I scored it Calzaghe the first time I scored it (live) and Hopkins the second time. Close fight and anything from Cal by 2 rounds to Hopkins by 2 is acceptable IMO.
Why did Bhops not fight like he did against Pavlik? He might have won if he fought with that kind of energy and agression. As it was, he faded after the 3rd or 4th rounds and JC won an easy decision.
Hopkins did too much holding, grabbing, clinching and not to mention faking low blows to win that fight. Had he thrown more punches and actually fought instead of doing the things mentioned above he would have won the fight.
To answer yours, no. Freddy Roach told Bernard that if he could not give him a good reason why he "ran out of gas" against Joe, then he (Roach) wouldn't work with him again. Roach stated publicly before the Pavlik fight that Bernard never gave him that answer and therefore Roach strongly recommended Bernard to retire. Overlord, how many fights have you ever seen Bernard run out of gas in?
Most people only weatched this fight once, and followed HBO's biased announced team, and the crowd roars. Watch it again with no volume. You'll be SHOCKED at how different it is. I had Hopkins well ahead after 8 rounds or so, then I stopped watching. It got to the point where Zag could win all of the remaining rounds and the outcome would still be 114-113 in favor of Hopkins, so there was no point in scoring further, as I knew there were no 10-8 rounds. From memory, Hop faded badly and lost most or all of the remaining rounds. Trust me, turn off the volume and pay attention to the details, Hopkins lands nearly all of the significant punches in the fight, you can't give Zag credit for throwing a bunch of missed, weak punches.
What does being a Brit have to do with anything ? :huh If you dont like calzaghe or you thought Hop beat him, fair enough, its got **** all to do with nationality or at least it shouldnt have. I actually thought Joe edged a close fight - a rather depressing fight - as Hop just didnt do enough plain & simple.... & Im a brit. Botswana :smoke
\ Calzaghe easily outworked hopkins and would of stopped him if he wasn't being a ***** about a low blow to get more time to get his breath back. Calzaghe won.
Calzaghe did all the showy stuff and pushing the fight but didn`t really land anything at all,Hopkins rarely let him,clever stuff from him.I`m glad Calzaghe got the decision because he was more positive but Bernard won it from the 1st round knockdown and the cleaner shots landed.There should be a rematch to settle it.
Hopkins only won in your mind, Hopkin's mind & Adalade Byrd's mind. Too bad for you that the other judges & 80-90% of those who watched the fight disagree with you. Let me repeat, Hopkins got beat by a white boy. rofl