Oi, sues2nd, you still haven't honoured your 3 month avatar bet with me...

I still don't agree mate. Calzaghe was throwing open gloved punches all night. He has got away with it throughout his career. Hopkins has got away with clinching throughout his career. To complain that one guy was cheating seems ridiculous. It's like Hatton fans complaining that Floyd used his elbows or, had Hatton won, Floyd fans complaining about Hatton clinching.

 

Calzaghe's slaps seemed to take over the fight to such an extent that many people thought he won. Face it, they were both cheating.

I've been saying for a long time that clinching should be banned. Clinches should be treated like low blows. First clinch gets you a warning and after that points get deducted. I don't mean when two fighters throw punches and their arms get tangled up, I mean when one guy clinches to avoid getting hit. You'll point to the later rounds of Hopkins-Calzaghe but I think a better example would be Hatton-Urango. Imagine how much better fights would be!

Slapping is actually banned but the rule doesn't seem to be enforced when Calzaghe fights. Both guys were bending the rules and doing what they could get away with. Let's just leave it at that shall we?

 

I can see you lost one recently wow that is a quite a gay avatar!

 

There are always three steps in a magical trick - the first step in the the pledge, the second step is the turn and the third step is the prestige ( like in Michael Ballack scoring 2-1 for Chelsea and putting them at 81 points with 2 games to go)... Back to boxing, Hopkins could never fight like Calzaghe's opponents had done - Eubank tryin to break him down with the big shots, Brewer tryin to match his workrate, Sheika and Reid tryin to go toe 2 toe brawling style, Kessler and Woodhall so tight and straight up and taking whirlwind punches from all angles... The first step for Hopkins magical trick was to make Calzaghe come enraged at him, the second step was to make him wary from counter-shots and studing better his way in, the prestige would have been the knockout punch coming from nowhere... Didn't come out - Calzaghe won on points, Godamn simple! Was Hopkins clearly playing the coward and about to be knocked out in the 10th? No indications whatsoever of that - he was on the offense, Calzaghe ducked and landed low, it was nothing like Hopkins being cornered and battered ( like Miranda from Kelly's onslaughts when Pantera spit the gum shield off)... Man, Calzaghe did it again and this is not his most controversial win... Reid and Calzaghe landed 199 punches going into 11th round and you could well see that Reid was landing clean and stunning Joe ( 11th round right hand) whereas some of Joe's punches...

 

And I thank you for it!!!

:good

 

Hopkins is old, but much better than Calzaghe.

 

Bernard did the best he could but that wasn't enough, seems to me that's a reasonable statement. I can't take the rhythm of young guys either whether it is boxing, soccer or any other sport - first you use your power ( last thing to leave you) and experience to make them move more than you do but at a certain point, something breaks in you, you feel drowsy and weak or you get a muscle injury... I agree that try to play into Calzaghe's hands would take Bernard further away from the win because the other guy is a non-stop, faster puncher - Bernard would try to match Calzaghe's workrate ( like "The Hatchet" from Philly Brewer or the other brawler "The Scorpion" from the Contender Sakio Bika) and judges would see Joe clearly winning with his whirlwind punchin! Obviously, Bernie had to try to make Calzaghe miss and look bad sometimes ( out of balance and sliding out of position), punch hard and clinch other times ( to steal effective time and a chance for Calzaghe to swing away and score more), it comes with the ring smarts and experience... Joe also tried to steal it with flurries of unorthodox punches and there's nothing wrong about that...At the 12th, Enzo was drinking his own son's water, sayin **** this, **** that and clearly uncertain about what was going to happen.

Again, Rick Thornberry intentionally headbutted Calzaghe in the 1st round... Reid tried to bend his arm and held his leg up in the 1st, punched hard on the break and Roy Francis did nothing about it...Salem headbutted Joe and his trainer tried to get Calzaghe into a fight at the weigh-in... Sakio Bika had Calzaghe against the ropes and aimed hard to the back of the head and Mickey Vann did nothing either... Those are stinking fighters! Bernard is evil but is also a whole different cattle of fish... Don't you guys heard Steve Bunce before the fight on Setanta saying that the fight was almost 50-50 and Calzaghe's team was somehow underestimating B-Hop's power? Watch those Setanta Countdown shows again and come telling me if Bernard was not the one to have a chance to beat him? RJJ is a joke!!!

 

Threw a lot of these flurries in the last 10 seconds of rounds. You are right about Bunce, repeatedly said he thought the Calzaghe camp were seriously underestimating BHop.

 

Actually, I love Steve Bunce second best and right after Larry Merchant - this is a guy who really loves boxing, has a spectacular style and that's why I always order a friend of mine to send me Setanta shows and analysis... Max thinks too much and likes to speak in riddles but I think he hit the spot before and right after the fight
Before: " One of the interesting things about this fight is that it turns racial stereotypes on their head - the idea that the stereotype of a white fighter is that they lack the athleticism and the improvisational spontaneous jazz-like ability that kind of extemporaneusly make adjustements on the fly. Therefore, the white fighter had to be tougher and outhink the black opponent. If Hopkins, the black fighter, hopes to overcome the white fighter, Joe Calzaghe, here, he will have to out-tough and out-think him, something that Hopkins has been able to do to virtually everyone that he has faced but Joe Calzaghe is also very tough and very smart and if Hopkins can't do it at 43, he will lose to a white boy." That is exatcly why I said that Hopkins comparing this fight to Clay-Cooper was absurd... Joe improvises like his father used to do with the guitar when playing jazz and Hopkins is a workmanlike performer.

After the fight and still Max : "Well, Joe Calzaghe has proven by now that he is a truly great fighter, a great dominant fighter, one of the best P4Pers in the World, depending on how you rate Joe Calzaghe and Manny Pacquiao behind Floyd Mayweather Jr... One thing about Bernard Hopkins is not about this performance being aesthetically pleasing and unless you are looking for Bernard's throwback boxing skills, it's not going to be aesthetically pleasing, it's about finding a way to win and against Jermain Taylor twice in recent years and against Joe Calzaghe now, Bernard figured out a way not to decisively lose but that is not exactly the same ( as to win)"

 

Roy Jones never fought a hardman's fight like Joe and Bernard did. All he does is use that handspeed and power of his to score with leading left hooks and right hands over the top... And gets on his bike, clowns and leans back to the ropes with a high arm guard to get a breather... Roy is really the one to steal fights and he has another "Great" fighter follower that does the same **** these days but even in a more non masculine fashion. Boxing is DEAD, DEAD, DEAD!