11 reasons Hopkins' chances are good.

I agree Calzaghe's awkwardness is a great weapon. I disagree that Hopkins will be able to solve this with footwork. His balance will help him react better, but his footwork against southpaw fighters is based on anticipation of what they will do next.
Calzaghe does not fight like any other southpaw, Hopkins will have little idea what his next movement will be and will have to rely on his balance and reflexes to react, which could be too late in most instances.

 

for joe to get his work rate & speed going he has to be at range i and hopkins will not let him get in that range.this will be hopkins fight after a couple of rounds

 

if joe cannot get on the inside or doesn't have any success there he can always resort to his superb jabbing game from distance which proved too much for a guy in kessler that was expected to completely own joe from the outside with his own jab.

he is not the one dimensional speed+workrate slugger that some would like to think.

 

They're on roughly the same level. Both have beaten a poor quality of opponents, with Kessler being the best if you combine the two records. in Calzaghe's favour, whilst he doesn't have as many names opponents on his record, at least he doesn't have any losses, either. Taylor beat Hopkins twice, which is something Calzaghe hasn't come close to.

Whoever wins this fight has the better resume.

 

Most observers had Hopkins winning the two Taylor fights, including Jermain Taylor. Taylor KNOWS he got beat twice in there.

Bernard's first pro-loss doesn't mean much (a bit like Pacquiao's early career losses).

So there's the Roy Jones loss... a close fight, but clear loss, to Roy Jones Jr in Roy's prime.

Not bad. Had Calzaghe fought the same level of opposition he'd have more losses.

 

If this happens it certainly will have a major effect on the fight. You also know what the reaction is going to be from the British media and fans (Joe Cortez is already held guilty for "robbing Hatton" , and when they see him in the ring the first reaction's going to be "oh, not this guy again").

I just hope Cortez doesn't allow this to pressurize him.

 

go watch the kessler fight again. his hands were in perfect condition and he didn't throw a 'slap' all night. his punching technique was perfect.

 

How do you figure he is under Joe's skin? Just because it was a brutal comment he made?

 

The question for me about this fight is how hard BHop can still punch these days. I have no doubt that his right hand lands flush at some point but is it enough to drop JC? I don't think so, but if he stuns him will he follow up?

 

The 44-0 thing is stupid...Look at who he fought...

In particular, look at who he fought from the time he won the WBO title (Eubank) and Lacy...from 1997-2006, he fought a lot of low level fighters, and made no effort to unify the belts.

44-0 is impressive, but in one of the softest divisions without unifying for the first 9 years he held a belt....no so impressive...

 

Thanks mcgrain.Good thread and i'll kick this one around tomorrow when im sober bud:good

 

As always...great post McGrain!!!!