Calzaghe and Hopkins 'agree 50-50 split'

Wow... It seems that now that Hatton has been removed from 'God' status all the worship has turned to Calzaghe....

I still contend that Joe will not come to the states to fight anyone. Hopkins could be 70 and using a walker and Calzaghe still won't have the balls to fight him in the states.

 

Why doesn't Hopkins show some balls and fight Calzaghe in the U.K? It would do bigger business there I think based on Calzaghe's tremendous fanbase. And we'll see how many americans make the trip to the U.K to support B Hops! LOL!

 

Just to add something though if Hatton would have continued fighting in Manchester in front of 50,000 Brits he would have never made close to $20 million. But I forgot that's where all the money is. I'll Holla 5000

 

Hopkins has proven his balls time and time again. Meanwhile 'Protected Joe' has Lacy and Kessler on his resume and all in his own backyard.

Think about this. You could throw out Bernard's first 17 years as a pro, you could remove his 21 straight title defenses and his resume still includes Wright, Tarver, Taylor and De La Hoya which absolutely shits on Calzaghe's entire resume to date.

Yep, Bernard needs to show some balls alright...

Yep,

 

All those that claim that B-Hop would be scared to fight Calzaghe in overseas are crazy. How quickly we forget that B-Hop through the PR flag down in muthafuken PR. Don't think that he is afraid of anything. Also how is it that PBF can't get credit for beating DLH who is only 34 y/o but yet Calzaghe will get much credit for fighting a 43 soon to be 44 y/o B-Hop. I damn sure hope that Calzaghe can be old ass Hopkins at this stage. I'll Holla 5000

 

Hopkins will beat Calzaghe......Hopkins will find a way.....

 

Only in America....:: That joke of a style B Hops uses won't work against Calzaghe.

 

Bernard's first 17 years as a pro are Ottke's, except for the early loss and the loss to Jones. So what you point to as impressive about his resume is really what is actually impressive about his resume.

 

It's not so much about Hopkins being afraid of going overseas or pissing off the Brits by throwing down their flag. It's about Hops being afraid that he might lose to a white boy.
And Hops' most recent performance against Winky sure won't have Calzaghe sh*tting himself. Hops/Winky was one ugly ass joke of a fight.:: Manny Steward was saying both Winky and Bernard needed to retire and f*ck off out of boxing after that crap fest.:eeeek:

 

Don't know why you'd list Taylor and Oscar on there. Oscar was NOT a middleweight and he sucked there, heck he couldn't even beat Sturm. Taylor beat Hops twice. So really, Hops has Tarver and Winky. I don't think Hops is putting fear in anyone, especially Calzaghe.
Let the fight happen. Doesn't matter where. But I think it's better in England where the fans will make some noise. :clap:

 

I find it funny. You say Joe fought them in his own backyard. What exactly is Hops doing? Isn't he fighting in his own backyard too? :dunno:

 

Hell, you can diminish Oscar at MW now all you want, but at the time it was viewed as a significant challenge for the then 39 year-old Hopkins. And if I remember correctly, both guys weighed closer to 154 than 160. Possibly even more importantly regarding the view of the bout at the time, is that the odds were nearly even on fight night.

But nevertheless, I listed Oscar and Taylor, because regardless of the results or the hindsight diminishing of their individual challenges, they were risk. Hopkins didn't avoid the names or hide in Wales. He took the risk. And more importantly he took the risk at an age when most fighters are getting beat to a pulp or retired.

 

Yeah, comparing Wales to Vegas or NYC is apples to apples.

 

Hopkins fought Trinidad in NYC....he went to Vegas for DE LA HOYA...it's kinda like fighting at HOME>..but not really...:nono:

 

Disagree. IMO Kessler is the closest thing to what you describe and even that wasn't good enough to beat Calzaghe. Kessler may not be a speedster, but realistically who right now at 168 has the speed and athleticism of a Joe Calzaghe.

If you allow Calzaghe to get into his rhythm, I can't really see many fighters beating him.

I think the key to defeating Calzaghe is to wear him and down and force him fight at a much slower tempo, where he is not allowed to throw his 1000+ punches a fight. IMO, the key is to make him fight an ugly grueling battle. This is EXACTLY what Hopkins does to just about every fighter.

The reason why Hops is able to win fights while throwing <20 punches a round is because he makes the other fighters fight HIS fight.

If Hops can make the fight ugly and keep Joe's punch output down he has agreat chance to eek out that victory. However, if Joe can control the tempo with his speed and movement he wins an easy UD. IMO This is a fight where ring generalship will be the key factor in determining who the winner will be.

That being said, If Hopkins comes out with those Apollo Creed pants then he's as good as dead. ::

 

That's nothing to be commended, particularly when it's so atypical of his 'prime'. To mE it looks like a guy finally cashing out who should have taken bigger risks earlier in his career. And yes, the same can be said of Calzaghe.

 

dsimon writes:

Great post!:bears:

 

Hops couldn't make Taylor fight his fight. And Calzaghe is much more intelligent and skilled than Taylor.

 

True.

 

I actually thought the way Kessler was fighting in the early rounds (catching Joe coming in with clean counterpunches), sort of resembled the way Hopkins would fight him, and watching those rounds I thought Kessler was going to take control of the fight at some point. Instead, Calzaghe just wouldn't give in and it was Joe who eventually took control.

The question here is, can Joe "walk through" Hopkins' clean, sneak right hands the way he did with Kessler? And if he can, does Hopkins wear down or fade out of the fight the way Kessler did? :dunno:

It's a very difficult fight to pick, IMO.

 

Agreed, on both counts.

 

dsimon writes;

Even people who can live with that first awful decision would never say Hops didn't make Taylor fight his fight. Hop's had Taylor stumbling around the ring in the latter part of that fight, like he has most of his opponents doing. Even haters say that Hopkins lost that first fight because of the early rounds which he gave away too many of through inactivity.

 

Pavlik would beat Crapzaga.. and he'd beat Hopkins too

 

Hopkins had Taylor rocked just once in that first fight, people are just overblowing it. But regardless of that dsimon, Hopkins had a chance to redeem himself in the rematch and still fought like a cautious fairy bitch.

 

DLH wasn't considered that much of a test for Hopkins. Let's be honest about that. De La Hoya's decision over Sturm was easily one of the most controversial of the year...and the reason they came in under 160 was because it was in the contract (a maximum of 158)...hardly an admission on DLH's part that he was a real middleweight.

 

No, no, no, no. no. NO!!!

LOK- I know this is hard for you to believe, but some Euro boxers can actually fight.

No-one between 160-175 beats Joe right now IMO. Not even Pavlik (who even I have at no4 on my own P4P list, FFS)

 

dsimon writes:

Hopkins did something really stupid that is true. he promised a KO. Then he more-or-less did the same thing he did the first fight. Because Taylor did not get Ko'ed he looked like a prince.

 

That's revisionist and an easy to claim to make AFTER the fight. Unfortunately the odds and pre-fight anticipation tell a different story. It was a pick-em at various times and many experts felt Hopkins was too old to take on a younger, elite fighter in De La Hoya.

And as I said, they both weighed closer to Oscar's comfort level of 154 than they did the MW limit, which puts a serious dent in the 'Oscar was never really a middleweight' bullshit. It simply wasn't a middleweight fight.

 

It wasn't at the Middleweight limit but anything over 154 and under 160 is a middleweight fight. As for the odds they closed at fight time at -250 or so. Hopkins was a decent favorite despite the fact that a lot of people bet on ODLH with there hearts. ODLH wasn't that big of a win for Hopkins at MW IMO. He was fighting a guy who had already needed a gift in his first MW fight and most who knew anything about boxing thought he would lose....and he did just as he was supposed to.

 

Oscar was ahead on one card. I think he won at least 3 of the first 8 on Lederman's card.

I think Oscar's chances get more remote as this fight gets further in the past. It was a big win for Hopkins. Not only did he beat dlh, he completely unified a weight class--the first time anyone did it without needing an '*'.