It looked to me like Hopkins could have made the 20 count and climbed back into the ring. No doubt he was buzzed and hurt, but 20 seconds is a long time. And he seemed aware of his surroundings to yell at those around him. In reality what happened was Hopkins was a career long spoiler. He doesn't like to get hit clean and hard. You could say nobody does, but Hopkins made a career out of being a negative fighter. And for the first time in Hopkins career he was in the ring with a guy who hitting him semi regularly and clean. And it wasn't just anybody who was hitting him. Joe Smith Jr., is a puncher and when he lands you can bet that **** hurts. And when the going got tough, Bernard chose to not get hit anymore. For all this talk about Hopkins toughness he folded during the one time in his career that he really needed to actually show physical toughness. Even in his shutout loss to Kovalev, Bernard spoiled enough to avoid clean flush shots and lost on partially blocked blows and the fact that he generated no offensive workrate. Which is sort of a microcosm of Bernard's spoiling career. He'd rather lose a decision and go survival mode than takes risks and open himself up.
He said he couldn't walk because he injured his ankle. You can't evade punches if you are limping. Regardless he underestimated this guy. How? Beats me since there were plenty of films showing how he fought and how hard he hit.
Couldn't walk because he injured his ankle? LMAO if that **** wasn't completely broken he could have walked. He has just been hit flush by a professional 175 pound boxer. You know how much adrenaline is going through your body when Joe Smith hits you? Bum ankle and can't walk? Good one Bernard.
His pride was hurt and his head was swimming from that combo he ate on his way to the floor. He was sleeping until he hit the ground. I don't feel bad for or excuse his age. He signed the fight and picked the fighter.
I don't like Hopkins and I was happy to see him get busted up like that, but I would have preferred for him to get back into the ring so that Smith could have start punching him more.
Hopkins did quit. He could've made the count, but he was out of gas. Smith would've KO'd Hopkins cold if He climbed back in the ring. Kovalev letting Hopkins go the distance led Hopkins to believe he was still competitive with elite talent, which he isn't. Ward or Stevenson wouldn't have have shown Hopkins the same mercy Kovalev did. Bernard's chin and experience allowed him to survive as long as he did, but it was only a matter of time before Smith connected cleanly and ended the fight. Hopkins thought he could run the whole fight and go the distance, but Smith wasn't going to let that happen.
This. I liked Bernard in his prime, but 50 is too old to be trying to compete with young contenders. Bernard could've retired with dignity, but wouldn't and he paid the price.
That's the thing though, Smith was landing cleanly at a semi regular clip. And towards the later parts of the fight was ramping it up. And we haven't seen anybody do that against Hopkins before. And little Bernard was not happy about it and decided that it hurt and didn't want anymore.
Hopkins deserve some credits but father time is undefeated his time was up the problem was how it ended.
Bhop was out cold for a moment and had no clue. He did not fold up and leave he just got KTFO by a strong young buck
Damn, this is even a low for you. Dissing a 50 year old lmfao. But then again I did say that Pac quit against Singsurat, lmao.
When he stood up (helped actually, he couldn't even manage it by himself) he was wobbling, he was done.
I think it was more embarrassment then quitting per se. That being said, he was hit with at least two flush shots before he was sent out of the ring head first, hitting that head on the concrete. He may have been a little buzzed, talking about he hurt his ankle, when his ankle clearly didn't hit anything. Maybe hitting his head on the concrete gave him a flashback to the first Robert Allen fight. Also at almost 52, and with boxing gloves on, he may not have been able to climb back into the ring without a boost. The stairs would of needed to be right there in front of him.
After BHop flew out of the ring, I thought Lamps was gonna start crying at any moment. But the waterworks stayed off that night.