I love B-Hop (obviously) and I hope I'm wrong, but I fear Pascal wins in style

When Hopkins circled left vs Pavlik to remove Pavliks straight right, he exposed him, now it seems simple.

He would do something to Pascal, a simple move that would expose him forever unless fixes up. The counter right hand, its gonna be launched everytime Pascal tries lunging in. Hopkins would win the first couple of rounds, and Pascal wins the last few, Hopkins UD Pascal.

Dont let his last 2 fights fool you. Motivation is key, Pascal going to be schooled.

 

I didnt know that, was it for Calzaghes 168 title?

The reason why nobody actually criticises Nard much is because he only became big after the Trinidad fight. And all was forgotten and forgiven when he knocked both DLH and Trinidad out

 

That was the biggest money fight available for Mosely, and he thought he has the power to blast Money. It was also all for him to gain and no loss.
If he got beat up, he got beat up by the best in boxing, and wouldnt diminish any future fights for him......he's under consideration for Pacs next fight even now.
If he won, he was p4p top 2 or 3 again, and either way, he made a few million dollars.

If Hopkins loses, its pretty much the end unless he gets Tavoris Cloud or whoever else, and Id say coming off a loss that wouldnt be a given to get another title fight. Either way round its possible BHop says enoughs enough, and he has too much pride to want to go out on a loss.

 

I'd love to see B-Hop turn in another clinic...but I'm thinking he gets beat here pretty clearly as well.

 

Yes it was...

Yes that's true about Tito & DLH, but they're nevertheless former welterweights or less, albeit very good of course...

Thing is, Hopkins has made a legend type career by avoiding much criticism getting the vast majority of his big wins against either smaller or ordinary other guys.

He gets away with it.... If a guy like RJJ had built his entire "rep" from beating smaller guys like DLH, Trinidad & Wright...not sure people wouldn't consistently put that back in his face.

Bottom line, Hopkins doesn't only master every little trick in a ring but besides the Trinidad fight which was part of a tournament, he also mastered the matchmaking outside of it while preserving that special aura legends are made of.

 

Thats what makes him who he is, he's very patient and calculated in the way he make's his choices out of the ring, as well as in the ring. If he were to risk it all by fighting the best at their weight then it may of taken that spark out of him early on, which would diminish his ability to fight in later ages.

Im not criticizing him, because hes human.

But still, his win over Trinidad should not be regarded as him beating a "smaller guy". Trinidad looked and fought great at 160, he demolished Joppy better than Nard ever did.
B-hops wins over Tarver,Pavlik, Calzaghe, Winky has actually impressed me. Thats why i dont judge him as much because he has laid out a solid legacy that we can actually disect

 

Is this revisionist history here.... calzaghe beat hopkins fair and square

 

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It will be a typical Hopkins fight, even if he does lose tons of the audience/fans will think he won....

 

Joe squeeked a narrow win and looked like a rank amateur for the majority of the fight. Unfortunately this fight didn't occur in 1997-1999 - then you could have seen Joe sparked out cold - COMPLETELY.

Joe is a good fighter - hardly an extraordinary one. Both fighters had long careers against less than exceptional comp - but BHOP was a far superior fighter to the Welshmen who struggled with a dozen pedestrian fighters in defense of his WBO trinket.

 

I know how you feel. ESB is loaded with Europeans that have so many misconceptions and don't realize it. They are the only ones who argue this point demonstrating they do not have any real familiarity with the sport scene over here. Any poll of athletes in the US regarding boxing will bring up the impact of the meteoric rise of the other sports, the lack of subsidy for the sport, and a wide spread acknowledgment that the sport today is largely full of second rate athletes as result.

The proof is in the athletes. One only has to look at how largely mediocre the participants are relative to the incredible athletic quality elsewhere to know there was an impact and an extreme one at that. If someone can't see that then THEY are likely a shitty non-athlete with no ability to distinguish quality (usually because they are out side the US and live in some rather homogeneous population where the range of talent is apparently compressed).

 

A physically prime BHOP - KO 3 over Jean Pascal.

 

Can't see how you could ever think Pascal was a bad style matchup for Hopkins. I always thought Hopkins had the style advantage. Pascal's stamina is eminently and transparently weak. And he likes to move and come in to where B-Hop can counter. Surprising how much B-Hop lead on the front foot and pushed the young fellow around. The question marks I believed where that was Pascal's youth, exuberance, speed, and power too much regardless of styles and had Hopkins perhaps lost any time in his hour glass.

 

That was the question on the night. Which BHOP would show up. As another middle-aged guy, you know (unlike the preponderance of ESB kids) that while it is certainly possible to recapture lightning in a bottle on a given night - it is also possible to show up with aches and a nagging this or that and get run off the stage by someone's youth in a poor performance that really only happens because the years have added up.

BHOP looked terrible against the lesser Joe C (I think it is clear he took Joe a bit for granted as it knew he was the superior athlete but didn't come in in great condition as he could and should have - making for a close fight and a poor performance). I imagine he had some modicum of concern about giving up seventeen years to a physically strong Pascal (who had surprisingly found a way to exit with a win over the far more talented Dawson) and that fear (concern) ensured he brought the conditioning (he definitely looked more like he did for Tarver than he did for Calzaghe or Winky or in the last RJJ go around).

 

"Pascal is from MTL, fights everyone, never backs down. "

I think this was a very bad move of him. A very high risk fight. If he had clearly beat BHop of even stop him, ppls whould have said Hoppkins was old. I think the Dawson fight had him looking over his skills and limitation. I would not be surprised if Pascal thought he will stop the old fox "in order to become a legend himself".lmao