Where Does Bernard Hopkins rank among the greatest fighters ever?

I doubt that part.

Hagler-Monzon-Hopkins would all be close fights and probably need a rematch or trilogy to separate them.

 

We have no issues with 12 round fights...you seem to have a bit of sand in your vagina ranking 12 round fighters in ALL time TOP 40 list...


run along now...

 

You doubting my cred, son...? :fightme:

 

Until you come to Canada in -40 degree temperatures wearing nothing buck a pair of shorts and kill a polar bear with only a butter knife i doubt your credentials.

Balls in your court tough guy.

 

::

 

Karl trolling again ::

 

The same questions actually are being asked, just not as loudly because

1. Hopkins started his career at light heavy.

2. Hopkins didn't move up from 160 and start blasting guys out while looking better than ever. He looks considerably worse than he did in his prime. In his prime Pascal wouldn't really have even been worthy of sharing a ring with him.

3. Hopkins doesn't fight like he's on EPO or steroids. These days he also doesn't really look like he's on anything, either.

4. Hopkins has always been known for being extremely strict and dedicated with his conditioning and diet.

5. Most importantly, Hopkins hasn't turned down $50 mil over a blood test after hemming and hawing over it for a couple of weeks first

 

basically the reason hopkins and pacquiao are not being compared is because their situations are nothing alike

 

I have to rank Hopkins in my top 20-25 somewhere. Not top ten, but he really is amassing an impressive career. i also believe he deservedly lost both J/Taylor fights.

 

Top 20-25, shit top 50, is still REALLY high, and quite the compliment.

 

Yes, in a 4 round fight he lost, he claimed afterwards he "felt sluggish"

Hopkins skipped a weight division having been twice beaten by that bastion of middleweight brilliance, Jermaine Taylor. The argument could be made that Hopkins was drained for those fights, so then 168 surely should have been the next stop???

Lance Armstrong didn't win tours with an expression of blissful relaxation on his face. Wladimir has regressed offensively, yet it is at the peak of his offensive regression that we are told he is "sweating steroids". It has been said, in a discussion pertaining specifically to the phenomenon of "roid rage", that steroids make you more of what you already are. Does that carry into boxing? Who knows. Hopkins appears to have become more of what he was.

So was Marciano. Finished in his mid 30's. At the age of 46, there is only so much you can put down to cranberries and colonic irrigations. Eventually, people are going to have to get wise.

Was Hopkins ever offered $50m over a blood-test? Its hard for him to turn down what he hasn't beeen offered. Don't make a virtue out of that. In fact, thats a terrible point you make, for the simple truth has to be that Hopkins has not been offered a £50m payday thanks to the generally low esteem in which the division and its fighters are held, thus undermining Hopkins own claims to fame yet further. Hopkins lost to Calzaghe, Froch beat Pascal, Taylor beat Hopkins and nearly beat Froch. Its a pretty wretched state. But hey- boxing history, baby!!!

 

So Hopkins is on the juice and Wlad isn't?

 

Not the issue at hand, but in the interests of not sounding like you, I would contend that both are,and that the sport is rife with PED's and has been for some time now.

The issue for me is the double standard at work.....certain fighters under the microscope, others well under the radar.

 

All sports have been. You new?

 

Max Kellerman must be. He only concluded very recently that 7 of the top 10 heavyweights are on steroids. He must be new, otherwise he would have made that observation years ago. Either that, or he has an agenda, or steroids only recently made an appearance in the division.


Again, I reiterate, the sport of boxing is riddled with illegal enhancing agents. But this alone is not the issue. Who is calling the plays on this? Who are the players in Pedville?? Who decides who gets investigated or not. Why did Povetkin have to come under the auspices of Teddy Atlas before he got round to demanding WADA testing for Wlad.

Lets have a fucking debate here, instead of the usual piffle offered up by the usual suspects.

 

Hopkins is a great great fighter, no doubt about it. Where he ranks all time I don't know, he is certainly one of the best ever. Even though his 20 MW defenses were not against the greatest fighters, it's no small feat to beat every #1 contender for a decade straight. It is kind of ridiculous that in retrospect people don't give him the credit he deserves for the Tito fight, he was a huge underdog in that fight and no matter how much you want to revise history, it was an upset win for Hopkins. Then he has wins over guys like Tarver, Wright, Roy, Pavlik and now Pascal and he's still fighting at the highest level at the friggin age of 46! He's an amazing fighter. That is all there is to it.

 

Agreed

 

Admirable sentiments. I can only assume therefore that you give Joe Calzaghe the same credit, and considering his win over Hopkins and undefeated resume over two weight-classes, that you rank him higher accordingly??

 

I don't give him much credit, and I'm a Hopkins fan.

Hopkins being a 3 to 1 underdog only serves to illustrate how absurdly overrated Tito was, to the point of retardation.

A 1 dimensional, lead footed 154 pounder isn't a great win, whatever way you look at it.

In the same way that Barrera was a 3 to 1 underdog against Hamed, I give him far more credit for his efforts against Morales, because Hamed wasn't an elite fighter.

 

you surely mustve been tabbing hopkins to defeat trinidad and won a pretty penny on those absurd odds.

 

Thats the size of it. And considering that Calzaghe won't get any credit for dismantling a genuine 168lbr in Jeff Lacy, neither should Hopkins for beating former 147lbr and 154lbr and wrap-specialist Tito.

 

No.

 

Ah yes, the old "Show us yer betting slip" routine. :goodnews:

I am assuming you won a fortune on the Calzaghe-Lacy fight???:bears::bears::laugh11:

 

:wack:

But Joe beat all those #1 contenders, undefeated, beat Hopkins, bashed up Jones, beat Kessler, smashed Lacy to bits and ended his career.....took cocaine and bashed his missus.....still nothing doing? Ring 175 title.....:crafty:

 

Calzaghe should have grown some balls in his prome, not waited until he was damn near retired to fight anyone good. And beating Hopkins doesn't make him greater, otherwise we should be ranking Jermain Taylor all time too.

 

i remember lacy. wasnt he the guy who i saw look futile against Alien Grant at the playboy mansion?

 

So Calzaghe was past his best when he bashed up Kessler, Lacy and Hopkins??

 

I don't know. I wasn't with you. Only you know what you saw.

 

go pop in a blu ray of calzaghe vs the inimitable Kid Fyre McIntyre and leave him out of this discussion

 

Start a Calzaghe thread, this is about Hopkins.