Who wins & how? Apparently Hopkins is fighting on 23rd Feb at the Barclays Centre, New York on Showtime vs TBA. Assuming he fights Clev how does the fight go?
Old man Hopkins is still got too much for a guy like Cleverly. How Cleverly is even a world champion I will never know.
I think Cleverly beats him at this stage. It'll be an ugly fight and neither would land much clean, but I can't see Hopkins matching Clev'z workrate at his age. He'll look the spoil and mull on the inside rather than landing telling blows himself. Clev by close decision in a snoozefest
Even this washed up version of Hopkins has far too much for Cleverly. Simply having a good engine isn't enough- yes Calzaghe outworked him for the win but Joe had real quality in putting his punches together which Cleverly has yet to show me. If he just bundles forward like he's prone to doing, Hopkins would counter him to death and on the inside it's no contest. I think Hopkins is just too clever to lose to a fighter like Cleverly.
Problem with that is, Joey outpointed Hop what, 4 years ago? I think Hopkins has dripped significantly since then. I just can't see him living with Clev's pace
If Hopkins can stunt Clev's workrate he'd dominate this fight and win at a near canter. Clev isn't as athletic, powerful or unorthodox as Pascal, who managed to trouble Hopkins for spells with those attributes. At this stage Nathan can be hit and hit often with jabs and rights.... would you really back the man who stank the joint out against Sugar Tommy K to beat Hopkins? Seriously?
I don't see that at all. His style has been refined to an extent where his aging doesn't play as big a part as it usually does with fighters and he's hardly going to have to force it against Cleverly. Being aggressive is not the be all and end all; it's how effective it is. And even if he keeps on stalking Hopkins trying to walk him down, he's neither defensively good enough to avoid counters or good enough offensively on the inside to take advantage of his youth. I just think it's a bit of a simplistic argument to say Hopkins is old, Cleverly has a high workrate so he'll outwork him
Exactly. Even though I think Hopkins beat Calzaghe, Joe did really well to get himself back in the fight and be in with a shot at winning it at the end. Hopkins has slipped granted, but Cleverly is a million miles away from where Calzaghe was, in every department.
What a load of **** your spouting... atsch Hopkins got outworked, held on, spoilt for the whole fight then when Joe was well on top claimed a low blow for a breather.. Yeah ok fan boy.. Lets not forget the head butts lets be honest now he should of been disqualified..
Hopkins stops him if he chooses, but is probably kind enough to let Cleverly finish to the final bell. Hopkins has forgotten more about boxing than Cleverly will ever know