How many miles did Hopkins run when was a middle? did he stay too long?

Bernard was gym rat. He was able to fight at 160 because he stayed in the gym year round and kept his weight in check. He used his training camps to tighten his boxing skills not lose weight. Now that hes partially retired, you see him fighting at more natural weight of 175. I dont think he stayed to long at 160, he never showed fatigue in his fights partly because hes very smart and knows how to pace a fight but mostly because of his excellent conditioning.

 

His workrate and energy levels in the Taylor fights seemed to be ordinary. Since moving up he has showed a marked difference IMO, particlularly vs Tarver and Pavlik. I've read a theory that moving up has invigorated him somewhat and i am not sure i'd argue. Maybe he could have done it a bit sooner but then again he's got all those defenses and great dominance over the 160 ranks behind him.

 

Great post mate.

 

28" waist when he was at middleweight.

 

3. Hopkins should have changed his style in the rematch and became somewhat aggressive. "cat and mouse" with Taylor never worked the first time around. Hopkins had success and stamped his authority on the fight when he was coming forward. He should have gambled during the rematch.

Hopkins almost seen a mirror image of himself when he fought Taylor the first time. He was extremely tentative due to being unsure whether to lead off or hang back and counter. Some of the rounds Taylor won were extremely close due to lack of action, but he was busier and slightly outlanded Hopkins. Taylor won the fight, agreed.

I can't mind my exact scorecard. However, I tended to agree with Jim Watt on the SKY broadcast. Hopkins was losing all those early rounds. He was being outworked. Not that Taylor was particularly busy himself. But he was putting more attacks together than Hopkins. IMO, this is the fight that hurts Hopkins's legacy. He never learned his lesson after the first fight. Standing off Taylor and waiting wasn't the way to do it. He just never seen that fighting his normal cagey, counter-punching, game and setting traps wasn't going to work with what Taylor layed out in front of him. Leonard adjusted his strategy against Duran, as did Holmes against Spinks (I thought he won the rematch) Hopkins on the otherhand never.

First fight - Taylor was winning his rounds less convincing than Hopkins. He won the quiet rounds, so to speak. Hopkins was winning his rounds strictly with power punching on the front foot, and noticeably hurting Taylor in the process. You could say if the 12 rounds were put together as a single 36 minute round, Hopkins would have won.

Rematch. Same again, more or less.

Hopkins probably struggled with middleweight around the time of the Taylor fights. Possibly. But he was always a natural at the weight. He made the weight easily, and this has been well documented through himself. Coming in at 156lbs against De La Hoya at the age of 39 supports this claim. And if he had moved up earlier, it wouldn't have been natural at all for him to jump to 175lbs. He needed Mackie Shilstone to make the transition in a similar way that Spinks and Jones moved up to heavyweight. Some fighters make a two weight jump naturally. It wasn't the case with Hopkins. His body needed serious fine tuning through a programme of sprints, jumps, and lighting weights. I watched the HBO build-up programme to Hopkins-Tarver, and Bernard was eating like hell during camp.

If he moved up earlier, naturally, it would have been 168. Certainly not 175.

 

From 2002:
http://www.boxinginsider.com/columns/ring-genius-misunderstood-celebrating-bernard-hopkins/

'When it comes to training, there may be no fighter more driven. I asked longtime cornerman Nazzim Richardson to describe Hopkins’ work ethic. “It’s unmatched. Him and Buster Drayton are the only two athletes like that. It’s not about hours (in the gym). It’s the intensity that he has in training. He ran Sunday – the day after the (Hakkar) fight. He runs three miles every day. I think he might run too much. ”'

 

Yep.:thumbsup

 

"You can't be a light heavyweight just eating your way up to the weight," Hopkins said Monday, the eve of the start of a four-city media tour to promote the fight. "I have Mackie because he knows what he is doing. He knows what it takes to put on the weight the right way. He knows the nutrition. He knows the conditioning. He's the best at what he does. "I am making a statement by hiring someone like Mackie. People think I can't pull it [the win] off, but this is something that should show Tarver that he shouldn't sleep on Bernard Hopkins."



Nuff said. Hopkins moving up to 175lbs was unatural. Pretty much a fact when listening to the man himself. :thumbsup

 

There is a lot of people on this forum that are not boxers nor have ever trained like a boxer in the gym for a long period of time, especially with the intensity and standard that Hopkins trains at. There is a strange phenomana that your body goes through when your boxing and training in the gym year round. Its amazing how much weight your body can keep off while still maintaining good stamina.
Fighters that are young 20-25 can get away with taking a little time off between fights as their body isnt aging as quickly as an older fighter's is. As they get older its even more important for a fighter to stay fit in the gym, and Hopkins has understood this quite well, and in my opinion the main reason hes had the longevity.

 

Hopkins wasn't just staying in shape to make 160lbs he was draining quite a bit and usually came in the ring weighing well over 170lbs. As he aged the draining affected him more at 160 and he was a bit lethargic in the ring from DLH-Taylor (or maybe before that). He could have done with moving to 168 around 2003 but we all know the money was in the Tito/DLH fights

 

Never heard that ever. He walked around in the mid 60's

 

Correct. I heard the same. Around 166lbs between fights.