenses.