Daily News | Bernard Hopkins’ Hall of Fame career started with a visit in prison from a boxing ref named Rudy Battle
The sneakers his mother sent had not yet arrived, forcing Bernard Hopkins to leave Graterford in 1988 while still wearing his state-issued prison boots. He spent five years in prison after being arrested when he was 17 years old. As he left, the warden told Hopkins he would see him again soon.
His life, Hopkins said, often feels like a movie. But his story may not have such a Hollywood feel without the help of Rudy Battle, the referee who lifted his arm that night in 1995. The first Saturday of every month at Holmesburg was his way to give back. And that’s where Hopkins was in 1983 after being sentenced to prison following his arrest for armed robbery. Battle, knowing Hopkins from their old neighborhood, asked another inmate where Hopkins was.
“Not to lecture, not to preach,” Battle said. “Just encourage them to get off the corner and do something more constructive with their lives because I told them if they continued down that avenue, they would eventually end up in jail or end up dead.” But he was brought back to boxing while he was in the Air Force in the 1950s with top-secret clearance in military intelligence.
“I was licensed by every major boxing organization. The IBF, the WBC, the WBO, the WBU in Europe,” said Battle, who is now the chairman of the state athletic commission. “My favorite fight was the Slugfest Fight between Evander Holyfield and George Foreman. They featured the three of us on the cover of Sports Illustrated. I’ve refereed boxing for many, many champions. Mike Tyson, Vitali Klitschko, Roberto Duran, on and on and on. It’s been gratifying.
Hopkins still had three years left in prison but Battle told him that he had the talent to be a world champion once he returned to Philadelphia as long as he focused on boxing. The fight was a draw — “A draw in Ecuador is a victory for the American Bernard Hopkins,” Hopkins said — and a rematch was scheduled four months later just outside of Washington. Bob Lee, the IBF’s president, called Battle. They needed a ref. Battle told Lee he was available and then went to Hopkins.
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