Hopkins says Pacquiao is ducking African-American fighters

Bernard Hopkins is great for boxing in and out of the ring, but he may have put his foot in his mouth when talking about the dominance of Manny Pacquiao. Hopkins isn't happy with the selection of opponents from "Pac-Man" and says he's excluded one important group of fighters -- African-Americans. According to Hopkins, plenty of African-Americans think Pacquiao is afraid. From AOL FanHouse:

"Maybe I'm biased because I'm black, but I think that this is what is said at people's homes and around the dinner table among black boxing fans and fighters. Most of them won't say it [in public] because they're not being real and they don't have the balls to say it."

The natural conclusion is that the top black fighter would take out Pac-Man.

"[...] Floyd Mayweather would beat Manny Pacquiao because the styles that African American fighters -- and I mean, black fighters from the streets or the inner cities -- would be successful," said Hopkins. "I think Floyd Mayweather would pot-shot Pacquiao and bust him up in between the four-to-five punches that Pacquiao throws and then set him up later on down the line."

Hopkins said Pacquiao would have trouble with someone like a "Sugar" Ray Leonard.

Pacquiao's camp scoffed at the talk of Pacquiao ducking anyone. Pacquiao's manager Michael Koncz told FanHouse:

"Manny has done more than anybody in boxing than anybody has ever imagined. He has the right to select his opponents. These black fighters, you know, we're not prejudiced. We don't care if they're black, green or blue.

"All that we care about is what fighter has a following. When these fighters that are crying about fighting Manny develop a following, and can prove to us, statistically, that it's economically feasible, then we will have no problem fighting them. But until then, they can cry all that they want."

This isn't the first time Hopkins infused race into a boxing conversation. Before his fight against Welshman Joe Calzaghe, Hopkins said he would never "lose to a white boy." Hopkins went on to drop a split decision (114-113, 111-116, 112-115) to Calzaghe in April of 2008.

Jamie Chung Alicia Witt Radha Mitchell Melissa Rycroft Chloë Sevigny