Hopkins: Should he get credit for beating smaller fighters

Hopkins stayed at middleweight for more than 10 years. He could still make the weight fine and he fought everyone there already. I dont mind the super fights with DLH and Trinidad its better than seeing him fight allen again


When people move through weight classes quickly, they dont get rated high in those classes because they dont have enough history there. He established himself as a great, dominate middleweight champ for the long term. He never had any problems making the weight so I dont see whats wrong with it.

 

Size plays a very specific role in boxing. Hopkins deserves every ounce of credit he's ever been given. He's beaten his opponents with skill and technique, and his win over the BIGGER Antonio Tarver was resounding.

 

he was small when he beat them so yes

 

For Trinidad and Pavlik yes there status at the time could not be ignored.

 

If Hopkins was such a big bully picking on smaller fighters, he would not have been a 4/1 underdog against Trinidad or a 3/1 underdog against Pavlik. At the time, these guys were some of the most feared and hottest stars in boxing. And Hopkins completely dominated from start to finish. It was skill that beat them, not size.

And no one considers Winky or DLH his top 3 wins. You also have to give him credit for beating Tarver. Not to mention, him fighting a guy 18 years his junior in Pavlik.

 

You know?

 

It's well known that Trinidad was a 4/1 favorite and Pavlik was a 3/1 favorite.

 

Credit: Yes, because they were elite P-4-P fighters. And with Trinidad, De La Hoya and Pavlik at least, it did not seem that he beat them through the weight advantage. He just had their number, and out-skilled them. These were totally dominant performances. Well, the Trinidad and Pavilk fights were. With De la Hoya he was on his way before the stoppage. DLH had held him pretty well through the half-way point, but Hopkins is notoriously stronger down the stretch while DLH usually gets weaker.

Note that he also was a healthy underdog against the bigger Tarver, and schooled him as well.

Debit: I believe that Winky may have been more competitive with a bit more natural strength. I'm not too sure if he would have won though.

 

Agreed. Dbou. The thing is, DLH had fought qt 154 for years, including Sturm at MW. Trinidad had fought at mw as well before he met Hopkins. Hopkins was a mw at the time, not a lhw. Not as big a deal as being made out, although, they were smaller guys. Pavlik was supposed to beat him. He didn't.

The kicker though, is he's getting crap for it and maybe to some degree it should stick, but he was fighting these guys when by all rights he could have already retired. He fought Tito when he was 36.

 

Had hopkins purely just overpowered his best wins who moved up in weight, then you could say size mainly contributed to it. He dominantly outboxed them while barely getting hit in return. He did some Jersey Joe Walcott moves on Pavlik and Tarver( he even managed to drop the very durable Tarver en route to the one sided schooling)

Against Trinidad he had a guy moving up in weight who brought so much power up with him that he destroyed a world class middleweight(Hopkins and Taylor failed to destroy Joppy the way Tito Trinidad did) However, a big puncher's punch is useless against a target it can't land on. Trinidad was schooled from the first round all the way up until Papa Trinidad rescued his dazed and beaten onto the seat of his trunks son in the final round.

The DLH fight wasn't exactly a dominant win because BHOP showed far to much respect in the beginning and let Oscar grab early rounds using his handspeed and activity. It will forever be debated whether the finishing liver shot was Oscar calling it a day or the product of a naturally bigger man touching that certain sweet spot on Oscar's ribcage.

 

Hopkins fought DLH at 156, not at the middleweight limit of 160. Hopkins came down to nearly the JMW limit to fight DLH, and knocked him out, the only guy to EVER stop him in such a fashion.

Hell yes, he deserves credit for that, as well as credit for Trinidad and Pavlik. Wright, not so much.

 

Excellent Thread, its something I have thought about before, especially considering Hopkins turned pro at LHW.
All in all id say Hopkins should get some credit, because the smaller fighters hes fought have been HOF fighters, but not the great accolades he does get because as said they are smaller fighters.
Part of Hopkins greatness to me is his longevity and remaining a world class fighter at a late age, but I dont think he should be rated as high as he is at LHW now considering since beating Tarver years ago he hasnt fought a genuine LHW since and has even lost one of those fights in that time

 

Yeah, maybe he beat some small fighters, but, the cogsucka is 45, 46 yo now, and still doing his thing. U gotta give the mothafugga credit.

 

:goodyou gotta respect a guy from the ghetto who came outta prison and is at where he is at right now.nobody can deny him that

 

Nobody said "smaller fighter" when Tito entered the Hopkins fight, in fact, everyone said Tito will put old Hopkins away. Hopkins ended up schooling the P4P#2.

Nobody said "smaller fighter" when Pavlik entered the Hopkins fight, in fact, everyone said that the 17 years younger and taller Pavlik will put old Hopkins away. Hopkins ended up schooling the P4P#5

Everybody said Hopkins is bigger than De La Hoya so he came in at 156 pounds, only two pounds over the Light Middleweight limit just to say **** you to the naysayers and knocked out P4P#8 De La Hoya.

Everybody said Antonio Tarver is much bigger and of course younger and fresher than Hopkins and will put old Hopkins away. Hopkins ended up schooling the P4P#8.

There are so many careers and achievements out there to tear apart. Hopkins' is not one of them, in fact, he's the fighter of the decade or the 2nd best only after Pacquiao.