Bernard Hopkins vs. Sergio Martinez @ MW.

Do you think Pavlik lost only because he was an alcy?

 

i think Pavlik lost because the gap in speed was too much.. He had trouble with movers and guys with superior handspeed.. Taylor’s chin was unable to holdup and he fought flat but Hopkins was much faster and bigger.. Sergio was able to throw 5 punches and move before Pavlik threw one. The only advantage he had was size and when he couldn’t put Sergio away in the middle rounds it was over..

As far as Sergio vs Bernard I think Sergio would land but Bernard was a really big MW (hence him skipping 168) while Sergio was a small one.. Sergio would land early but Hopkins would eventually smother him and hook and clinch to a 8-4, 7-5 UD..

 

Hopkins. No doubt about it. Both guys at their best, BHop and that's from a guy who is a huge Sergio fan.

 

Pav lost due to his own issues. Those all rest on him and him alone. Would he do better had he been clean and sober prior? Maybe...but that doesn't mean he'd win, nor does that matter really.

 

Yeah definitely is his own fault. Like Duran in the Leonard rematch, hate when people give him a pass for that.

 

Yep. 99% of the time, the 'excuse' some use just falls back to the fighter themselves. Guys have 8 - 10 weeks to train to fight for 45 minutes for a hundred thou to a million bucks. That honestly should be all the motivation one needs to get their stuff together.

 

Frankly, Sergio Martinez beat more good fighters at middleweight than Hopkins did. Guys like Dzinzurik, Williams, Macklin, Barker, Pavlik, Murray even Chavez were better than any middleweight Hopkins beat, not blown up welterweights and taking Pavlik at 170 where he had big advantages.

I could see Martinez nailing Hopkins with outside shots and Hopkins fighting dirty and faking an injury again or some BS... I think Martinez has a definite chance at winning a decision over Bernice Hopkins

 

So Tito was a blown up WW, but you are counting Paul Williams? BTW, Tito KO's the #2 MW at the time in William Joppy. Dzinzurik was also at JrMW just prior to Martinez beating him. And had no wins at MW (Unlike Tito who did...see above).

There are some similarities between SM and Hops resume @ 160 in terms of level of comp there, but Hopkins had MUCH more defenses.

And BTW, chavez jr? No freaking way was he better than Kieth Holmes, William Joppy, Antwun Echols, or Tito. Chavez jr entered his MW bouts weighing in at LtHW to CW come fight night.

 

If you're talking about blown up fighters Martinez himself was a former WW

 

People exaggerate 'blown up' fighters waaaay too much here. I mean, ****, we know guys can move up in weight effectively. "Blown up" and "natural weight" are abused and used terribly here all too often for people w/ some agenda on a fighter they dislike.

 

I think Martinez would nullify his advantage of athleticism by keeping his hands at his knees. That won't work against Bhop.

However Hop has miscalculated on occasions- case in point Taylor- he waited too long to come on thinking he need to preserve stamina- only to find out that taylor was a quick burner. fighting on heart past 8 or 9 rounds. If he takes that approach he does enough to lose and complain about it.

 

Sergio too small natural 154 pounder vs natural 175er i go with hopkins

 

I think you're right. I feel it would be similar to the de la hoya fight, with martinez winning some early rounds and making it competitive. Mid rounds hopkins is going to start bullying him and using his size and weight advantage to learn on him, smother his work, and wear him out. The work hopkins puts in later is going to do a lot more physical and mental damage than the early shots martinez gets in.

 

Hopkins would wear him down but it would be a decent fight

 

The difference is Paul Williams was tall as hell so him being a middleweight was easy. Tito looked like a little fat boy, Hopkins towered over him it was a mismatch. Trinidad KO'ed Joppy cause he was trash and scared of Trinidads hyped up power. Trinidad was exposed as a guy who couldnt handle a decent jab, Winky did the job even better than Hopkins. I rate Williams much higher than Trinidad. Oscar De La Hoya was a complete joke at MW, also.

And yes I would give Chavez Jr a chance at beating all of those contenders, let alone Robert Allen who for some bizarre reason a whopping 3 of BHops title defenses were against.