Why Bernard Hopkins will slay the Italian Dragon

I'd say he was the LHW champion at the time, but I don't know whether he was the best LHW at the time, he looked like shit against Jones - Jones just managed to look worse, I thought at the time that Adamek could have taken him

 

Exactly.

He was hardly being mentioned on P4P lists at that time, him and Jones both looked crap in that fight, and he wasn't exactly impressive against Johnson either.

Get off his nuts Mr Sec.

 

clinton woods is mediocre. i expect old ass tarver to win in a sluggish fashion.

hopefully calzaghe wins, but even if hopkins somehow manages to win, it won't be pretty and it certainly won't draw any demands from the public to see him fight again, period.

but then again, all of these light heavies are old with an exception of dawson, who probably won't have any lucrative fights in line by 2009.

 

I’m not diminishing his standing before the fight, and yes he was the champion which made him the top Lt Heavy. Did that make him the best in the division? I doubt it. Tarver has a long history of coming into fights and giving a lackluster performance. How often have we seen Buddy beg Tarver to let his hands go and watch as Tarver just looks right through Buddy, nod his head and continue to do nothing? The only fight I can really remember Tarver fighting at a high rate was his rematch with Johnson. So I’m not going to sit here and pretend <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Hopkins</st1lace></st1:City> went to the well. All Hops did was beat up a walking punching bag who was actually throwing WAAAY less shots then he does on one of his normal lackluster nights. I’m not going to criticize Hopkins because he did what he was supposed to do, but at the same time I won’t ignore the fact that Tarver didn’t do shit in that fight. I mean if you can explain what technique <st1lace w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Hopkins</st1:City></st1lace> used that makes his opponent not throw any punches I’m all ears. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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Another thing about Tarver, in 3 of his biggest fights he needed two fights to beat his opponents. He beat all these guys on rematches after losing the first time, Harding, RJJ, & Johnson. <o></o>
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Also the only reason Tarver was a 3-1 favorite was because he was much younger than Hopkins and Hopkins was moving to a new & higher weight class. You remove those two exceptions and it would have been even or <st1:City w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Hopkins</st1lace></st1:City> would have been favored.

 

Tomaz Adamek could've taken Tarver? :: Adamek couldn't take a dump sitting on a toilet.

 

And he still beat the shit out of your Aussie boy twice

 

Who, Paul Briggs? :laughing: OH MY!

 

good points, although i think the odds had more to do with Hopkins coming off two - albeit controversial - defeats and it being his first fight at light heavyweight, two divisions above where he had his success, and of course his age. I still rate that performance very highly, despite what i have said about Tarver.....Hopkins dominated in every department, and it is right up there with his very best performances.

 

Twice? I don't know about that second time. Briggs might've deserved the decision.

 

Remember back in 2001 when everyone said Hopkins was too old to deal with Trinidad ???

 

Calzaghe brings a little more variety than Trinidad. He's a better overall boxer, and more adaptable, IMO.

 

A "little" more variety? ::

He's a much better boxer, and a better fighter full stop.

 

I totally agree

I was just mentioning it

 

I believe it is called the "Hitting the other guy in the face" technique.

 

When B-Hop counters its a big shot and very clean. in the between time he uses great angles and faints the hell out of guys. He always finds South-paws clean. They cant hind from him. I expect Joe Cal to go in with reckless abandan ala Taylor and this will cause him to get hit by big shots. The X factor is B-Hop is a true LHW now, and very smart. I see Hop using a John Ruiz-Jack Jonhson type style to stop Joe s punch out put.

 

Otis, that simply won't happen, because Calzaghe isn't like that.

Which Joe fights have you seen? He can sometimes be a bit of a stinker actually. Unless he has a guy frustrated or hurt, he doesn't like to take too many risks usually.

This could be a pretty crap fight, but I'm still excited about it.

Joe will have too high a workrate for Bernard, and he's tough and crafty himself, he won't be roughed up.

 

Tarver is going to put Woods to sleep.

 

It's very tough to sustain a high workrate against Hopkins. In fact, that's one of his best traits. He knows how to take that away from a fighter. That, and the clinical way he dissects lefties.

Joe C. will have to hurt Hopkins because I suspect he - and many fans - are gonna be in for a shock when they realize how bad he looks April 19th. Unfortunately for Hopkins, making Calzaghe look bad won't be enough to win him the fight. Whether he can mount enough of an offense to get the decision, remains to be seen.

 

Certainly, it used to be that way.

But even though I have huge respect for Hops for STILL being as good and tough as he is, he IS in his 40's now, and his workrate is simply too low to beat Joe.

He throws like 10 punches a round, now as tough and crafty and clever as Hops is, that's not going to be enough to discourage and beat Joe.

Add in Joe's excellent speed, timing, awkwardness AND toughness - and the safe pick has to be Joe by clear decision.

Would I be shocked if Hops won? No, never that shocked when it's someone as good and experienced as Hops. I would be surprised though, I must say.

 

Agreed that Hopkins' workrate isn't high. However, I'm not arguing that it is. I'm arguing that he'll drastically reduce Calzaghe's workrate. Actually, Calzaghe will drastically reduce his own because he's gonna get countered with some pretty stinging rights if he tries that bullsh*t he did against Lacy.

I still think Joe C. can outwork Hops and win a close one. But nothing is decisive here. At all.

 

Says the man who assured me his card was the right one because he had no love or hate for either man. :tease: :crafty: ::

 

It may be closer than many think - and I can agree with that; don't forget the weight factor. Calzaghe will be fighting at 175 for the first time - and it's a weight that Hops is more comfortable at and which allows him to do more.

But I have a hard time seeing Hopkins actually beating Calzaghe. Calzaghe, as MWS says, is also crafty and wiley - and will not be afraid to get physical if needed.

He also has the handspeed, workrate, quick trigger and combination of looping and straight punching to trouble Hopkins.

And I do think Hops needs to conserve his workrate...if you watch the Hopkins-Wright fight closely, there are 1 or 2 rounds - I believe it's somewhere in rounds 9-12....where Hopkins needed to trade and throw punches in bunches to keep Wright off him. If you watch, Hopkins' mouth actually drops open and for the first time I can remember, he actually looked tired.

Calzaghe is going to push that weakness to the absolute limit. And Joe doesn't worry about looking awkward.

I think those that favor Hopkins think about the Wright fight and think it will go similarly...i.e.; people were picking Wright based on workrate and his ability to come forward, but Hopkins was able to shut that down and on my card won 9-3 and the best I could see was 8-4.

But in that fight, Wright was waaay over his best weight and was actually slower. Most importantly, Calzaghe is FASTER than Wright (especially at that weight) - and even more importantly, Calz's punches carry ALOT more power....and Joe works the body very well, which Wright does not do much.

Calzaghe, in my view, also adjusts better than Wright does.

Lastly - he's younger, got better stamina, and will be stronger at 175.

I think Cal wins this one by decision.

Peace.

 

I said that soley pertaining to this thread.

I'm not a kessler hater, I just meant I am not a fan either, so there is no agenda for me to hype him up, and think he is better than Tarver etc.

I honestly didn't have much of a bias in Calzaghe - Kessler, I was just very confident Joe would win.

I am almost as confident that he wins here too.

 

This is something that a hell of a lot of people seem to overlook.

The presumption seems to be that because Calzaghe doesn't turn his punches over fully all of the time, then his punches carry little weight.

This is a complete misconception- when he plants his feet and unloads, he has a LOT of power. Just look at Lacy and Kessler's faces after their fights with Joe- both were heavily marked after taking some seriously hard shots.

I agree that Hops will DEFINITELY try to slow Joe down, but Calz is no inexperienced prospect- Joe will be able to adapt to that tactic once it becomes a major factor. His adaptability is superb. I had him down at halfway against Kessler before he completely changed his game-plan, stopped trying to trade with Mikkel and got in and out of range before Mikkel could hit him with those big right hands.

And if Hops tries to tie him up and spoil to slow Joe's workrate, he'll find himself hit with plenty of uppercuts and headbutts as Joe works out of the clinch. I also fancy Calz might be a good deal stronger than Hops, an he might just be able to man-handle Bernard if he tries to take the fight to the ropes to slow the pace. Again, people seem not to realize that Calzaghe is one strong, tough SOB.

The weight could be the defining factor. There is absolutely no guarantee that Joe adapts to 175. Some guys just don't move up with great success. But, presuming he does so, I can't see anything other than Joe outworking Bernard en route to a clear decision.

MTF

 

You had Calzaghe down at halfway against Kessler....:eeeek: SACRILEGE!!! :: Sorry, inside joke.

I was comparing Calzaghe to Wright at 170....but yes, Joe does have very good power. He doesn't always turn over his punches fully (especially in flurries) but he has heavy hands...

And he DOES occasionally mix in and throw straight left hands and hard right hooks/uppercuts where they are crisp and fully turned.

An additional point - barring Joe completely not adapting well to 175 which I don't think will be the case - is that Joe took monster right hands from Kessler (and has taken punches from BIG punchers before at 168) and absorbs them well...and when down, he recovers quickly.

So Hops' right hand will be about points....I don't think he can hurt Joe; though a right hand followed up by a flying headbutt could do the trick. ::

Peace.

 

Calzaghe's (relative) youth and workrate should win it for him.

I still make B-Hop a live underdog due to his own craftiness, intelligence, and success against southpaws, but still...I think he drops a fair decision in an ugly fight. Hopkins will try to diminish Joe's workrate thru stink tactics (a la Wright), and will have some success in doing so, but not land enough shots of his own.

Oh, and as said before, B-Hop's ghetto upbringing and convict background will mean nothing once the bell rings.

 

Don't implicate me in your Kessler nut-huggery... :nono: ::

But yes, Joe was behind at halfway, and pulled away in the second half of the fight after he finally decided that it was NOT a good idea to block right uppercuts with his face.

For the record, I thought at the end of round four that he was going to be stopped.

 

:laughing:

Hey- I read an article which said that this was of fundamental importance in determining the likely winner of this fight. You saying that the author was full of shit?

:laughing: