Thursday, May 12, 2011
Posted: 10:40 p.m.
By Dan Gelston
The Associated Press
NFL player Donovan McNabb's agent has released a statement that says former middleweight boxing champion Bernard Hopkins' insinuations about McNabb not being black enough "are dangerous and irresponsible."
Hopkins says McNabb, the former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, doesn't have heart or wasn't tough like other NFL players because he had a privileged upbringing.
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McNabb and his agent Fletcher Smith decided to counterpunch with a statement Thursday.
"It perpetuates a maliciously inaccurate stereotype that insinuates those African-Americans who have access to a wider variety of resources are somehow culturally different than their brethren," Smith said.
At a workout this week for his upcoming fight, Hopkins took time before a sparring session to rip McNabb. Referencing skin color, Hopkins said McNabb has, "got a suntan, that's all."
Hopkins has long claimed McNabb wasn't the right quarterback to lead the Eagles to a Super Bowl championship because he didn't have heart. Now, Hopkins says that's because McNabb was raised in a modest suburb outside of Chicago, and not the gritty south side of the city. Hopkins was raised in a more rough-and-ruthless part of North Philadelphia.
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Reached by phone Thursday, Hopkins refused to soften his stance on McNabb.
"Look at professional boxing. I've never seen a suburban boxer be successful," Hopkins said. "There has to be something in the DNA of the person's experience, of what they overcame, to have that grit; like, I'm going to bite down and let it happen. I just didn't see that in him."
Hopkins will fight Jean Pascal for the light heavyweight championship May 21 in Montreal. If the 46-year-old Hopkins wins, he'll become the oldest boxer to win a world title.
At the end of a nearly 40-minute press session on Tuesday, Hopkins joked that with the Flyers and 76ers out of the playoffs and the Phillies' season still months from the pennant race, he is Philadelphia's sports "franchise."
"With McNabb out of town, I ain't got to worry about that no more," Hopkins said.
Hopkins was then asked what he thought about Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, who, like Hopkins, was raised in an impoverished community and spent time in prison. Vick served 18 months in federal prison for running a dogfighting ring. Hopkins started boxing in a Pennsylvania state prison, where he served five years beginning at the age of 17.
Hopkins went on an uninterrupted seven-minute, often factually incorrect, ramble that put down McNabb and praised Vick.
"I can relate, not to what he did, but I can relate to what kind of guy inside he is that McNabb didn't have," Hopkins said at a local gym. "That doesn't make McNabb a bad guy. It goes back to what we always say about upbringing."
McNabb and his agent had enough. Smith detailed McNabb's community service, his "impenetrable integrity," and refused to apologize for how he was raised.
"Donovan's parents are proud Americans who worked hard to give their sons the best childhood they could provide," Smith said. "He is unapologetically proud of sacrifices they made for him. Donovan and his brother were raised to be hard-working African-American men who were taught to believe in themselves."
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