Hopkins' Biggest Opponent? Don King

Bernard Hopkins talks a lot about fighting Roy Jones, James Toney, Oscar De La Hoya and many others (including Sven Ottke, Joe Calzaghe, Winky Wright, Ricardo Mayorga, Jermain Taylor and Jeff Lacy). Yet the only fight that MIGHT actually be in Hopkins' near future is a bout with William Joppy. Not bad, but certainly not the mega-fight to which Bernard feels he is entitled. Why is Hopkins basically letting the twilight of his career go by without cashing in? Perhaps the unstated plan all along has been to make a few meaningless defenses (against the likes of Carl Daniels and Morrade Hakkar) while waiting for his four year contract with promoter Don King to expire on Jan. 24, 2004. After that, Hopkins will be a free agent and MIGHT finally get another big payday before it's too late.