If Hopkins beats Cloud and retires..where would you rank him?

yes, the way he looked against Dawson and Calzaghe, if he beats Cloud he just handpicked.. He should not be fighting anymore.. This does not help his legacy.

 

bernard lost to Dawson.. He is not a force. He is handpicking against inexperienced guys.

 

Going up 10 pounds doesn't mean that much, especially for a tall lanky middle like Pavlik, and especially in the modern era where everyone puts on at least 10 pounds after the weigh-in anyway.

Besides, one look at the fight will tell you weight had nothing to do with the beating Pavlik took. Knowledge did.

 

He's 48 who should he be fighting?

The current LHW rankings have Dawson listed as the lineal Champ, Hopkins is 1 and Cloud 2 and given that he's already faced Dawson twice Cloud is the highest ranked 175lb fighter he could face yet this is a handpicked opponent...

Only an idiot would think a fighter who's 48 has cherrypicked a fight against a World Champion who's ranked number 2 in his weight class.

 

Hopkins should definitely retire if he wins so he can retire on top, but he should also probably retire even if he loses. The man is 48 and his skills can only go down from here. He's achieved enough already so there's no reason for him to stick around until he's 50

 

if he cannot beat Dawson then how should that mean he is great to beat Cloud? Why is he fighting? I am 48,, same age as Bernard.. It is all ego.. Handpicking guys and using experience to exploit a weakness.

 

Cloud isn't doing much for him at the moment but he should be around top 30

 

I never said beating Cloud would make him great nobody on this thread said such a thing, but they are asking if it will make him greatER then what he already is, as he's already considered a great.

I'm sure Roy Jones and James Toney would love to handpick guys to win another world titles but guess what? despite being younger then Hopkins both would get their asses clocked in their respective divisons and those fights are impossible to make as a result of that fact.

 

Jones would have beaten Dawson. Hopkins couldn't beat Dawson who Ward easily beat. Hopkins should retire. I honestly think this is a waste of time fight. Anyone else who lost to Dawson easily enough would not be getting much attention for fighting Cloud. Hopkins is hoping his experience can exploit a weak division now. If this were the 1980s think what Spinks or Qawi would do to Hopkins at 48? The only intrigue is to see how he does at 48 against a contender, but that does not make him great. It means he can still sort of fight. I always said Foreman beating a weak chinned Moorer after losing to Evander and Morrison was not that impressive. Give a guy so many chances to win, and against Moorer who stood in front of guys and could not take a punch, or Duran who lost to Benitez and Hearns easily, but then beat Barkley because Iran stood in front of him. I am not sure an old guy should get that much credit for fighting a good style for him, if he couldn't beat other good guys he fought in that same period. Duran would have never beaten Nunn or Kalambay or Hearns (rematch) or Olajide in 1989.. Barkley was made for him.. Maybe Cloud is made for Hopkins, he did handpick him.

 

i can't say yet, but a win over cloud will just b icing on the cake 2 a monumentous career

 

Dawson would KO any version of Jones from the past 5 years

Really? are you going to force me to reply to this nonsense?

Why? because you don't like him?

Both Cloud and Dawson have trouble drawing flies to **** and Hopkins is a name opponent who can help them get a better payday + an ATG (long faded) on their resume that's why he still remains relevant and the fight get's the attention it's getting.

It get's worse, this is NOT the 80's this is 2013 and we don't have any Qawi's or Spink's about at 175lb just like we don't have any Ali's or Tyson's about at HW. Hopkins is fighting in this era, everything he is doing is related to this era not 1985.

He's 48 fighting a Champion, and again nobody is saying this one fight will or wont make him great. I guess you're just not a fan of boxers breaking world records.

The fact a fighter who's best weight was 135lbs beat a MW champion is a great achievement but it seems for you it would only have been great if he unified 160 and beat every world level contender there was.

 

Hopkins lost to Dawson. easily. There is no reason why he is getting a big fight again.

What is nonsense? Ward beat Dawson easily who handled Hopkins easily? Seems like that is significant..

And the fact Hopkins can handpick and win 50 percent of his fights against contenders shows how overrated this era is and this should have a factor in rating if these are great wins or losses. The fact Hopkins lost means something. Hopkins should have retired after Dawson. That fight showed he was well past his prime. Hearns could come back and maybe win a cruiserweight title now or at least if he had 3 shot at different fighters he might win one of them, but should that add much to his legacy?

 

Like I said, Hopkins is a name opponent who'll get Cloud exposure and a good payday. What other 175lb fighter could Cloud fight who'd bring what Hopkins brings to the table both financially and in name status?

Do you think Ward beat the same Dawson who fought Hopkins? or do you think he fought a slightly different version? maybe one who was weight drained and got wobbled by every shot he was hit with.

If current Hearns won a CW strap is would add to his legacy IMO and would be a great win but even if he did you'd give him 0 credit "oh so Hearns beat Huck? who cares Huck is a plodder....there's a reason why Hearns avoided Hernandez"

Bottom line is it seems you just don't want to give credit for anything.

 

I want to give credit when a fighter can beat all styles when he is young. Handpicking diminishes things a little. If Hearns won a title now.. as much as a love Tommy I would think that the titlest was not so great. Tommy at 54 should not be winning a title. Although I think he has a better chance to win one than Hagler,Duran or Leonard now.

Ward controlled Dawson . Weight draining or not.

 

Top 100. Beat good fighters, but lost to the best.