Why did Hopkins not move up sooner?

This pretty much sums it up, I'm half suprised he's going in with Dawson, he really didn't want that fight before, maybe he saw cracks with Dawson against Pascal though

 

I'm sure his eyes lit up at the lack of mental toughness that Dawson displayed against Pascal. It should be one of his tougher fights, but I'd still favour him to grind it out, assuming no further degeneration sets in.

 

The only thing with this is Holmes was the rangiest fighter he faced I think and a very effective out fighter, who wasn't so good inside. He looked pretty good against Holmes imo, he just figured he needed to make it an in fight. Joppy was also pretty quick outside and smaller so roughing him up made sense, that fight was fought at a high pace, but Hopkins wasn't quite as quick then, he certainly looked slower. Hopkins had to pay Joppy out on a bet that he'd stop Joppy and thats why he worked so hard to try and stop Joppy

It was the third Allen fight where I thought Hopkins really slipped, but that was partly because he didn't wantto risk the DLH payday imo

I think so, I think he would have aproached Taylor different if his stamina had been exposed earlier. Still Dawson has the same outboxing and speed advantages that Taylor had and more

He fancied Bute too who seems good but limited, he certainly would have figured him out imo

 

I thought he made his pro debuet at Lt Heavy ? How was 160 his natural weight ?

 

I also have second doubts on this fight now given the lack of professionalism on Dawsons part. The guy is a loose cannon. I still think Steward will make the difference and Dawson should be able to win this one.

 

He had just come out of prison and was not at his optimum weight.

Hopkins regularly walked around at only a few pounds above the middleweight limit. He was clearly a natural middleweight for the majority of his career. How was he not a natural middleweight?

The other option would mean he somehow kept himself in a constant state of dehydration for the 15 and a half years he campaigned as a middleweight which quite frankly is impossible without drastically effecting his performance, health and longevity.

 

Well he did, he was around 170 in most the HBO weigh ins I've seen, it's not that hard to drop 10lbs of water, he was a big MW, not really a smaller man than Jones Jr or Cazlaghe

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/3472415.stm

There you go. It happened. Face it Hopkins sackswingers/Calzaghe haters

 

Also,

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/3330369.stm

Go **** yourself bodhi, you biased idiot.

 

More insight to what the story was at the time, instead of all the ducking revisionist pish

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/3247888.stm

 

It is true Hopkins walked around just over 160 pounds, but he stays in the gym year round. He was often under the limit for his fights.

 

More evidence that Ottke was the ducker

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/3090294.stm

 

Sorry for the spam, but these are all interesting articles that go against the usual shite that people spout about Calzaghe being content to sit in Wales

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/3038706.stm

 

Another quote, this time from "Showtime" who were a Don King network at the time, saying that Hopkins turned down big money to face Calzaghe.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/3030004.stm