Better Win Roy or Floyd

Here's a fun exercise.

Combine Hopkins' resume before Roy and Canelo's before Floyd. List the top 5 wins.

It's easier for me to make a 5-0 list for Canelo than for someone to find 3 slots for Hopkins wins.

 

I've got a ton of respect for what Hopkins grew and developed in to, but it seems silly to pretend Hops was that going in to Jones I. In fact, it robs his career of the growth arc that is a big part of what makes his story so compelling.

 

You can't put Canelo in the same sentence as Hops, not unless Canelo does some magical things (more than a couple) over the next decade. And is Canelo honestly going to be an ATG? Have a hard time seeing that.

 

Too close to call. I can see arguement on both sides. Canelo was more accomplished at that point. Roy victory over Bernard is more significant after time.

 

LOLOL What were the odds of both fights? Hopkins was ranked #1 by the IBF and Jones #2 and pretty sure it was a pick em type fight. Floyd vs Canelo was glorified sparring match. Floyd vs another opponent who didn't have prayer. Floyd was the clear favorite, he was at -300 and for the Conner fight at -350. LOL

 

The first Hopkins fight looks great in retrospect, but he was in fact not highly regarded at the time. He was just a run of the mill titlist then. And for good reason. He was relatively raw, and not the sophisticated, crafty master he became a few years later. While Canelo was bigger, stronger, more powerful, and younger than Floyd when he fought him. It doesn't mean Canelo's greater than Hopkins, but he was the better win for Floyd than Bernard was for Roy. I think I rate Canelo as Floyd's best win.

 

You aren't making sense. Floyd was the favorite because he was Floyd. It didn't mean his opposition was bad. Roy also was the favorite and a highly regarded fighter. So what?

I've twice asked for someone to name a peer of Floyd who moved up four weightclasses at 36 or older to beat a unified champ. Still waiting.

 

Bhop wasn't even a titlist. He had a wait ahead of him and two attempts before acheving that.

 

Both great wins but pbf was past his prime in his 5th weightclass while Roy was prime. Floyd's win was better because of that

 

Hopkins was not the favorite in that fight just stop it

 

None of them were great wins. Both Hopkins and Alvarez were green. Hopkins had no amateur background because of jail time and Alvarez was only 23 years old. Both of these boxers entered their primes several years later.

 

Wrong pbf was 36 fighting in his 5th weight class facing a guy who was supposed to be the next great Mexican fighter. Like I said it was a great win. But what do you know about great wins? You're a ggg fan.

 

My mistake, and that even the Hopkins of two years later wasn't very proven just shows how insignificant he was for Roy when they fought.

Only how good and how accomplished the opponent was AT THE TIME matters in valuing its importance for a boxer's legacy. Funny that so many Floyd haters obsessively go on about when Floyd fought some of his opponents yet pretend it doesn't matter for someone else, when comparing him to Floyd. What the fighter became and what he accomplished later should have little bearing on how we rate him as an opponent. Checking his record, Hopkins had zero remotely significant wins before he fought Jones for the vacant middleweight belt. Jones had fought Wolfe, Thomas, Castro, Vaca, while Hopkins hadn't fought anyone close to that, had only fought two fringe contenders, who lost badly when they stepped up, and were nowhere near true top 10 at the time.

While Canelo had just come off a sensational (if close) win over Trout, who had recently beat Cotto. Beyond that, solid wins over a Cintron, Rhodes, and a still decent Mosley make for a clearly better ledger than Hopkins before Jones.