Bernard Hopkins vs. Lucian Bute

Looks like Bernard is up to his old tricks again and is trying to bait someone up to 170/172 catch. I'm not a big fan of Bute but IMO Hopkins is showing real signs of father time and won't have the workrate to overcome Bute, who just has to keep compubox ticking over to get a decision.

This fight is really starting to seem even more of a possibility, Bute is a big star in Canada and maybe Hopkins feels Lucian has no business above 168 and this the fight to cash out on. Unlike some I don't fear for Hopkins getting hurt - he has mastered that non-crowd pleasing approach of defensive angles to where I don't see anyone airing him out...but the problem is that he doesn't have the tank to work and reset his attack anymore. Plus he's too far gone in his own masterpiece of defense to ever sit on his punches and create consistent offense, the kind of attack that even casual fans would shell out for like an aging Hearns, which keeps him from getting punished but not being able to stay with these young athletic studs.

I think he should retire because he clearly isn't interest in anything else other than fighting smaller guys or gimmick fights. It's really hard though because anybody that knows the internal pyschie of Bernard knows that he will not let a Mackie Shilestone carved up body go to waste on a stinker against a shot to bits Roy Jones to end his career. But he's a smart fox and knows that he had to pull the old okie doke trick against Calzaghe as that 43 year old body was running out of gas, so won't take a fight unless he has a lot of advantages. I don't really mind it because he's sort of earnt the right to pick and choose, but it's time to move on and let guys like Chad get some shine because Bernard's old school defense and lack of workrate is wearing thin.

How do you fellas see this fight going? and should Bernard call it a day?

 

That's a good point, but Bute is more Martinez than Adamek (which would've been a great fight Hopkins) He's got good ring IQ, can mix it up, counter and draw Bernard at times. He's not basic enough for Hopkins to take one vital weapon away from him IMO.

Btw if 15 rounds were still about Bernard would be long gone, I always said that getting away from 15 round fights hurt big showdowns because it allowed for all these smoke and mirrors like catch weights and no mandatory opponents. Fighters like Winky/Chad/Williams get lost in no true division. If Boom Boom didn't kill Kim, we may still have 15 round fights. I always tought they should have kept it to 15 but extended the breaks in- between rounds.

But then again and at the risk of sounding like a nerd, I actually did a paper in HS on 60 seconds in between rounds. If a fighter gets rocked at the end of a round but survives the bell, 60 seconds is enough time for the brain to rebalance on its stem. But it still is short enough to give the finisher enough time to air him out in the following round and go for the KO/TKO. Anything longer than 1 minute, like 90 seconds, would give unfair advantage to the fighter, who got rocked, to be fresh again. But i digress.

 

Thats what i used to think, but Bute is growing on me.

 

Yep, Bernard got tired against a shot Roy who barely threw any punches.

Bernard is a HOFer but he looked like a clown fighting off father time in that fight, faking injuries to get a rest. The likes of Bute and Bad Chad would box figure 8's around Bernard at this junction.

Plus the last time Hopkins ko'd anyone J Timberlake was with NSync and Beyonce was with Destiny Child. Bernard had a dead man walking with Pavlik and failed to ko him. Bottom line Hopkins is "pop pop" status. He can no longer fight 12 rounds.