If Hopkins fought in 87-95 he would be a afterthought when talked about

:yep

Hopkins would be the water boy.

 

Hopkins is a nightmare for anyone to fight, and he does have some real woeful performances, especially when it isn't going his way. Still, I think he'd be a real frontrunner in whatever era he fought in. Benn beating him? Come on, man. I mean, I love Benn, but he's got ****ing no chance of getting a win over B-Hop.

 

i think the old hopkins would be more dangerous in this era. less than devastating punching power but alot better craft than when he was younger and half these gus like to steam in.

but yeah i think a younger b-hop gets spanked by most

 

Jones yes, toney debatable, but very interesting a fight i wudve luved 2 seen, but none of the rest r in hopkins league in terms of skill and ring smarts. Hopkins wud outbox every other name mentioned. Toney and jones r the onloy others with the skill set 2 bother him.

 

i dont know how theyd meet up h2h but bhop is no easy task for anybody

 

hold on. shut the fk up for a second and hear me out

first off, you put kalambay in that bottom group. you don't know dick about kalambay. put him up there with Toney

benn got whooped by a lesser technician in Watson, how is he gonna deal with Hopkins?

collins and jackson were massively flawed fighters. eubank likewise, despite being a solid technician.

Rjj was obviously better than hopkins

mccallum, toney, and kalambay are on the same level as hopkins no doubt. it's too bad you can't recognize that

 

id have to agree with this

 

Benn vs Hopkins would be one scrappy fight! But Hopkins was better, Benn had limited stamina and against another technically proficient fighter (Watson) he got gassed so badly he got knocked out by a jab.

Hopkins reigned in an abnormally weak era, that much is clear. I still maintain he never really did improve overall as a fighter after the RJJ fight - that fight proving that he belonged in any era as a top middleweight.

 

I'm not a huge BHop fan by any means, but I do have a great respect for his ability and craft.

I don't think he was as naturally gifted as some of these guys mentioned but he worked hard and over time developed a way of fighting that worked for him, experience and supreme fitness aswell as his craftiness are his greatest attributes for me, which is why we see wins like the Pavlik one recently and if he pulls it off perhaps Pascal too...

BHop peaked later than all of those guys, past few years he's been scoring big wins and making elite level fighters look bad where the others like stars have faded considerably. It's a gift and a curse for Hop that his career overlapped, had he got to fight a few more of those 90s fights with the style he has now, he would of scored more wins and be held in higher regard but as I said before, the style only came with time and experience.

Props to Bernard Hopkins for all his hard work and dedication to the sport, you might not like what he says sometimes but he lives to fight and is the epitome of how a top level boxer should act in regards to training and respect of his sport.