Getty The L.A. Lakers considered trading LeBron James according to reports.
Bernard Hopkins made statements in the boxing ring and out of it. When he talks, goshdarnit please listen!
Now a boxing analyst on ESPN’s family of networks, Hopkins dons a lot of suits and the now retired 55-8 Philadelphia bruiser known in the the ring as The Executioner traded in his boxing trunks and morphed into Mr. Suave in front of the teleprompter.
Not mad at you brotha!
“I love fashion, I love to look good, I love to feel good and definitely love to perform good,” Bernard Hopkins told Scoop B Radio.
“It’s a 3-punch combination that to me; that’s something that should be taught when you’re really young, but better late than never, but I love fashion.”
Bernard Hopkins will turn 50 years-old in January
In today’s sports world, fans and writers alike like to put things into boxes and category. In basketball for example many like to compare Michael Jordan’s legacy to the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James.
In the late 90s in baseball, folks were wondering who the homerun king was Mark McGwire or Sammy Sosa and in boxing folks want the ultimate heavyweight in Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson.
Here’s a kicker for Bernard Hopkins: Who is on his Mount Rushmore of stylishly dressed athletes? Well I could look at– well like Magic Johnson,” Hopkins said after a brief pause.
“There’s a lot of like, I could say basketball and football athletes that dress really good, but nobody really like stands out, you know? Deion Sanders is kinda like, loud and I don’t really like that style but a lot of people – he was like- he made statements whether you disagree or didn’t. He made statements.”
Sanders’ gear with MCHammer in the video of Straight To My Feet was legendary, by the way!
If you’re a tad young, that song was on the Street Fighter movie soundtrack.
Many credit Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James as sports’ elite dressers.
Honestly, the Brooklyn Nets’ Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and D’Angelo Russell are rising notables too. But back to a certain Los Angeles Laker; Mr. Hopkins, do you dig LeBron James’ digs?
“I think LeBron has a style,” he said.
“But it’s like you see somebody else wearing the same thing.”
Hopkins also has advice for athletes looking to leave their mark in fashion: Be yourself!
“I think when you look at fashion you gotta look at: does it go with your skin? Does it go with your physique? Does it go with your whole persona about you,” he said. “I think that when it comes to clothes and I’m getting a little deep, I think that when it comes to wearing a suit or clothes, women or man, it has to fit your personality. I don’t care how much it costs, I don’t care what name brand it is, if the clothes don’t fit your personality you don’t make it blossom.”