John Conteh v Bernard Hopkins

JC should have been one of the great LH champions...was still a damn fine fighter though.

Over 15 rounds, Conteh by clear UD. Over 12, Closer but JC still wins. Bhop undoubtedly a great middle, wouldn't be able to beat a LH as classy as JC, or as big too. JC had to get down to the weight...boxed his apprentice pro years at heavyweight, but he and/or his management didn't think at 13.5 stone that he could tangle with the great 70s heavyweights.

 

Agree completely.

 

it was a wise decision for him not to fight at heavy !! he was one of the finest athletes i've seen when he was at his pomp and a natural fighter with a fighters killer insinct.as you say, he was a should have.

 

This has been done almost as much as Conteh vs Kessler.

Hopkins would do ok early with his sneak rights and keeping it safety-first...conteh stalking, slowly feeling his way into the bout, maybe being a bit lazy defensively if he feels X can't hurt him much, but the clinching and butting would start soon, and then it would begin....

...and end 3 or 4 rounds later with Hopkins swollen up and cut to shreds.Conteh, like Fullmer and Hopkins himself can be an acquired taste because of the brutal and not always entirely legal way he went about things.Conteh's head placement on the inside and mastery of subtle roughousing was exceptional, and with Hopkins past his physical prime imo he cant hope to pick up a decision fighting the crafty spoiling way he did at 175.

Unless you have an equally good jab, high workrate with lots of quality punches, ideally with good power and an awkward Rodriguez'esque foot and punching rhythm(which Ahumada had in a strange quintesentially Argentinian way)is the best approach to outscoring and winning a decision against a smooth rhythmic(napoles, dejesus, pedroza, marcel etc) boxer-puncher like JOhn who can also cut loose and cut distance more like Duran when he needs to.Minimalist spoiling and counterpunching, relying on being slicker and more fundamentally sound isn't, unless you have a jab like Harold Johnson or awesome feet and stamina.Hops doesnt.

 

i take it your a conteh fan then

 

he was crap

 

i watched conteh ko preacher lewis at liverpool stadium in 73' with a right cross.he bettered even that when he KO'd leonardo roger a few years later with the only right hand he threw

 

I saw him fight Len Hutchins and in his last fight James Dixon at the Stadium. I was at the weigh in for the Dixon fight

 

I think Conteh has superb fundamentals, probably only second to Johnson IMO.

 

So do I.

 

Ditto:good

 

Barney Ross?

 

I have seen only films on Conteh but it was very impressive.A very talented athlete and fighter.:good