Did Hopkins losses to Taylor help him build a better legacy?

He was killing himself to make 160 by that time, so I think he would've moved up for Tarver regardless.

 

NO he wouldve kept racking MW ledgers though- gave him reason to jump

He has not struggled IMO

Career middleweight for the most part, no issues cutting weight- only a mind game to him

He came in at 156 against Oscar to prove that a 158 catchweight dont phase him and he was about 40 then !

he even said that they was gonna come in at lightmiddle but 156 is what happened

Weight was never an issue

age never an issue

mentally very strong

6 foot 28 inch waist LOL

 

hopkins has a great resume nobody has really beat him convincingly besides roy

 

Brilliant question.

Too tired to write long answer but I lean towards yes, his LHW run is very impressive.

He was one of the greatest MW's of all time, Taylor fights couldn't effect that.

Only negative is that Taylor has not turned out as good as people were hyping him to be.

 

Really ?


Its crazy think of it now but he was only (!) 36 when he fought tito

- Bhop is special he keeps getting older but looks the same he has outlasted generations of younger fighters that have all since retired a lot younger than him

yet he goes on and on

 

Looks like SRR

 

One thing I find impressive about it is that he lost a close decision, and then challenged Taylor in a rematch when others would have just moved up and blamed the weight cut. Both fights were close, but after that Hopkins rebounded strong at 175lbs. I think you've got to respect someone that comes back from a loss as strongly as Hopkins did, especially after all he'd already achieved.

 

Yup and it was not like Roy dominated either, was a close fight. The majority of Hopkins wins are all pretty one sided ones. Winky Tarver and Pavlik being prime examples. First to beat Trinidad and Johnson and shut them out before Stopping them (only guy to stop either) first to KO DLH. Two disputable Loses against Taylor aswell as one vs Calzaghe and to round it off he wins the ring light heavyweight title at 47. B Hop's resume is good for not only the names on it but for the dominating performances over almost all his opponents. I think if he had gotten the nod against Taylor in both fights and the Calzaghe fight he could be pushing top 20 of all time

Edit: and to think he could potentially have 3 or more fights still left and all 3 would probably be against the best young fighters around the SMW/LHW/CW division

 

He could fight another 3 times, lose them all by KO and it won't change a thing in his regards to his legacy imo.

 

Impossible to say. He would have had a shot at Louis's record which would've added to his legacy and could have moved up anyway for Tarver, and still fought Pavlik, Winky. Those losses also hurt because they helped build the case that he struggles with two-handed athletic fighters his own size, which doesn't fair well for him in potential ATG matchups. The glaring thing he should have done different was to have faced Roy in the early 2000s and try to avenge that loss.

 

Yer your probably right. As long as he stopped fighting and realised he needed to move on. It's a shame Roy didn't do it after the tarver and Johnson fight

 

Yep! Its one of those fights I really wish happened and would have really shown us who was better out of the two. I don't think B-Hop hit his prime for the first jones fight, and obviously both were out of it in their second fight. But I've always thought that even before Roy moved to heavyweight, Hopkins could spoil and use dirty tactics to stink out a close decision win. Sadly we'll never know :-(