Why I Rank Calzaghe Above Hopkins

Hopkins was old and past-prime. If you have followed his career, this is indisputable.

From 1997-2002/3 Hopkins was a machine.

In 2005, Taylor showed he could be outworked by someone with high output and fast hands.

Do you think Jermain Taylor would have beaten the 2001 version of Hopkins? Give me a break.

Since then, Hopkins has beaten fighters who allow him to work at his own pace (Tarver, Winky, Pavlik), while fighters who set a high pace trouble him (Taylor, Calzaghe).

Hopkins had clear stamina problems in the Calzaghe fight he would never have had around '01. The man was 43, it's just not humanly possible he still has the energy levels of a younger man.

 

Props for Hopkins for fighting and beating them but you guys are assuming that Calzaghe wouldn't have done the same. You can blame Calzaghe's promoters for not setting those fights up, and the generaly difficulty in setting up top cross-atlantic bouts, but that should in no way detract from Calzaghe's legacy seeing as he beat an impressive Hopkins. Who either fighter beat shouldn't come into consideration when ranking two fighters against each other when they've already fought, you should only consider somebody's past resume when the two fighters never met in the ring, for example, if you were comparing James Toney and Bernard Hopkins or if one fighter was clearly shot and finished. It's pretty simple logic.

 

:-( Ouch!

Dire post.

 

Exactly, co-sign x 1,000

 

You make some good points but one, his two wins against Winky and Pavlik either side of the Calzaghe fight can't be so easily disregarded. And more importantly, Calzaghe himself was no spring chicken.

 

Go ahead and deconstruct it then, champ.

 

Too right I rank Oscar higher than Calzaghe, who the hell doesn't?

 

Who do you rank higher in all-time pound-for-pound terms: Don Curry or Lloyd Honeyghan?

 

I couldn't possibly say, I'm not too well-versed on the history of boxing and past greats. I've only been watching it for the last ten or so years.

 

What has that got to do with Hopkins, Hopkins is 5-3 in his biggest fights, and many felt he deserved the nod in all three of his defeats. When Calzaghe comes out of retirement to hand out boxing lessons to world level opposition, we can start disputing who the greater fighter is.

 

Yeah, do a poll how many people on esb think Johnson got robbed against Ottke and than watch the fight ... there will be a surprise for you there. Polls on a internet board mean ****.