Can Bernard Make 168, and Why Did He Skip It?

He wanted to make history as the first MW to jump strait to LHW and win a title or something of the sort.

 

He claimed he wanted to go to that division because it was one of the original 8 divisions and has rich history.

 

He skipped it because he was coming off 2 losses against Taylor and knew he would lose against Calzaghe.

He saw someone he could beat in over hyped Antonio Tarver, fought a blown up Winky Wright then loses to Calzaghe when he moved up. since then he fights a Blown up over hyped Pavlik, fights a Blown up middleweight in Enrique Ornales, struggles with an old Roy Jones who got knocked out at cruiser beforehand, dropped twice against a dangerous fighter in Pascal and gets a draw then goes life and death and wins the rematch.

The most dangerous fighter Hopkins has fought since Taylor is Pascal and all credit to him at his age but people over rate the guy. Pascal is strong but he lacks a lot of boxing skills and gasses. Even Hopkins admitted hes a 4 round fighter. now he wants to fight Dawson who gave a lackluster performance against a small LHW in Diaconou.

And for what its worth i dont think he can make 168, hes finding it hard enough to make 175

 

Um when he jumped from 160 to 168 there was **** all at 168 and he took on the linear light heavy champ which was better for his legacy, plus I think he saw something in tarver which a lot of people didnt and realized he could win that one.

 

Move right along you you lemming atsch:hi:

 

There wasn't much interest in the super middleweight division division at the time in America. Calzaghe had only just exposed Lacy and so Calzaghe was only just getting the recognition he deserved in the States.

It made financial and also career sense in terms of legacy for Hopkins to jump 2 divisions and fight Tarver who had just beaten Johnson and RJJ twice. Tarver was clearly the best available opponent at that time.

 

"Calzaghe is a good fighter but right now it would be a backward step for me," Hopkins said. "It is not a big enough fight right now and I need a big fight to get motivated. A fight against Maskaev would be exactly the type of fight I need."

http://www.thesweetscience.com/news/articles/4526-hopkinscalzaghe-not-so-fast


That was 2006. Hopkins wanted nothing to do with Calzaghe in that 5 year period from 2002 when Calzaghe's camp, networks tried many times to make a fight offering Hopkins multi-millions.

 

Why? Because im not going along with the Hopkins is the Greatest bandwagon?

I respect Hopkins for fighting on at this age but I dont like how hes over rated

Ill spell it out for you again.

Jermain Taylor 1 - Close fight but it shows Hopkins cant deal with speedy, pressure fighters L

Jermain Taylor 2 - Close fight but again look above L

Antonio Tarver - Tarver had trouble with roy jones in the 1st and 3rd fights, he stops the weight drained roy and gets overhyped. Hopkins takes advantage of this to get his name heard

Winky Wright - His fight before was at 154 if i remember against Quartley

Joe Calzaghe - moving up from 168, drops joe in the first, joe recovers and Hopkins fouls and feigns and holds injury to make it to the bell. Hopkins again cant deal with Speedy Pressure fighters L

Kelly Pavlik - Strong puncher at 160, he gains 10 pounds for the fight but hes slow and gets dominated.

Enrique Ornales - Loses to Rubio at 160, gains 13 pounds moves up is slow and gets dominated

Roy jones - Knocked out in 1 by Green at 200 then Hopkins fouls and feigns injury like the Calzaghe fight and roughs roy up

Jean Pascal 1 - Knocked down twice, Pascal Gasses and Hopkins takes Advantage D

Jean Pascal 2 - Waits for Pascal to gas, avoids getting knocked down and takes Advantage again

Hopkins is crafty and I enjoyed both fights against Pascal and at his age he deserves some credit but the fact hes getting hyped in the media and on here is beyond belief. Hes made a history of fighting smaller guys or fighting people with large flaws that he can take advantage of

 

Exactly

 

cause he wanted to win at light heavyweight. a true legend

 

Because he was afraid of the "white boy" Joe Calzaghe.











































:bolt

 

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You are some bitter people..whine, whine, whine :|

 

Sounds like Teddy Atlas...

 

Well I agree with teddy in terms of the pascal hopkins fight. he did take advantage of a fighter who had huge flaws,

It would be like Marco huck making a defence against Enzo Maccarinelli. Enzos a great fighter but hes got a **** chin. Huck KO

Pascal was only a danger to hopkins when he had energy to hit him and hurt him. it was a fight of the year though and the first real challenge hopkins has had since Calzaghe and Taylor.