I can see Michael Nunn outboxing Bernard Hopkins over 12 rds

I thought Hopkins beat Calzaghe personally.

 

Although stylistically Nunn could give Hopkins problems you have to keep in mind that Nunn did not have it upstairs as a fighter, when i say that im talking about his lack of focus in the ring, he used to switch off in fights or hotdog in fights that were not in the bag, mentally he was a weak fighter imo. Hopkins on the other hand is extremely strong mentally and is adept at fighting left handers. Hopkins would work Nunn out eventually imo.

Nunn went walkabout( mentally) in the Roldan fight after being in control, against Barkley he looked terrible, he had all he could handle in Marlon Starling ( welterweight) i think the reason he got KO'd against Toney is because he lost his focus towards the end of the fight, when you are winning a fight you still have to stay switched on.


Nunn was extremely talented though, not gifted with the mental aspect of the game though imo.

 

You're certainly not alone. I thought Calzaghe just outworked him to a solid win but that Bernard could've done much more and if he'd been more aggressive in a couple rounds...maybe planted Joe on his butt again.

 

Yeah it's one of them where i get into it too much with people who disagree with me, because it was a very close natured bout.

 

Interesting. I am of the (minority?) opinion that Hopkins never punched as hard or finished as well as James Toney did, and I can't see B-Hop emulating Toney's feat here. Maybe the 1997 version of B-Hop could if he drew Nunn into a firefight, but when hypotheticals come up I prefer to consider the peak version of both men, and for me peak Hopkins was the more cerebral, more defensively astute veteran of around 2001. The short answer to the question is no, IMO. Nunn was a lovely boxer, but Bernard would be just too determined, too wily, too resourceful, and would capitalize on any opportunity with hard, accurate punches. Slim chance of a late TKO, but my money would be on a close-but-clear UD for the all-round superior fighter.

 

Spot on. That said, although you are picking Hopkins, and for obvious reason, a fighter like Hopkins who typically doesn't throw an awful lot of punches, will be in danger of getting outpointed by the busier man, whether its justified or not. Some people claim Nunn was handily beating Toney up until the stoppage, but when you look back at the fight, Toney was taking a lot of shots on the arms and shoulders. It was a damn close fight going into the final stretch, but like Calzaghe did not so long ago, Nunn could win the fight purely on work rate.

 

Hopkins used to put mad pressure on when he was younger, he did it against Mercado in both fights., infact he set an ubelievable pace in the second fight. The Hopkins that fought Glen Johnson was starting to bully Glen Johnson around, he was pretty busy in that fight to. Hopkins will adapt his tactics to the situation.


First thing Hopkins will do to Nunn is try to break his rhythm and see if he has the composure to stay in his envelope to continue what he is doing, or whether he will get frustrated like Robert Allen, Keith Holmes,Echols did and start playing into Hopkins hands by resorting to fouling etc. Hopkins is a dirty **** but he uses it to frustrate the opponent to get them off their game plan, he used to hit opponents low on the blindside and because he was good at doing it on the blind side of the ref he would not get pulled up about it, eventually his opponents used to seek there own retribution because they felt the ref was not protecting them, only they would get points taken or warnings because they did it blatently out of frustration, now this kind of thing is what stops opponents establishing their rhythm scrappy action where you cant get anything going. Ive lost count of the amount of people ive seen Hopkins body slam or end up on the canvas with.

Nunn would be an absolute sucker for these type of tactics because of his lack of mental strength, Hopkins would break his rhythm, get him off his game plan so he gave up his advantages fighting the wrong fight through frustration.

 

Nunn was never really a pure boxer, at least in the traditional points scoring sense of controlling distance, working the jab etc, imo.

He generally relied on punching in clusters and outspeeding fighters with Roy Jones type potshots, or lying on the inside countering.

the safe bet would be on Hopkins outworking him and doing the more consistent work over 12/15.

 

Hopkins would not KO him imo. Hopkins has never really been a big puncher, he mercifully beat Mercado and Glen Johnson and it took him quite a few rounds to get rid of Mercado, that was throwing the kitchen sink at him to, besides Nunn has a good chin, he has took shots from Roldan, Yonker and Barkley, all good punchers, plus he had a decent defence so.....


Toney knocked Nunn out but Toney was a better puncher at 160 imo, he almost knocked Mike McCallum out.

 

And the shot Toney landed...come straight from hell. Most 160lbs would have gone down from it. Nunn would often get hit too, either by leaning back or by trying to engage at the wrong time. Hopkins would land, he wouldn't land often enough to score a knockout, and he's only doing that through accumulation. I can conceivably see him getting outworked. I agree with Popkins, we're talking prime for prime, and the best Hopkins we ever saw...wasn't all too aggressive.

 

Agree with the first part but i dont necessarily agree with the second part. Most people consider Hopkins prime to be when he fought Tito but i dont. I think Hopkins was just as slick when fought Glen Johnson, Simon Brown, Echols 1 and he was more in his physically prime then.

 

Nunn could hardly keep an old and small Marlon Starling off him. Against a bigger punch and grab rough-houser like Hopkins he would get outhustled for sure.

It's not like Hopkins was all that deficient on the outside either. I can see Hopkins blocking the vast majority of Nunn's slappy punches.

 

This might end up being one boring fight. Nunn could go the distance for the win, but Hopkins could also be awkward enough just to cause frustration and wear the tall man down. I'd go with Hopkins in a stinker.

 

Nah. Hopkins of 2001 did not have the stamina problems that the 2005-present version has when made fight at a fast pace. In 2001, B-Hop owns Taylor and Calzaghe. I first noticed a bit of a decline in him by the time of the Oscar fight, he was not as aggressive (off the backfoot or front), not as incessant, not as intense. In 2001, Hopkins had excellent fitness and stamina levels, the 40+ stamina malaise was still a few years off. No chance does he get outworked.