Light-heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver and middleweight legend Bernard Hopkins kicked off the promotion to their June 10th pay-per-view showdown in Atlantic City with a press conference on Tuesday in New York City.

After spending 24-rounds with Jermain Taylor, Hopkins (46-4-1, 32 KO's) the onetime, "Executioner," now believes one final win at light-heavyweight, will cement his legacy at the International Boxing Hall of Fame for all time.

Joe DeGuardia of Star Boxing, who's co-promoting the show with Golden Boy Promotions, said of the two combatants, "In this fight you're going to see two warriors, two champions that 10 years from now, might be fighting in a corporate board room. These two individuals transformed the sport of boxing."

Hopkins, the first of the two fighters to speak, blurted out, "But I'm not done. I'm not finished," predicting his "troops," including trainer Nazim Richardson and sparring partners John David Jackson and "Sugar" Shane Mosley, who attended yesterday's presser at Tavern on the Green, will prepare him for anything Tarver has in his arsenal.

Hopkins anticipated, "A legendary performance," on his part and said after the fight, "The biggest challenge is gonna be Bernard Hopkins will walk away no matter what happens... and will leave a lasting impression on my fans."

The Tampa native, Tarver (24-3, 18 KO's) is the defending IBO Light Heavyweight Champion trained by James Buddy McGirt, who was not in attendance.

"I don't stress over the things that most fighters stress over," Tarver said while talking about his camp, adding, "I'm able to just stay focused and train and work on what's important."

Recalling his rise to the top of the light-heavyweight division, Tarver said, "They heard me knocking at the door, but it took me a while to break that door down."

Tarver spent months chasing after Roy Jones, Jr., calling him out at his own press conferences, and went so far as to draw a cartoon of Jones, promoter Don King and himself. It was enough to finally earn him a fight.

A $250,000 side bet by Tarver, that Hopkins won't see the sixth round, is only more incentive for Hopkins. Still, the confident Tarver closed his end of the show with a warning, "Don't miss a minute of this show... it could be over in a flash."

Asked for his thoughts on this match-up, the soft-spoken Mosley replied, "I think that Tarver is going to be a little impressed with the power of Bernard, and how he gets his shots in. Bernard is a little bit stronger than he looks." Asked if that means that Tarver is going to lose the bet, Mosley shot back, "I think (Tarver) is going to lose the bet," but he didn't make a prediction for the outcome of the fight.