Olivares/Arguello would’ve been if it were scheduled for 12. Arguello was still a bit green, but Olivares was even further past his best days. Not to mention he looked like a dwarf in the ring by comparison. His haircut only made matters worse. He looked like the lady that made the costumes from The Incredibles. Edna. Anyways, watching a man of his small stature matador a man of Arguello’s imposing physicality was incredible. He boxed like Miguel Canto in there, until he got a taste of blood and reverted back to what he knew best. The rest is history.
Holyfield VS Tyson I SRL VS Halger/Duran II Ali VS Foreman Ali VS Liston I Schmeling VS Louis I Tunney VS Dempsey I
Hi Quinton, like you and prob many, many more fight fans over the decades, have seen this fight as a master plan from , yes the master, it was an article a few years ago on the fight, and more preciant on Georges view/assetment that got me thinking that we might have misread the pattern, and it was not indeed Ali,s plan/choice but Foremans that dictated the course of the fight ? In simple terms, what choice did Ali have ! as George says, he was hunting Ali down, cutting the ring off ( like not many HW before him) so it was Foreman not Ali that wrote the script, not sure now.... what we thinking.
Post 40 year old Hopkins. Beat some damn fine fighters with his intelligence and skill. If you watch his early fights at Middleweight he was rough, tough and Physical but as he aged he used his skill and intelligence to beat the greater strength and athleticism of his opponents.
That's as maybe, but it doesn't change the fact that Hopkins completely outfoxed Trinidad and rendered all of his qualities irrelevant - and size wasn't wholly responsible. In any case, Trinidad was a huge Welter, Hopkins not an especially big Middleweight, hence he was still making 160 without any real bother until he hit forty. Wasn't he 157 lb for the Trinidad fight, and met Oscar at a 156 catchweight three years later? He was the bigger guy but there's a whiff of excuse making for Trinidad when it gets brought up in relation to this fight. Napoles-Monzon it most certainly wasn't.
Hopkins did the same thing to naturally bigger men as well like Tarver, Cloud, Shumenov etc. He didn't overpower guys, he took them apart.