Revisited Hopkins Taylor I for the 1st time

It wasn't the worst robbery of all time, but Taylor didn't deserve more than a draw at best. If that had been Howard Eastman instead of Taylor, or somebody HBO clearly didn't have an agenda in replacing Bernard with it never would have happened like that.

Also, the famously awful scoring of the twelfth which cost Bernard the belt was unforgivable.

 

I think Bernard started slow because he was afraid of getting hit by a crazy non-textook punch from J.T. Or as Manny Steward would say "some crazy ****". If Bernard knew what we know now, he would've stepped on the gas earlier and got J.T. out of there.

 

Hopkins – Taylor
01: 9 – 10: Taylor late flurry
02: 9 – 10: Taylor gets in better shots
03: 9 – 10: Could have gone either way, Taylor was just more aggressive
04: 10 – 9: Crisper shots by Hopkins, Taylor missed a lot.
05: 10 – 9: Left hook, head butt, left hook, straight right, right lead by Hopkins
06: 9 – 10: Taylor more active
07: 9 – 10: Close
08: 10 – 9: Counter left hook by Hopkins
09: 10 – 9: Close round, Hopkins lands cleaner punches, Taylor misses most
10: 10 – 9: Big right hand had Taylor hurt
11: 10 – 9: Hopkins lands the flusher shots, counter right in particular
12: 10 – 9: Hopkins lands lead right at will

115 – 113 Hopkins
7 – 5 Hopkins

Taylor didn’t land anything effective in the fight, he missed most of his punches. BHop changes his style in round 4 lowers his body a bit, and Taylor can’t get his jab in properly from there on. Counter right hand wins Hopkins the last rounds. Round 3 could have been a 10 -10, making it 116 – 113 Hopkins by wider margin.

 

just want to add you guys scoring this for Hopkins watching in slow mo etc. This is an unrealistic view as when you are ringside aggression counts for a lot more than a TV view with slow mo. Ringside scoring, even if you miss or are partially blocked you get credit for it because the judges cannot discern very close shots being landed or not. In that case you credit the busier guy. Keep that in mind when scoring a fight, ringside isnt slow motion it is even faster than a live TV view, trust me I have judged fights.

 

That was the first big fight I ever attended. I remember being really frustrated that Bernard did nothing for more than 6 rounds of the fight. And I also remember after the decision thinking that there was no way in hell Taylor took that belt from Hopkins. Bernard screwed up tactically though to even let it be close

 

I had it 114-114 and never re-watched it in full.

 

Exactly. I've been saying for since this fight happened it was an injustice, that the boxing establishment wanted Hopkins out and HBO wanted Taylor to win, and nothing I've seen since has done anything but confirm that opinion. It was an injustice - they compounded it a second time, and then they robbed Winky too!

 

I had it 115-113 for Taylor, but I have never rewatched it. I need to do that A.S.A.P.
I remember when I scored the fight that Hopkins gave away too many early rounds and kicked *ss in the later rounds. I remember Hopkins' rounds being much better than Taylor's.

 

I thought it was close and had a lot of very close rounds, but scored 7-5 for hopkins.

 

Been saying it for years - Bernard was jobbed in those fights. HBO wanted him out of the way so they gave his belt away.

 

I need to watch the first fight. I watched the second fight and couldn't believe how awful it was. They were both awful, but Bernard was sooooo inactive. Taylor didn't so much win as much as bhop didn't even fight. He gave it away for no reason. If I had been robbed in the first fight, I would have left no doubt in the rematch. Very wierd tactic by bhop.

 

From an overall view of this fight, it's obvious that Hopkins dominated the fight. But based on how fights are scored, Hopkins did almost NOTHING from rounds 1-8. JT, although mostly ineffective, was the aggressor and tried to make it a fight. Obviously, Hopkins dominated 9-12. So he has 4 rounds locked up. But from 1-8, you have to be pretty generous to give him 3 or more of those rounds. You would have to be somewhat biased in favor of Hopkins and not give JT any credit for trying to make the fight, however ineffective it might've been.

I think a draw would've been fair. But i don't have a problem with JT getting the win. Hopkins has only himself to blame. As mentioned above, his workrate was just terrible. Also as mentioned above, the judges don't see fights in replay or get to watch it again. JT made the fight and Hopkins let it happen from 1-8.

 

I scored it 7-5 Taylor.

Here's the conundrum. 2 guys. Neither landing. But one is throwing. Who wins? Do you just give a bunch of even rounds? I give it to the guy actually throwing punches and partially landing occasionally rather than the guy not throwing at all.

 

He knew it in the rematch and the rematch was almost a carbon copy of the first.

 

You're just being silly. Taylor's fights against Hopkins and Winky were scored perfectly overall.