Revisionist History with Hopkins?

Hopkins was clearly beaten by calzaghe. Next to the chad dawson fight that was his most decisive loss. Other then the knock down he wasn't in the fight. The firs fight against taylor he probably lost by a round or it was a draw. The second fight Taylor fought a better fight and one. Roy jones beat him clearly but like the taylor fights it was competitive.

So really you have a guy who has been the underdog many times. Ruled at two completely different weight classes. Essentially fought everyone there was to fight. And in that time was only really dominated once (or twice if you consider the Calzaghe fight a domination). That is pretty impressive.

There is always revisionist history with every ATG. Mohammed Ali is the true classic case of this. Everyone knows that he was involved in more shady decisions then almost any other champ in history. Certainly more shadiness then any other heavyweight champ. But that is swept under the rug by lots of people because in there opinion he had many all time great performances. People also give him a pass because they like to argue that they jail time and prohibition from boxing robbed us of his prime. What they tend to forget is that Ali was knocked down and badly rocked several times in his career before he even got his first title shot and he was in several hard close fights when he was young as well.

This isn't meant to be a knock against either guy. Most people need to realize that the image of a fighter that is untouchable-perfection-personified is not reality. Its a myth created by Roy Jones and Floyd Mayweather through affective marketing and match making. The reality is that all the greats, Ray robinson, Joe Louis, Marving Hagler, SLR, Duran; all of them, were involved in close controversial fights at or near their primes. Being apart of hard close fights is how champions become ATGs.

There's an article on Ali called "Cassius Clay vs. Sonny Liston and the fights that molded a champion" from the Ring.com. It`s a great read if you have the time:


http://ringtv.craveonline.com/news/...-liston-and-the-fights-that-molded-a-champion

 

Hopkins fought Calzaghe in America with 3 American judges and an American ref and Calzaghe still beat him fair and square, Bhop was 95% prime and Calzaghe was nowhere near his prime, Calzaghe was far nearer retirement than Bhop and Bhop was in the middle of the best run of wins in his career, yet Calzaghe beat him.

Calzaghe was simply better than Hopkins.

 

You can poke holes in any fighter's career.

However you have got to admit that Bernard has consistently done very well at a very high level for a long time.

 

People overuse "robbery". Most fights that people call robberies are usually just very close decisions.

You want to see the worst robbery ever, watch Juan Coggi-Eder Gonzalez 1

Watch Escalera-Everett and RJJ in the Olympics to put things in perspective.

 

bhop was 43. you're full of crap with the 95% prime quote. joe was also surrounded by 12,000 welshmen in the arena. he was hardly in hostile territory. i thought joe won 116-113 but it was such a horrible fight to watch. if you want to know if joe belongs with the all-time elite, just watch this fight. the answer is painfully obvious.

 

Calzaghe was boxing from 9 years old, he was multiple schoolboy and amateur champion, he was always the boy/man to beat, Calzaghe beat Eubank to win a version of a world title at 25, Hopkins had only just starting his career at 25 and didn't win a version of a world title till his 30's.

Calzaghe was shop worn with lots of fights behind him when he fought Hopkins, Hopkins was near prime due to a limited amateur career and late starting pro career, Hopkins was far near prime than Calzaghe when they fought and still Calzaghe beat him in his own backyard.

 

**** off....


people said hopkins was robbed at the time....


just search google and you'll find numerous of pages from that time, talking bout how hopkins was robbed....


dont kid yourself.

 

foh.... by that logic calzaghe lost in his prime to robin reid.... eat a dick

 

I thought he lost to Winky, he was clearly outlanded and fought a typical really dirty fight.

Lost clearly to Calzaghe and Dawson and his biggest wins were against smaller men.

Is at least number 3 in the current light heavy division , plus reigned at middle when all the best fighters moved up .

 

You clearly don't do logic then do you.

 

it was a race issue....

hopkins said 'ill never lose to a white boy'....

and two white judges gave calzaghe the decision....


the one black judge gave it to bhop

 

Yeah and the black judge was just a mutual spectator???

Get the fook out of here , he lost to a white boy well and truely.