All great runs start somewhere.

For Bernard Hopkins, he lost his first fight and then reeled off 22 consecutive wins before dropping a 12-round unanimous decision to the precociously gifted Roy Jones Jr. for the vacant IBF middleweight crown in May 1993.

He bounced back with four wins and when Jones vacated his title, Hopkins (26-2, 19 KOs), the IBF No. 1, was matched with the No. 2 Segundo Mercado (18-2, 11 KOs) to fill the vacancy but to do so, he'd have to go to into hostile territory.

"Don King Promotion did the show, Don King worked out a deal with my former promoter Butch Lewis," Hopkins told The Ring. "The agreement was, Butch Lewis, who got paid a license fee double what I got paid as the fighter, to deliver me to that mandatory in Ecuador."

To prepare, Hopkins started out at home before heading south to Miami, Florida.

"I did a pre-camp in Philadelphia, I would get all the kinks out here, get the sparring partners lined up here and migrate to Florida," he said. "Two weeks in Philadelphia, five weeks in Florida."

Hopkins and his team, including his trainer, the late Bouie Fisher, flew direct from Miami to Quito and arrived the Wednesday of fight week.

"We had to watch our bags at the airport - about four bags were missing," he said. "It was a third world country. You've got to be careful. We all stuck together, there was like eight of us.

"We had a couple of military guys from Ecuador, I don't know if they spoke English, but they did a lot of pointing."

While that was far from ideal, he also had to contend with the altitude in the Ecuadorian capital, some 9350 feet above sea level, which is the second highest of any capital city in the world.

"To get there at a reasonable time is more of an advantage for you to be acclimated and be ready," he said. "I got there on the Wednesday in the afternoon. The fight was Saturday on Showtime."

However, Hopkins, who is now a minority partner in Golden Boy Promotions, understands the role a promoter can play in tipping the balance in favor of their fighter.

"I believe every promoter has an obligation to do what's best for their fighter, whether I like it or not," he said having experienced this treatment. "I said, 'This ain't gonna happen to me again.' To go anywhere on short notice, especially another country, I don't want to be under them circumstances of being unfair as far as my perspective."

Tensions were further heightened due to the backdrop of the impending Cenepa War.

"There's hostility all around because in Ecuador around that time they were in a conflict with Peru, they were at war," he said. "I'm going there to be at war with the Ecuadorian, Segundo Mercado, they weren't doing me any favors."

Hopkins went about his business the next day promoting the show and getting his bearings.

Interestingly, and adding another layer of intrigue, Hopkins had back history with Segundo's older brother, Jouvin, earlier in his career at late notice on ESPN.

"They brought me in to be an opponent, I was 4-1, and Ron Katz, who used to be a matchmaker for Top Rank called me," he recalled. "I laugh about it to this day with Al Bernstein, who said, 'Five hours ago he was in Philadelphia, five hours later he's in Rochester, New York on ESPN and he poses well too.' Meaning they were talking about how I got five hours' notice fighting a guy they were building up, big, strong and fighting, at that time, at light heavyweight.

"I knocked him out with a beautiful one-two and spun off to the right and he fell right on his face and the referee called it off. It was an upset.

"This man wanted revenge, so not only was I sold out by my promoter for a few hundred thousand dollars that I didn't get, he didn't even think I was going to win. Going up against a country that was at war with Peru and I'm coming into beat their fighter on top of that."

At Friday's weigh-in, Hopkins came in comfortably inside the division weight limit at 157; while Mercado tipped the scales a pound heavier at 158.

On fight night, Hopkins entered the packed 15,000 capacity arena, full to the rafters of Mercado supporters.

Hopkins had to bite down on his gumshield and overcome knockdowns in the fifth and seventh rounds to come on strong later in the fight.

"I was dead in the sixth round, I couldn't breathe, and I felt heavy, I felt tired, I felt like I didn't get sleep in three or four days," he explained. "I was functional to know where I'm at, but I couldn't physically be myself. I was basically depleted because of the time zone and lack of acclimation because of the short time I got there and had to fight.

"I fought like my life was on the line and got a draw, in Ecuador, fighting and Ecuadorian, fighting under those circumstances, I believe if you watch the fight, I was glad to get the draw even though I know I won that fight. I survived two knockdowns. That is courageous."

The IBF ordered a direct rematch, which took place six months later in Landover, Maryland.

"If he couldn't beat me in Ecuador, how the hell do you think he's going to beat me in the United States? That was his moment," said Hopkins, who claimed the vacant title when he scored a seventh-round stoppage.

That was the beginning of one of the longest reigns in boxing history. Hopkins went on to unify and become Ring and undisputed middleweight champion reigning for over a decade. While Mercado won just one more fight before falling into gatekeeper status and retiring in 2003.