as a side note, for a 40 year old man to finish that strongly against a prime young 27 year old man is very impressive.
I only watched them once, from what I remember of both was that Hopkins did nothing for the first 6-7 rounds - at least in the first fight, although in the second I seem to remember Taylor finishing better than in the first Maybe because he had a rest for the first 7 rounds, that makes him a 5 round fighter in reverse
just watched fight number 2. had it 115-113 to taylor. the first 5 rounds were very cagey and could honestly be all classed as swing rounds, taylor threw less and sat down on his punches more, i think he actually performed better in this fight. by round 7 i had a sense that taylor was running away with it. he'd adjusted from the first fight whereas hopkins stayed with the same strategy. however with taylor's punches now seeming more effective i think he fouight a lot better. round 8 is the crucial one for me, swing round. i gave taylor the edge, ahd i scored it hopkins it owuld be a draw. but i gave it taylor. rounds 9-12 hopkins fought a great fight imo. he pressed the action and bullied taylor around the ring, however this time taylor wasn't gassed and could still fire back, in round 11 hopkins showed a glaring weakness to taylor's left hook and kept getting caught by it. this was the round that won it for taylor imo. a passing of the torch moment imo, it could be argued a draw but i think taylor deserves it just. so over the two fights i have them 1-1.
Hopkins won the first fight. At worst he should have gotten a draw and kept his title. Duane Ford scored rd 12 taylor. If he wasn't a crook that evening and scored 12 for Hopkins like a sane person BHOP retains. I hate taking the title from a legend to give to a hypejob when the hypejob was out on his feet and got smoked second half of the fight. People just writing Hopkins off since 2001 when almost every boxing writer picked Tito. They never learn. If it was Baseball they would have had the champagne and trophies in Jermain's dressing room before the fight even started. it was sickening. **** u DUane. No respect. hopkins defended the title a record 20x in a row. Taylor should have had to KO him to take it.
I scored the first one 7-5 Taylor and the rematch 7-5 Hopkins. It's all water under the bridge now, though.
I remember thinking Hopkins won the 1st more clearly than the 2nd, but I thought he won both. Remember thinking Taylor was doing a lot a meaningless shoe shines and wasting punches. Probably gonna re-watch them now.
Well looks like the majority agree that hopkins won atleast one of the fights. The second could easily be a draw also. This is a man at age 40 as well. I would call that first fight a robbery definitely. Second one I too scored for taylor, he adjusted and hopkins kept with the same game plan imo
Hopkins lost BOTH fights, even though he's the better fighter.... I can't watch that crap again, I did when it happened and a few times afterwards...........Unwatchable fights In the 1st fight, I could not find a round other than I think Round 5 to give to BHOP..........He was doing Jack ****....... That fight was very frustrating as I bought that PPV crap...
Hopkins was shut down, and beaten twice. Reduced to throwing 10 punches a round during the second fight aswell!!! Jermaine Taylor could beat Hopkins now, he has his number!!