Who wins this fight and who today or in the last 5 years could beat these two on their prime at middleweight ?
No middleweight in the last 5 years would beat a prime version of either one. Middleweight has been pathetic for years.
Very hard to call. Pretty much only guarantee is that it's going the distance. Public Opinion might also be split on the decision.. In terms of the last five years? Only one i can think of with a chance would be GGG, but he would be an underdog against either.
I think Hopkins would use a lot of movement and stink tactics to win a close decision. Toney liked guys in front of him, he was a master counterpuncher and terrific combination puncher. While he was lighter on his feet in his younger days, Hopkins still had the edge in movement and could use a lot of angles. They were actually scheduled to fight in 2003 at 190 after Toney-Jirov/Hopkins-Hakkar. I wonder what would have happened there. That’s a shitload of weight to put on. Hopkins probably was never really set on fighting him and smartly stayed at lower weights.
It would probably be ugly and boring. Both guys would probably feint and probe a lot trying to get the other to react. I think that suits Hopkins more in this scenario. Toney thrives when guys come at him. Hopkins via ugly decision win.
Agreed, most likely scenario. I think the problem for JT is that he would want a fight. If Hopkins is winning round and doing well he would just stick with it and it would be very difficult for Toney change the course.
Golovkin would give them both a good fight, but I don't think he'd beat them. I think Hopkins would take a close but clear decision.
Yeah, in Golov we're talking about a guy who went life and death with Jacobs. One could argue that perhaps Golov started slipping by time he fought Jacobs, but he was still basically in his prime. Even at the time when I was high on Golovkin, I said I wouldn't give him any chance against a Jones, Hopkins, Hagler, Monzon. He never did anything to disprove that.
