How does "The Executioner" do in a fight with the consensus G.O.A.T. at that weight? Does he make it competitive? Does he get stopped. Is he comprehensively outboxed or outfought? Or does he win? I say he makes it competitive and loses. Over 15 rounds it's 9-6, over 12 it's 7-5.
A better question is how Dawson might have done against Charles. Come Monday, this thread will be obsolete. Besides that, it should be in mythical match-ups.
Oh. That one. Not the one who lost two fights later to Calzaghe? You are aware that Hopkins has several losses on his record, and Charles even more. How can they have been great fighters?
It's an MM so the best version makes sense, naturally. Ali has 5 losses too and I consider him the GOAT. It's not whethe ryou're undefeated or not, it's about your accomplishments and proven ability.
I'd agree with that. A competitive loss for Bernard. Don't think anyone, 175 or below, beats Hopkins easily.
Charles pretty wide. A stoppage isn't unfeasible. It's a more competitive match up at middleweight with B-Hop in his prime (though Charles would still win).
Just because Hopkins campaigned mostly as a Middleweight doesn't make him a small Lightheavyweight. I think he was fighting at a weight that was much smaller than his natural size. He's a decent sized 175lbder that was still ripped, fast and fit. He was actually an inch taller than Charles. Hopkins is SMART, tough, adaptable, and very skillful. Tough fight for anyone 175lbs and below.
All well and good if the 175lb version of him hadn't been 42 years old. The greatest light heavyweight in history against a 42 year old man who couldn't fight at a fast pace. Hopkins would pose some challenges early but Charles would up the pace and pull away & over 15, it gets very tough for Hopkins.
If it's some imaginary version of a 34 year old Hopkins who decides to move up to 175 then by all means he survives the distance and wins a good number of rounds.
Hopkins gets beat up and probably stopped It amazes me how much people overrate Hopkins' "success" at 175 against a crop of totally ordinary fighters Look at the guys Hopkins has fought at this weight, Ezzard Charles would have battered all of them far more conclusively Hopkins against any great light heavyweight is a mismatch... if you think he's going to manage to slow down a master technician like Charles to 30 punches per round and lots of clinching, you don't know what you're looking at... that si THE ONLY WAY Bernard has won fights since his middleweight days, and he's done it because of the brainless, skilless affleticizm of his opponents Charles would beat his ass
Cool. I see your point. Hopkins was an a-typical 42 year old though. I think he has the mutant X gene. He'd probably survive an adamantium implant. ::
Please. You underrate Hopkins. I could say that George Foreman would have WIPED OUT all of Larry Holme's opponents. I mean prime Larry's toughest opponent, Ken Norton, was utterly destroyed by Foreman years earlier. Does this mean that Foreman has an easy time with Larry Holmes? Your logic is faulty.
I'm not sure that Hopkins' physicality's preserved as spectacularly as people would have it......I think it's as much that his 'style' remained something guy's like Pascal & Pavlik don't have a clue how to deal with.
Does a smaller, older, and altogether lesser fighter usually beat their foe, especially in said foes natural class? Theres only one Q...does Hopkins make the distance? Possible, but I say no.
Of course he lasts the distance. The only question is whether or not he makes it competitive. People don't knock people out just because they're greater, or even overall better. You're a student of history, you should know this.
Foreman would have killed Holmes' opponents, and I'd give hm a decent chance of beating Holmes as well
But like Stryker with Wolverine, no one would want him to :: "I would never let a metal beat me!" But Ive a feeling Charles would be playing adamantium bullet to Hopkins' skull at LHW.
x2 'Nard does/did well because his opponents at 175 don't know what FIGHTING is and he does. But Charles was a better fighter than Hops ever was in his prime (and that's saying something, Hops was a badass mofo at in the late 90s).. forget about Hops in the later years at 175. Charles beats him easily.
