Thats a very good question and noone will have an ideal answer. However Hopkins almost beat Pascal who is fast too and is bigger than Martinez.
I agree but I'd have to say.. if Hopkins gets Martinez against the ropes or tied up.. he is going to hold, push, maul, and bully Martinez for dear life.... and if he outmuscles Martinez, its over for Sergio.... for the record, I have the fight going to Hopkins.. but he won't DOMINATE Martinez.. but he will make Martinez average because he will be so busy man-handling and outmuscling, and roughing up Sergio... Sergio will get some nice shots in.. and will try his best to hold his own, like the warrior we know him to be.. (much like Cotto showed against Pacman) but the result will be the similar, he will be on the losing end to someone who will just own him... I think Hopkins will neutrilaze Maravilla much like he did Winky Wright... Maravilla will try his best but will come up short to a true, rough house mauling... a tough- kinda ugly fight for Sergio..... Now if Sergio starts stringing together crazy first round knockouts on the current champs in the MW division right now, then I would hcaneg my mind.. but from what I've seen.. I see Hopkins winning... still WAR MARAVILLA!
You want Hopkins to drop 15 lbs to fight to a weight he hasnt fought at in 6 years??:rofl:rofl:rofl:rofl:rofl Hopkins did outgrow Middleweight, thats why he moved up. He is MUCH bigger than Sergio, how can you not see this??:huh
Dropping 15lbs is no big deal - many fighters dehydrate 20lbs plus for the weigh in. Hopkins is a fighter who its well documented doesn't cut weight. He can make 160 no problem at all. Not really. After the Taylor fights there was nothing for him to do at middleweight and big money fights higher up. He was making weight as easily as he always had and as we know weighed 156 against Oscar. Very rarely do you have a fight between two guys who are identical in every aspect. Hopkins is about 2 inches taller, the reach is about the same (slight adv. to Sergio), one spent most of his prime at 154 and one at 160. There's no great size difference there. I think a lot of this comes down to fans not really knowing how boxers 'make weight' and how easy dropping 15lbs really is, especuially for a fighter whos 'in ring' weight is the same as his official weight.:good
Are you kidding me?? There is no way in hell a man, who is 46 yrs old and has been fighting at 175 for 5 years, can easily drop back down to 160. He would be drained, and drained badly. Hopkins weighs in at 174-175, and rehydrates to the high 180s on fight night. He is not cutting water weight here. He went through a rigourous training process to add lean muscle mass. 15 lbs of lean muscle mass. If he tries to lose all of that, he would be dead. And he weighed 156 in 2004, which is freaking 7 years ago. You dont think he has naturally gotten heavier since then? Sergio is 5"9 and Hopkins is 6"1. The idea of this fight is ****ing ridiculous. For one, Hopkins is getting a shot at the lineal 175lb title. Why in the **** would he drop all that weight and give Sergio all that advantage? It makes absolutely no sense. And I bet you if offered this fight, Dibella and Sergio would tell GBP to **** off. There is NOTHING to gain for either fighter here.
I don't like either option. I think it's be competitive based on skillset and that martinez wins a close fight. If hopkins wins, it won't be due to size. If martinez wins it won't be purely down to speed.
I feel the way to beat Martinez is a jab something Bernard does not use a lot of Martinez I feel can eek by in a way that Calzaghe did just speed and volume but Martinez does tire he did vs Williams and had to take a break in his most recent bout we know how Hopkins handle tired fighters like Pascal and Taylor however he doesnt KO them he let Taylor off the hook in the first fight stupidly thinking theres no way he was behind I think Maravilla could pull it out I mean Pascal's explosiveness and speed dropped Hop twice Maravilla with his speed and explosive attack could probably drop him, not like hurt him bad or stop him but floor him