"Why do you think McNabb felt he was betrayed? Because McNabb is the guy in the house, while everybody else is on the field. He's the one who got the extra coat. The extra servings. 'You're our boy,' " Hopkins said, patting a reporter on the back in illustration. "He thought he was one of them."
Replace "guy in the house" with "slave in the house," then replace "on the field" with "in the field," and Hopkins' message is Uncle Tom-clear.
McNabb's publicist, Rich Burg, said McNabb would have no comment.
Hopkins yesterday invited the press to watch him train at Joe Hand's North Philadelphia gym and to answer questions pertaining to his rematch May 21 against Jean Pascal in Montreal for the WBC and The Ring magazine light heavyweight championship, which will be televised on HBO.
In true Hopkins fashion, he reiterated his stance that he disputed the results of the Dec. 18 bout in Quebec City, which ended in a majority draw and therefore allowed Pascal to retain the belts.
Hopkins also revealed that, after their news conference in Montreal in March, in which the pair scuffled a bit, Hopkins did not return the belts after Pascal jokingly handed them to him during the media sessions. Hopkins said he brought them back through customs and they are in his Center City condominium; he looks at them every morning when he rises to train.
In Hopkins' eyes they are rightfully his. He took them as part of a lesson to Pascal, whom Hopkins considers a target the way Osama bin Laden was targeted by Navy SEALs. Or, to use another Hopkins analogy, Pascal is an unruly child.
"You've got to spank them," Hopkins said. "Literally, I could be his parent."
