How would Hopkins have done as a heavyweight?

I'm in the minority that being bigger is a variable factor?

Or that Mayweather got better as he moved up in weight?

Or that Hopkins would beat Ruiz?

Or something else I haven't mentioned?

 

That Hopkins would do well at heavyweight.

 

I don't think he'd do well at HW.

I think there's certain HW fighters he could defeat but I wouldn't advise him to campaign in the division.

 

Mayweather physical talents weren't as pronounced at 147 as they were at 130.
He became more skilled and had much more experience at his side though.
His mental prime and physical prime were at very different points of his career.

That's why he could give career best performances at a weight higher than his optimum, as he was more skilled now.

But Hopkins hypothetically had he gone from 160 to 175 and later to heavyweight, he would have already been an old veteran, he wouldn't be able to add much more to his arsenal if he could anything at all.

And for all his accuracy and punch placement, he only managed 3 knockdowns at 175.
And a fight where he did clearly go for the KO, against limited Murat he was unable to come close to doing so.

And tell, would there be many titleholders Floyd could beat at 160?
One big weight jump is one thing, two big weight jumps is another.
Unless they're stupid like Alvarez they would press themselves on him, and at 160 even the limited pressure fighters offer more strength than Maidana or Castillo could ever provide.

And I do think there are some titleholders that Mayweather could beat at that weight.
But I rate Ruiz as a higher tier beltholder, not a champ but more than just a paper strap holder.

If it was Glazkov, I wouldn't have protested your prediction so much.
Glazkov is just very basic, with not much speed. No power (suspicious record too with all those RTD victories), no chin (ams) and just afraid to be hit.
Or Browne whose limitations really make him exploitable enough.

 

he would die, ultra negative, not a big puncher at mw, and not particularly fast lol

 

But Mayweather was a better p4p fighter at WW imo.

He absolutely schooled the current MW champion.

Pacman has been legitimate champ at Flyweight, Featherweight and Welterweight plus some in between.

Ruiz achieved an awful lot in his career. But I see nothing in his career suggesting he'd beat Hopkins.

Browne I would favour to beat Hopkins, he could impose his physicality and bully Hopkins around.

It' about styles.

 

You would favour shitty Browne, but you had Hopkins shutting out Ruiz.

Have you seen the Chagaev or Toney fights?
He doesn't fight physically, he's much more like a really poor Holmes.(Not even that)

He would just try to outbox Hopkins and get tagged by 70% of the shots.

Have you ever seen Browne fight?
Madman

Talking about "styles" when Browne is one of the least physical big guys.

 

Ruiz achieved more than Browne ever will but he has less chance of succeeding against Hopkins imo.

Yeah they're the only fights of his I've seen actually.

He would be able to overwhelm Hopkins, I'm fairly confident of that.

He wouldn't knock him but he'd win on points.

 

Overwhelm him with what?

His stamina isn't anything great, in fact it just isn't anything good
His accuracy is bad, he is slow, he has no defence, his feet are slow, he doesn't even have a pressing style, and he doesn't enforce his physicality on anyone.
He does nothing better than Ruiz.

What has he done to convince you that he'd do better than Ruiz?
An older John was far more convincing against a prime Chagaev.

In fact, HW Roy or Toney from 2003-2009 would have stopped Browne.
And Toney probably with shocking ease.

 

Wasn't a fight with Haye mentioned once Haye won the WBA title?

For the guy who mentioned Valuev.

Hopkins vs Valuev would have been a sight to behold.

 

It would have been so ****ing ugly and ****.

Like a train crashing into a child care centre.
It would be so god damned ****, but you just wouldn't be able to look away.

 

Terrible. He wasn't even a great lightheavyweight.

 

He will never achieve what Ruiz did, he isn't good enough to be a top 5 mainstay in the rankings so he isn't as good as Ruiz.

But what he does have is additional height, reach and weight advantage over Hopkins. Plus he has a bit of a killer instinct when going gets tough and I do think he's more of a physical fighter than you do.

I can't really envision Hopkins winning many rounds because I think at some point he'll feel the power and begin retreating.

I can see him staying one step ahead of Ruiz and popping him from range but I don't see how he could replicate that same strategy against Brown.

Shame we'll never know eh.

 

Lufcrazy thinks Hopkins might beat Haye or Peter.I also do not think that is realistic

 

That's fair enough. I dont think his style translates well to HW but you have put up a good argument that he could cherrypick a few stylistically advantageous HW's and beat them.