Jones did it, Toney did it. Could Hopkins move up and make Ruiz 0-3 against former Middleweight Champions?
I can't really see it happening. Hops liked to wrestle a bit too much considering it is the only thing Ruiz actually did well. Size factory has always been more important to Bernard tan the other two
Ruiz by Decision... Ruiz will rush Hopkins..and at this moment HOpkins doesn't have the legs and he can't get into a clinch fest with Ruiz and hope to win.... In his last few fights you can see Hopkins..moving..and soon as he sense that he is getting corner or is running out of room to move..he jumps in with a punch and clinch...get himself back in the middle of the ring...
Ruiz and ugly. I agree with you guys. Also, Hopkins is a vastly inferior fighter to Jones and Toney. Hopkins would never have the balls to fight a bigger fighter, even a scru like Ruiz. Hopkins is a cockroach. He will outlast all of us. Part of that is picking his battles. He would pick ducking Ruiz.
B-Hop is the better fighter without a doubt. But Ruiz's wrestling tactics wouldn't alllow Hopkins style to work. Ruiz never comes to fight. He just comes to get the win anyway he can. I think B-Hop could find a way to effectively carry the weight but Johnny Boy's negative tactics would see him win an ugly, unimpressive decision win.
word. Really tough to envision any other scenario for this fight (really tough to envision this fight, but that;s for another thread, I suppose)
You guys talk as if B-Hop only has one style. He'd have 5 ways to beat a bum like Ruiz, he isn't gonna be beaten by a guy who's entire offense consists of jabbing and grabbing.
If boxing was only about skill, then you'd be right. Of course, then we wouldn't need even weight classes
As Jones & Toney already demonstrated, guys of B-Hops size and class have their way with Ruiz. They bend him over and give him the prison loving. Hopkins would beat him just as easily as least.....styles don't even come into play when the gulf in skill, adaptability & general class is that gaping.
Hopkins is not even close to being as good as Jones or Toney. His stink tactics would not work against bigger fighter and it has not worked against smaller fighter with a modicum of boxing skills. Ruiz has no skills but he could outstink Slopkins. Hopkins would have no chance and that is why he never joined the Ruiz sweepstakes. The cockroach wants to survive.
THIS exactly. I'm reading this thread on my phone and just kept scrolling down waiting for someone to make sense. Hops doesn't have to wrestle to beat that bum.
Romanticized take. In real world wrong style often overcomes the correct one, especially when the physical difference is this big
with a totally different style it's like saying "johnny saxton is far more skilled than Carmen Basilio, and skills pay the bills" then you see the result of Basilio beating the dogshit out of him and it's "oh wait, maybe not" not saying Ruiz beats the dogshit out of him but there are a million other factors outside of technical skill... borne out repeatedly and in a never exhausted supply by history
Bob Foster had all the skills, know how and attributes you could want in a fighter, he was fucking brilliant... Joe Frazier was basiclly one-dimensional (it was a terrific dimension to have, no doubt, but still one way) ... end result Frazier by near decapitation in less than 6 minutes