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I/41v%2BgWd1%2BhL._SY450_.jpg' alt='Return Man 6 Linebacker Gloves Nike' title='Return Man 6 Linebacker Gloves Nike' />Return Man 6 Linebacker Gloves FootballBernard Hopkins, Boxings Oldest and Most Cunning Champion. Hopkins is sure that the shot callers and string pullers yearn for his comeuppance. They and their pawns are always after him to quit, he said. You got enough money. Now they counting my moneyWe dont want to see you get hurt. Where were they when I was walking off nine a reference to the nine years he spent on parole following his release from prison in 1. Its part of a litany of young troubles and redemptive turns, a personal Stations of the Cross composed of vividly emblematic scenes from a life story that begins in the Raymond Rosen projects in North Philly and eventually arrives at the big home in suburban Delaware where he now lives. Along the way came three stab wounds collected before age 1. Michael, a Quran given to him by a fellow inmate that reawakened his faith, the bracing plunge via Graterfords boxing program into the icy clarity of the gym and the ring, the warden who supposedly said, Youll be back, when Hopkins was paroled. Hopkins began playacting a scenario in which They look for a weakness with which to bring him down. We gotta discredit him. Do he drink He dont drink. Do he run with whores He dont. He lives clean. He dont party. He dont use drugs. Who cooks his food He cook his own food. He stands in line at Whole Foods with everybody else. So they try to find guys to beat me, and I beat them, and I get rich. They become part of my discipline. Then he was off on another of his regular topics the conspiratorial failure of Whole Foods, Nike and other corporations to make a poster boy of him, a bad boy who became a good citizen and the most potently healthy living middle aged man imaginable. How come the marketers, who ate up George Foremans fuzzy bunny routine and Lance Armstrongs lies, arent lining up to pay for the celebrity pitchman services of an outspoken Sunni ex con who abjures alcohol, caffeine, refined sugar, processed grains, tap water, performance enhancing drugs, weakness and just about everything else other than winning fights and making money This grievance is part of the eternal drama of Bernard Hopkins, a renewable energy source that helps keep him going strong in and out of the ring. Hopkins climbed through the ropes and onto the canvas, stretched and shadowboxed for a while, and then spent a few rounds working on the mechanics of not being hit. A burly young man named Bear came after him with a blue foam wand in either hand, trying to tap him with simulated punches. Hopkins timed Bears advances, shifting the range between them to forestall blows, then stepped in close to put his shoulder on the bigger man, driving him back by expertly shifting his own weight. When Pharrell Williamss Happy came on the gyms sound system midround, Hopkins gave me a significant look over Bears shoulder They never rest. There are masters of defense who rely on will o the wisp elusiveness, making a spectacle of ducking punches. Others build a fortress with their gloves, arms and lead shoulder, deflecting incoming blows. Hopkins can slip and block punches with the best of them, but his defensive technique is founded on undoing the other mans leverage by making constant small adjustments in spacing and timing that anticipate and neutralize attacks before they begin. Its somehow never quite the right moment to hit Hopkins with a meaningful shot. Boxers, especially big hitters, feel a kind of click when the necessary elements range, balance, timing, angle line up to create an opening to throw a hard punch with proper form. Hopkins doesnt run away, but an opponent can go for long stretches of a round without ever feeling that click. Opponents dont worry about facing his speed or power. They fear whats going on in his head. Frank Lotierzo, a former boxer from Philadelphia who is one of the fight presss best analysts of ring style, broke down some of Hopkinss defensive habits for me Youll notice hes looking down a lot, watching the other guys front foot to see when it comes up, which it does when you step into a punch, and thats when he makes his move. He ties up opponents elbows on the inside you control the elbows, you control the arms. He never backs straight up hell give you an angle every time. He will pick a side and go away from your power, isolate one side of your body, step over and fight you on your blind side. Drawing from that repertory, Hopkins went around and around with Bear in a state of tautly maintained dtente, discouraging wand blows but not throwing any punches himself. Naazim Richardson, Hopkinss trainer and Bears father, took over for a while, wearing a glove on one hand and a pad on the other to catch punches. A steady skullcapped presence in Hopkinss corner, Brother Naazim, as hes known, is more co conspirator than mentor. At this point, Hopkins, who received advanced instruction in his craft from English Bouie Fisher, George Benton and other wise men of Philadelphias deep ring tradition, knows more about boxing than most trainers. Hopkins and the much larger Brother Naazim shoved and hauled in a series of messy tussles from which Hopkins would emerge to bang the pad with a clean shot or two. Hitting the pads, intended to ingrain accuracy and speed and precise punching form, has become for most boxers in training a largely empty exercise in self affirmation. The trainer holds up the pads, and the fighter pop pop pops them with blisteringly impressive combinations in predictable rhythm, combinations that hes unlikely to throw in the give and take of a real fight. But Hopkins was rehearsing a more realistic struggle in which he would spend a lot of time shifting and mauling to denature an opponents leverage, looking to create an opening in which to score with a sneaky inside shot. Figuring out what the other guy wants to do and not letting him do it is a matter of policy for Hopkins. But its also an expression of his inmost character and worldview. Hes not so much a contrarian as a serial agonist who regards life as an unending train of struggles for the upper hand, and over the years he has come around to the premise that such a life is best lived through a relentlessly calculated managing of self rather than the self destructive fury of all out aggression. One key to his longevity at the top of the fight world is that he has come to consider it barbaric to exchange blows with an opponent. Hopkins, who listens to Sun Tzus Art of War while he does roadwork, will employ any tactic at his disposal, fair or foul, to frustrate an adversary fighter, manager, promoter, TV executive, conversational foil while he applies his strategic acumen to the problem of divining that adversarys deepest intention and coming up with a scheme to nullify it while absorbing the absolute minimum of punishment. After Hopkinss record setting reign as middleweight champion from 1. International Boxing Hall of Fame. Instead, he retooled his body to move up two weight classes, straight to 1. Antonio Tarver, who was heavily favored to beat him. In middle age, Hopkins has made a specialty of flummoxing and defeating younger men who were supposed to have too much power for him Tarver, Felix Trinidad, Kelly Pavlik, Tavoris Cloud, Jean Pascal. Hopkins, who used to be known as the Executioner but now styles himself as the Alien, has a record of 5. January. Imagine, if youre looking for parallels in other sports, that the linebacker Ray Lewis did not retire at 3. Pro Bowl and Super Bowl in 2. Derek Jeter, who was 1. Hopkins had his first professional fight, decided to play on past 4. All Star game and the playoffs in 2. But getting old in the ring is a far more brutal and unforgiving process than getting old on any playing field.