Pavlik didn't make him work. It's not hard to walk around for a little over half an hour. He didn't have to throw a ton of punches either. I couldn't get my head round why people would say "can he keep this up?" of course he could. It wasn't a 100 mile an hour slugfest.
I doubt it very much. After all, Calzaghe's workrate is legendary. Hopkins knew all about it. What saturday has done is make Joe's last win look like far and away the best of his career.
I disagree, It was the same hopkins that thought calzaghe, the difference is calzaghe came forward all night throwing punches where pavlik just came forward. Plus hopkins fought at his own pace against pavlik which pavlik let him do. against calzaghe hopkins at to fight at calzaghe pace which hopkins struggled to do.
nah i dont think he underestimated calzaghe as he bought in his "dream team" of trainers and was quite nervous leading up to the fight.
If Hopkins fought Calzaghe again, with a similar plan to how he fought Pavlik (even though the two are very different fighters), the outcome would've been far different. Hopkins problem recently (against Calzaghe and Taylor in particular), has been a fighter who would basically ONLY counterpunch. He also would basically only counter one punch at a time, and look to hold on the inside, as to diminish the real "action". Most thought that was due to his advanced age, and inability to maintain a good pace throughout 12 rounds. I think in the Pavlik fight, we saw a return to the "Executioner" style that everyone who watched Hopkins from his early career through Trinidad saw. Hopkins commanding the action, throwing combinations, frustrating his opponent, THEN counterpunching mixed with defensive wizardry. With all due respect to Calzaghe, Hopkins just didn't do enough to convince the judges in that fight. Personally, I thought Hopkins certainly landed the more effective punches, but he just didn't throw enough. Calzaghe never had him hurt, nor anywhere near it. And for anyone to say Hopkins couldn't have stood in and exchanged some punches with Calzaghe, is just foolish. This was Hopkins' statement performance. After seeing the results of starting slow (against Taylor) and waiting til the fight came to him (against both Taylor and Calzaghe), he obviously was disgusted and amended his gameplan. Maybe Hopkins was looking for a few more paydays BEFORE, but finally got pissed at the fact that he was losing to fighters he felt far superior to. Maybe Hopkins just wanted to see if he could still fight like the Hopkins he used to be. Or...maybe it was the night that all the stars aligned, and the old warrior gave one last great performance. Point is, one week before he retired, Babe Ruth launched 3 home runs in one game (the last 3 he ever hit). The last one was the first ball ever hit out of Forbes Field. Maybe this was the boxing equivalent...
hopkins has never underestimated anyone. hopkins had the perfect gameplan for calzaghe that doesn't involve a KO. the only reason he looked so good was because pavlik let him.
Yeah, I think your observation is right on point. Hop didn't look as fit and probably did not train as he would if he perceived his opponent to be a major threat. Nonetheless, it is clear from watching the fight that while Joe is a good fighter he is very fortunate to have an ugly split decision over Hopkins on his resume. Similarly, Jermaine Taylor has two close decisions over Bernard. It is what it is. Hop is a class above. Most athletes and/or boxers will readily admit the same conclusion (no one watched that fight and believes that Joe is on par with Hopkins as a fighter overall - just on that particular night).
