September 16-22, 2004

mixpicks

Beat L.A.

by Rick Valenzuela

OK, who's got the fight party? This weekend, the undisputed king of middleweights, Philadelphia's Bernard Hopkins, puts up three belts against Oscar De La Hoya, and it's got all the makings of being ugly. But first off, not enough people know about the hometown boy. We should. And after Hopkins whups the pretty Olympian, we should run naked down Broad Street and shout nasty things about the City of Angels, reveling in our local hero. Oscar-the-media-darling has been a household name since winning his gold in Barcelona, and he has a million-dollar smile that's been the face of boxing for years. On the other hand, a strong-arm robbery conviction landed a young Hopkins five years in Graterford. He worked his way up boxing's pay brackets from untelevised fights to pay-per-view millions and is now considered one of the sport's all-time greats. He's reigned over the middleweights for nine years, has all the belts that matter with a division record of 18 title defenses, and he hasn't had a loss since his first crack at a belt in 1993 — going the distance against Roy Jones Jr., another fighter rated as pound-for-pound one of the best. Not only can he scrap smart in the ring, but he's notched courtroom wins to get out of contracts in a business that he's said is as shady as drugs; he's even testified to the U.S. Senate to stand up for other fighters on the shit end of the deal. In short, Hopkins embodies all the storybook Philadelphia traits. Yes, Oscar is a great fighter whose place is already cemented in history. And yeah, he's got nothing to lose and Hopkins has it all on the line in a sport where many wacky things have happened. But irrespective of that, we should nonetheless celebrate the truly Philadelphian champion, then indulge in our collective haterism of Los Angeles as Hopkins beats in Oscar's pretty face and knocks him back down to a weight class he belongs in.

Bernard Hopkins vs. Oscar De La Hoya, Undisputed World Middleweight Championship Fight, Sat., Sept. 18, 8:30 p.m., $54.95, Comcast pay-per-view Channel 51, 800-COMCAST; or through remote, $30-$35, Traymore Ballroom, Bally's Atlantic City, sponsored by Joe Hand, 800-736-1420.