When Oscar De La Hoya’s much hyped bout against Bernard Hopkins was announced earlier this year, a lot of naysayers said the fight would never happen. Now the only potential stumbling block appears to be the possibility that the verbose Hopkins will pull out because of laryngitis.

Barring the unexpected, September 18 will see an updated version of Sugar Ray Leonard versus Marvin Hagler; a Golden Boy with Olympic pedigree going up in weight to challenge a dominant blue-collar champion. The contract weight is 158 pounds, two pounds below the middleweight limit. That shouldn’t be a problem for Hopkins, who is rarely more than a few days away from making weight.

This is Hopkins’s second coming-out party. The first was three years ago when he devastated Felix Trinidad, knocking him out in the 12th round. If there’s a knock against Hopkins as a fighter, it’s that he always seems to get in the ring against littler guys. But he has successfully defended various versions of the middleweight crown 18 times. And in the process, he has stamped his persona on boxing.

Hopkins stands for the proposition, “Life is tough, but I’m tougher.” He’s self-absorbed with emotional wounds that never really heal. He’s an angry man, and his anger fuels him.

“I don’t think a lot of people will get ulcers or cry all day if Bernard Hopkins don’t come up with a win,” he acknowledges. “I was born with something that everybody ain’t born with: my heart. Not just a heart that’s beating, but a heart to stand up and balls to stand up and courage to stand up. They call me an ingrate. Why is that? Is it because I refuse to be [screwed], or is it because I prefer to be the one [screwing]?”

Against Hopkins, De La Hoya will be going into the ring as an underdog for the first time in his professional career. The “Golden Boy” is counting on his speed to prevail. He could also be helped by Hopkins’s age: On fight night, Bernard will be four months shy of 40.

“Do I get more aches and pains then I did five or six years ago?” Hopkins asks. “Absolutely. Do I get more rubdowns, more chiropractors? Absolutely. We all deteriorate. I hate to say it like that; but the longer we live, the more we’re going to hurt.”

But then, in the next breath, Hopkins declares, “My body has been put together different by God than any other body that’s living. Once you start thinking old, you become old. I haven’t started thinking old yet.”

Most pundits think Hopkins will win. Many of them don’t even think it will be a competitive fight. De La Hoya believes that, against Hopkins, he can revert to the quick-moving fighting style of his youth. But he won’t be able to. Bernard won’t let him. And more significantly, Oscar no longer has the physical tools to fight the way he once did. He’s not young anymore.

“De La Hoya won’t see 12 rounds,” Hopkins says. “Somewhere along the line, his corner will have to make a decision. He’ll still have his movie career if they stop the fight in time. They’ll be smart enough to know that we’d better stop it right now while we still got an eye left or a lip left. It’s up to them; it’s their call.”

De La Hoya’s record is 6-3 in his last nine fights. The decisions he lost to Felix Trinidad in 1999 and Shane Mosley last year were questionable, but so was his victory three months ago over Felix Sturm. And other than Sturm, the only fighters Oscar has beaten over the past five years were a blown-up Derrell Coley, a much smaller Arturo Gatti, a one dimensional Javier Castellejo, a drug riddled Fernando Vargas, and a shot Yuri Boy Campos.

As for Hopkins, he’ll be the first to proclaim, “I’m perfect when it comes to boxing.” That might be stretching reality, but his fists are nasty weapons, and he has both the skills and attitude to use them to maximum effect.

“I’m not shy when it comes to inflicting pain on people,” says Hopkins. “Nothing is fair, what fighters do. You hit behind the head? It’s not legal, but it happens. There’s no such thing as a dirty fighter to me. It’s just an opportunity. You’re dirty only when you get caught. In the ring, there’s a chance you can die or become a vegetable. And the reality is, I would rather it be him than me.”

In sum, De La Hoya versus Hopkins has the markings of a man beating up a boy. On paper, Oscar doesn’t have the tools to win.

Still, this is boxing. And regardless of what has happened in the past, fighters who face one another in the ring start from scratch each time out and must perform every time.

If, as expected, Hopkins wins, neither man’s legacy will change. But if De La Hoya finds a way to prevail, historical perspectives will be revised. Is an upset possible? As Hopkins himself noted last month, “It only takes one shot to shatter your dreams.”