For the first time I just watched Hopkins vs Mercado 2. Apart from the Trinidad fight this is the only 160 performance of Hopkins I have ever seen. I have seen everything of his above 160 but never a younger Hopkins. What a performance! A younger version of Hopkins- with the same lead right followed by in-fighting but here he was much more happy to trade inside with less clinching and more throwing punches. I loved the little angles he worked for the body shots and his suffocating pressure. I aldo enjoyed him manoeuvring Mercado to the ropes. What do you guys think of this performance? I have never heard of Mercado- was he known before or after this fight? Why was it different to the first fight? I'm definitely going to watch the Middleweight reign of B-Hop. I also need to watch his Mercado 1 and RJJ bouts.
hopkins vs RJJ is not really a fun fight. Both guys were pre prime, with Jones being closer to it than Hops. Both guys very respectful of the other in the ring, hesitant/reluctant to exchange. Jones won clearly and Hops didn’t really engage at all till the final 4 rounds or so and by that point it was to late. But not a fun fight to wstch
It was different at least in part because the first fight was held in Quito, which is like 12 miles up into the atmosphere. Hopkins suffered because of that I think. Also, I think he was a quick study who simply learned a lot the first time and was better able to apply those lessons learned in the next performance.
No, Mercado was not known either before or after that fight. Nor was he a legitimate title challenger. He never won a significant fight before challenging Hopkins, and he literally lost every single fight for the rest of his career after Hopkins. I suspect Don King had some ancillary business to do in Ecuador. Other than rectifying a putrid performance in the first bout, the win over Mercado meant next to nothing. A truly undeserving challenger.
I think that says more about Hopkins at that point (and, likely, the altitude in Ecuador where the fight was held) than it does about Mercado.
