Just watched Calzaghe/Hopkins for the first time

Hopkins 43 Joe 36 atsch

 

He was speaking of prime opponents and Eubank lost his killer instinct after the Watson rematch, Eubank was only 31 and a very strong opponent but he took the fight on short notice and fought at cruiserweight after that fight

Still a great win over an ATG in Eubank but that fight would be a lot closer for a green Calzaghe if it was the Eubank from the 1st benn fight, id even pick Eubank to beat that version of Calzaghe, he would have punched himself out and Eubank would have jumped on him, prime for prime joe still wins a close UD but Calzaghe was way too green when he first won the WBO belt

 

more gayness from calzghe nuthuggers. it was a good close fight. niether were in their primes. but iw ould say calzaghe was much closer due to age.

In ATG ranking BHOP will alwys be much higher.

 

It was a close fight but good? Calzaghe won and i rate him higher than Bhop due to the fact that Hopkins always seems to pull ***** moves in fights

 

yes it was a good and close fight. noway calzaghe is ahead of bhop. calzaghe is lucky to break the top 100

 

Out of curiosity ... Do you really have a top 100? Making one of those ought to take bloody ages, considering the depth it requires to label a boxers career.

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyz2cws8LBE[/ame]

 

Brilliant!

 

I are that the top 100 lists are subjective and highly difficult to creat but what I meant was that Calzaghe will not be listed as the "best of the best" in the long run. He was an excellent fighter but many will remember his holes in his resume. i dont think BHop is an atg of the "best of the best " caliber as well but I do think he is closer than Calzaghe is and he will be remembered as so.

 

Your probably right about that.

 

Its typical for Americans to over rate Hopkins

Middleweight career - fought no better opposition than calzaghe and biggest names were welterweights til he gets beaten by taylor

Lightheavyweight career - fights an over rated Tarver and blown up 154 pounder wright, blown up Pavlik, limited pascal twice, gets body slammed by Dawson and loses to Calzaghe

Hopkins resume would have been greater if he made the move up to 168 and fought Toney, Eubank, Benn, Mclellan, Calzaghe, Collins and a Jones rematch but theres a chance he would have lost to any of them if not all so he decided to sit on his titles at 160 and paid the price when he lost to Jermain Taylor

Calzaghe has holes in his resume also, half of his defences were against low level fighters but e never lost or drew or was involved in no contests (Jones, Taylor, Mercado, Pascal, Allen, Dawson) If Hopkins didnt lose to Taylor i guarantee he would still be sitting on those middleweight titles as long as he could make the weight.

I realise Calzaghe should have done more in his career, he should have moved u and took on Jones and if he couldnt get that fight take on Michaelzweski/Erdei for the WBO 175 title, fight Montel Griffin, James Toney etc. hell even Clinton Woods!

But Hopkins is very over rated, hes done great by fighting for so long but his acclomplishments are no greater than Calzaghes

 

I am a JC fan but I dont buy these stereotypical ESB-comments. Pavlik was prime, undefeated at the time and seen as a very dangerous opponent. Hopkins dismantled him perfectly. Pascal was also prime and the first one to give Dawson a loss. Once again Hopkins steps up to the plate and gets the job done. Basicly he cleaned out the names that where thrown after Calzaghe when he went for a far past prime Jones. This is a statement you cant just ignore.

 

Pavlik was basically another Lacy, Joe beats down on Lacy - Lacy is over rated, Hopkins beats down on Pavlik after dragging him up 15 pounds and Hopkins is god . . . . .before that fight Calzaghe beats Hopkins in America at 175 where Hopkins spoiled and rolled around feigning injury and he gets rate higher.

Calzaghe went for Jones to cash out on a big name im not denying it and personally that fight should have been stopped but people rate fighters by resume rather than what they do in the ring.

 

People forget that Hopkins' antics were embarrassing during the fight. He had Calzaghe in knots for the first three or for rounds but gassed out in the second half of the fight. Yes Hopkins was the older, but if anyone says he was more over the hill in fighting terms theyre a dammed idiot. Calzaghe could barely spar because his hands were so brittle. Hopkins will leave the sport with a greater legacy though.