A lot of people here seem to hate on Calzaghe, while praising Hopkins, but there resumes are very similar: Both of them dominated weak divisions Both of them became the undisputed champions Both of them moved up and beat the reigning lhw champion So why is Hopkins resume called legendary while Calzaghe's is dismissed?
more to the point what do you consider bhops best wins and joes best wins....put aside assent to the lhw crown for a second
Bhops best wins: Tito Oscar Joppy Holmes Noticable losses: Jones Taylor*2 Calzaghe: Lacy Eubank Kessler Reid
Tito Trinidad, the Golden Boy, Antonio Tarver, Winky Wright, Kelly Pavlik, Glen Johnson, are some of the big names on Bernard's record (I obviously haven't included RJJ and Jermaine Taylor). It's reasonable to call that a legendary resume.
bhop moved up two weight classes and dominated tarver. completely dominated him. beat winky also. he also took my boy out behind the woodshed and pitched a complete shutout. combine that with what you have and it may help clear things up
Agreed. I would venture to say if you combine the 2 lists of their wins, 4 out of the top 5 wins would belong to Hopkins. Aside from that, after the wins mentioned for Calzaghe, aside from him beating Hopkins, his opponents would fall off precipitously.
c'mon man, tarver and johnson are B level fighters at best tito and oscar much lighter fighters pavlik = lighter fighter plus he's lost to jones, taylor twice, and calzaghe. hopkins seems to get praise for losing fights
oh i've been a fan since his early days and he'll be my guy until he hangs'em up. but it is what it is. i still can't bring myself to watch it again. but you are very right. he moved up and lost to an atg. there shouldnt be any shame in that but its reason for many to hate on him. but it literally was a shutout.
:goodi give him credit for taking a fight against a brilliant fighter in what was essentially a no win situation. pavlik should get more respect, not less, for that fight